Fresh off the opening of his boujie downtown San Diego Asian-fusion restaurant, local celebrity chef Brian Malarkey is almost ready to unveil Herb & Sea in downtown Encinitas, with the modern seafood restaurant expected to open early next week.
Reminiscent of the early days of Malarkey's "fabric-named" brand of eateries (Searsuckers, Herringbone), the now-seasoned restaurateur is speedily advancing part 2 of his plan to take the Southern California restaurant industry by storm with the opening of his second high-budget eatery in the past few months. After the greatly-successful rebirth of the Malarkey empire with the launch of Herb & Wood and Herb & Eatery in Little Italy in Spring 2016, Malarkey is again growing his culinary empire at a rapid pace. Just this past September, Malarkey and partner Christopher Puffer opened the $5.5 million Animae - an upscale French-meets-Japanese and Southeast Asian fusion restaurant located in the 15,000 square-foot ground floor space at downtown San Diego's newest uber-luxury high rise condominium building Pacific Gate by Bosa. Puffer Malarkey Holdings is also in the process of opening Herb & Ranch, a multi-concept food hall set to open in Orange County by year's end. Also in the pipeline of future expansion plans is ice cream and donut shop Unholy Doughnuts & Creamery, and Gochujang, which we surmise will be a Korean fusion restaurant centered around the culinary art of fermentation.
Herb & Sea has been training staff for more than a week and may operate random "soft opening" hours as early as this weekend. For more information, visit herbandsea.com and get your first look at the space and menu below.
