New Eatery Aims To Be Fairfax City's Local Seafood Restaurant

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — California Fish Grill celebrated the grand opening Monday of its Kamp Washington restaurant, marking the West Coast sustainable seafood company's first foray into the greater Washington, D.C. market.

"We know that every place we pick, we want to fill a niche," said Chef Louie Jocson, CFG's vice president of food and beverage, on why the company chose Fairfax City. "That niche is that we need a good seafood restaurant, a place that we can call our local seafood restaurant, your local food restaurant, and this place needed it."

California Fish Grill locations in Alexandria and Rockville, Maryland are slated to open in November.

At first glance, California Fish Grill Kamp Washington doesn't seem that different from other fast-casual restaurants. Customers can choose to order from a kiosk or place their order with servers at the counter. It's what comes next that sets CFG apart, according to Jocson.

"We grill your fish as soon as you order it, and prepare your food, and then it's plated properly," he said. "In some cases, we've been getting the feedback that, 'Wow, this looks really good. It looks like a sitdown restaurant.' Sometimes even a 'white tablecloth restaurant,' to my surprise. We try hard."

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California Fish Grill Kamp Washington is located at 11048 Main St. in Fairfax City. It's open Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-9:30 a.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. It joins Shake Shack and Tatte Bakery & Cafe as the third new restaurant to open within the last month in the Kamp Washington Shopping Center.

"We have a wide variety of seafood, and we communicate on our walls that it's also 100 percent sustainable," Jocson said, "That's something that's easy to say, hard to execute. We travel to a lot of corners of the world to source our seafood."

The restaurant's wild-caught fish are harvested using the least invasive means possible in order to preserve the eco-system, according to its website.

The Kamp Washington restaurant will debut two new seafood dishes that CFG hasn't been able to serve on the West Coast — lobster rolls, as well as cod-based fish and chips.

"We wanted to make sure we had lobster rolls," Jacson said. "We wanted to make sure we had an incredible source of wild caught Alaskan cod, for our fish and chips and our fish sandwich. So that's something that's really unique. On the West Coast, we use a different type of fish, so it's new for us to be using wild caught cod."

California Fish Grill also offers catering and, through its partnership with GroupRaise, helps local charities, schools and nonprofits hold fundraisers.