Sea Breeze owner Rick Oruch (left) and son, General Manager Ryan Oruch, operate the business.[/caption]
Operating out of Lakeside Market off Preston between Spring Creek Parkway and Parker Road, Sea Breeze Fish Market & Grill has been serving and selling high-quality fresh fish since opening its doors in 2007.
Rick Oruch started the market and grill as a fast-casual establishment with a walk-up counter for ordering. He then eventually morphed the business into a full-service restaurant in 2011.
Oruch said he has the freshest fish in town because he takes in daily deliveries either by plane or truck and believes his place is one of a kind in the area.
“There are a lot of fish in the sea, and I can get access to just about anything and everything,” Oruch said. “I have sources all over the East Coast and West Coast … all over the country.”
Along with his bustling restaurant, Oruch also runs a retail operation stocking and filleting fish on-site, including wild king salmon, halibut, flounder and snapper.
No matter the time of year, the seasonal catch is likely chilling on ice in Oruch’s glass cases at a cool 34 degrees—the preferred temperature to keep fish, he said.
“I’ve got fresh opah coming in this week,” he said. “I bring in what I can—whatever is fresh out of the Northeast and Northwest and Gulf Coast. Right now, it is halibut season, so I am bringing in hundreds of pounds of halibut a week—the same with wild salmon.”
Oruch said a lot of his customers are coastal transplants looking for a little taste of home and are hooked once they find him.
Whether it is for the New England-style lobster rolls, “to die for” clam chowder or the smoked salmon club sandwich, diners are shoaling to Sea Breeze, according to Oruch.
“We do great fish and chips—once again, that Northeastern kind of a feel to it,” he said. “That being said, we have cioppino (a seafood stew that originated in San Francisco), which is from the West Coast, soft-shell crab, flounder and snapper all from the Gulf. I kind of create the best of all the coasts that I can right here in Plano, Texas.”
Oruch said his menu also includes seafood staples, such as yellow fin tuna, live Maine lobsters and swordfish.
The food also includes more casual dishes, such as catfish, shrimp po’boys or the owner’s signature creation, Rick’s Grilled Salmon Burger.
The collaborative relationship between the owner and head chef Hank Reinhold, who is free to create many of Sea Breeze’s specials, spawn innovative new dishes. One example is the Juicy Larry, which is a lobster and Gruyere-stuffed burger using fresh ground chuck from Hirsch’s Specialty Meats, which is owned and operated by fellow Plano businessman Gary Hirsch.
