Meet the Chef: Mike Reidy

Posted on October 15, 2023 by The Local Fish Team

San Diego native Mike Reidy has become synonymous with seafood in the local restaurant scene. After cutting his teeth at the Michelin-starred Mélisse restaurant in Santa Monica, he returned home and decided to focus his cooking through the lens of local seafood. After many years working at the helm of Ironside Fish & Oyster, he reimagined the menu at The Fishery restaurant in Pacific Beach. Mike spent years serving the freshest seafood to patrons at The Fishery before moving over to Callie in the East Village. Mike’s expertise and unique perspective has brought immense value to the Local Fish project. 

NAME: Mike Reidy 

CURRENT RESTAURANT: Callie

HOW DID YOU GET INTO COOKING? 
My mom was always a good cook and my uncle was a chef so I was exposed to it at an early age. He used to work in hotels and as a kid it was a really cool experience to go see him in the kitchen with the chef hat on – that’s probably what sparked it. My mom always made unusual things for us like Japanese curry. She was a flight attendant traveling all over the world, so she was familiar with all different kinds of food. That’s probably what piqued my interest. 

BETWEEN WORKING AT IRONSIDE AND THE FISHERY, YOUR CAREER HAS BEEN VERY SEAFOOD FOCUSED, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? 
It was intentional. I moved back home from LA after working at Melisse and the goal was to find a job. I interviewed with Jason McLeod and told him about how I used to work on the sportfishing boats and that my dream restaurant was to be able to catch my own fish and supply it myself, and that’s how I landed at Ironside. At Ironside I was exposed to local fishermen and the whole scene, and that’s how the connection with The Fishery happened. 

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE LOCAL SPECIES TO WORK WITH AND WHY?
Oh man that’s so hard. Right now the Tuna is pretty awesome. You can do so many things with it. I want to say that Swordfish is kind of my thing. I love a Swordfish chop or making little skewers with it. You can smoke it. You can make fish belly bacon. It’s such a cool ingredient. I love that you have to catch it with a harpoon. At The Fishery we were making a peppercorn sauce with the bones – I really loved that. 

IN YOUR EXPERIENCE HOW DOES LOCAL CATCH HIT DIFFERENT? 
You have the story behind it. You know who caught it. You know the family behind it and you’re supporting that whole system and pushing it forward. In buying fish directly from the fisher, you’re also cutting out the big corporations and sending that money straight back into the community. The quality of local product that’s just been caught doesn’t begin to compare to seafood from a grocery store that could be two weeks old. When you’re getting fish that’s been caught that day or the day before it’s almost like a painting. You get all the definition of the fish. Most people have never seen or tasted fish that fresh unless they caught it themselves.

ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A YOUNG CHEF IN REGARDS TO SOURCING LOCAL SEAFOOD?
Get to the market early and stay consistent. That’s the big thing. Even if you go to the market just to see what’s going on; it’s better than not knowing. I like to get there early just to see what’s coming in and what looks good.

FAVORITE SPOT TO EAT IN SAN DIEGO WHEN YOU’RE OFF DUTY? 
Himitsu in La Jolla