From dock to plate
[Medium] Any given Saturday you will find Cindy Quinonez, executive chef at Scripps Mercy Hospital, standing shoulder to shoulder with San Diego fishermen at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, where she serves samples of a meal created from fresh, sustainably caught seafood.
“So many people eat tuna, salmon, and shrimp. That's their idea of fish,” she says. “Well in San Diego, yes we have tuna, but there are more than 40 varieties of fish down at the dockside market. A lot of people are unfamiliar. My role is an educator.”
Every week Quinonez joins chefs from institutions and restaurants to learn about the species of fish available that week from the people who caught them. Much like a TV chef competition, the chefs must then develop a recipe, cook, and serve it, and tell its story at a tasting table at the market on Seafood Saturdays.
