By Frank Sabatini Jr.

The pastas and pizzas are gone. So are the lamb shanks and filet mignons that occasionally dotted the menu at Osteria Origano, which fed into a growth spurt of Italian restaurants throughout Uptown when it opened five years ago. Now, its chef and co-owner, Vincenzo LoVerso, takes us on an elite trawl through the oceans since re-branding the space as Fresh Catch Fish Market & Grill.

The concept of a fish market with full dine-in service came about recently due to “the saturation of Italian restaurants within several blocks,” general manager Preston Cobb said. Indeed, lasagna and pizza are easy finds in Hillcrest. But fresh Alaskan lobster tails and whole octopus bedded on ice — not so much.

A treasure chest of other raw seafood from various waters greets near the front door: oysters, mussels, sashimi, calamari steaks, red snapper, you name it. The selection doesn’t miss a beat. What you see displayed at the counter can be purchased to go or prepared onsite before landing in sandwiches, salads, plates and tacos.

Except on Sundays, seafood deliveries occur daily, right up until Saturday evenings when things like Manila clams and black Baja oysters might arrive while safely carrying over into the next day.

The refreshed interior shows off a modern nautical theme with handsome, wood tabletops extending onto an inviting front patio, which will supposedly make room for beach grass and other greenery in the coming month.

Origano’s tiled pizza oven remains in place, although it’s dormant until flat breads, lobster pot pies and whole-roasted fish eventually join the menu.

Geographically, the dine-in offerings swim in different directions, from New England clam chowder stocked generously with tender clams and potatoes to teriyaki-sauced calamari and traditional fish tacos. There are also fish and chips, crab cakes and ceviche, along with an easily overlooked grilled chicken breast buried within this Mexican-Northeast-Asian lineup of oceanic fare.

We started with the chowder, which I expected would taste vapid because of its bleached-white color. But the cream and clam broth lacing the roux spoke volumes, as did a fair dose of butter we suspected was folded into the recipe. Fond memories of a culinary trip I made to Maine some years ago flashed back as my spoon went into locomotion.

We also tried the fisherman’s stew, a pleasant tomato broth stocked with tuna, salmon and swordfish. It tasted almost like classic Genoa-style cioppino found commonly throughout San Francisco if only we could have detected garlic and chili flakes in the mix.

An order of shrimp ceviche carried weak citrus notes to the point of tasting more like shrimp cocktail, especially when dipping the coarsely chopped shrimp pieces into the accompanying tomato-horseradish sauce. Much like pizza and pasta, ceviche’s omnipresence could stand a break.

We split a halibut sandwich on a large, glorious ciabatta roll from Sadie Rose Baking Co., a local wholesaler that could excite me into eating jellyfish if tucked between their airy mouth-watering breads.

The filet, cooked expertly on a high-heat flat grill, was brushed in lemon butter and buried in lettuce, tomatoes and red onions. A smear of tartar sauce inside clenched the deal. Included with the sandwich was a sizable salad of shredded cabbage and lettuce. Its blue cheese dressing, however, was milder than we had hoped.

From the list of a la carte sides, such as beer-battered onion rings, steamed white or brown rice and seaweed salad, we opted for garlic potatoes served in a cask-iron bowl. Roasted whole with their skins on, they were steamy and tender, although we yearned for some sort of dip – sour cream, tartar sauce or even ranch. We instead made due with various bottles of hot sauce on the table.

Fresh Catch is Hillcrest’s answer to the ever-popular Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill in Middletown, sans the painfully long lines we must usually endure before wrapping our paws around a fresh swordfish sandwich or cod taco. For now at least, you can expect instant gratification when the hankering for seafood strikes.

Note: Fresh Catch also serves brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays to the tune of bacon-shrimp bloody Marys and spicy beer cocktails. 

—Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of “Secret San Diego” (ECW Press), and began his local writing career more than two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. You can reach him at [email protected].