Flavor Trailblazer: Louie Jocson
Innovating in the seafood category for broad reach and signature appeal
Flavor Trailblazer: Louie Jocson
Innovating in the seafood category for broad reach and signature appeal
By Katie Ayoub
August 30, 2024
By Katie Ayoub
August 30, 2024
California Fish Grill is in growth mode, expanding its footprint beyond California into Arizona and Nevada, and looking to add locations on the East Coast. Louie Jocson is the VP of Food and Beverage for this long-standing fast-casual seafood chain. He’s on a mission to help more consumers fall in love with seafood, served up in approachable, customizable formats like bowls, salads, plates and tacos. We sat down with Jocson to discuss flavor preferences, recipe development and menu innovation.
Louie Jocson
Katie Ayoub: Tell me about California Fish Grill.
Louie Jocson: We are a polished fast casual with a goal of giving guests the easiest pathway to discovering a love of seafood. Our food is approachable yet high quality. We pride ourselves on sustainable sourcing, and we know that sustainability is becoming more and more important to today’s consumers. Source matters. We partner with Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and other third-party sources that verify sustainability. We also visit the sites ourselves to see the way they harvest our finfish and shellfish.
KA: What’s your creative process for developing new builds?
LJ: Seafood has to be the star of the show, and the messaging around sourcing has to be good, too. We like to keep builds simple and keep flavors recognizable. We build our plates to enhance the natural seafood flavor.
KA: Describe your approach to LTOs.
LJ: We run LTOs about three or four times a year. They incorporate a myriad of food experiences from our team, and we draw inspiration from what we see in market—everything from a creative deli sandwich to a new spin on a Caesar salad.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill California Fish Grill launches its latest LTO, a Mediterranean Branzino Sea Bass Grill Plate featuring sustainably sourced branzino, simply grilled and served with a Kalamata olive relish and tahini drizzle, served over white rice with dressed kale, rosemary zucchini, seasoned tomato with feta and pickled onions.
KA: What is your biggest challenge with flavor innovation?
LJ: Our challenge is in developing flavors: Is the flavor profile authentic enough? Is it bold enough? Is it easy enough to execute? We want to find the balance between edgy and approachable.
KA: How do you filter today’s trends through your restaurant brand? Which ones are providing the most inspiration today?
LJ: I’m fortunate enough to travel to global destinations as part of our ongoing efforts to work with our seafood sources and verify their practices. I get to experience rich food cultures in countries like Peru, Vietnam, Costa Rica and India. The commonality is the balance between sweet, acid, heat, salt and fat. The fun is in seeing the different approaches to achieving that balance with local/regional ingredients—heat from local peppers in Vietnam that are packed with flavor and spice to the mellower ají chile from Peru. The same with acid—like yuzu from Japan or calamansi from the Philippines. They each bring nuance to builds and are so fun to explore.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill One of the most popular menu items, the Dynamite Shrimp Bowl, stars quick-fried sustainable shrimp in a spicy dynamite sauce, garnished with fresh cilantro and green onions, then served with tomatoes, cabbage mix and sesame soy sauce.
KA: Tell me about recent menu successes and/or surprises.
LJ: We’re really happy with a recent LTO, the Miso Salmon Bowl. The sauce/glaze is composed of organic white miso, honey and sugar. The combination of the sweet and salt with the fattiness of the salmon—they’re made for each other. It’s great over our quinoa-edamame rice, mixed with sambal, soy and sesame. We’re also excited to launch our next LTO, Grilled Branzino with a Kalamata olive relish, tomatoes, seasoned olive oil and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
KA: Any generational preferences with seafood?
LJ: We find a commonality among all generations—the common thread today is that sustainability is a key factor for all generations.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill In a recent LTO, California Fish Grill successfully pushed the flavor envelope with its Miso Salmon Grill Plate, which features sustainable Atlantic salmon, simply grilled and topped with a sauce made with organic white miso, served over quinoa-edamame rice with sambal, soy sauce and black sesame seeds, accompanied by miso slaw.
QUICKFIRE
Source of inspiration:
I find inspiration pretty much everywhere. I could be at a supermarket in the chip aisle and see so many fun and interesting flavor combinations. In fact, I think the snacking aisles are a great gateway to easy flavor innovation.
Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
Nothing too weird, but you will find alcohol-free beer and wine.
Cuisine or ingredient you’re particularly excited to explore:
I really love Japanese food. I admire the simplicity of it—simple shouldn’t be confused with easy. I’ve been playing around with white soy sauce. Try it drizzled on top of raw salmon or tuna—simple but complex flavor.
Your go-to late-night snack:
Unsalted nuts combined with blackberries and Medjool dates.
Best bite you’ve had recently:
Oliboli Donuts in Tustin, Calif., has these amazing donuts with fermented sourdough, made to order—super-thin exterior and then the middle is pillowy soft. My other favorite bite is from the one and only Pizzeria Bianco: the margherita pizza with anchovies added.
California Fish Grill is in growth mode, expanding its footprint beyond California into Arizona and Nevada, and looking to add locations on the East Coast. Louie Jocson is the VP of Food and Beverage for this long-standing fast-casual seafood chain. He’s on a mission to help more consumers fall in love with seafood, served up in approachable, customizable formats like bowls, salads, plates and tacos. We sat down with Jocson to discuss flavor preferences, recipe development and menu innovation.
Louie Jocson
Katie Ayoub: Tell me about California Fish Grill.
Louie Jocson: We are a polished fast casual with a goal of giving guests the easiest pathway to discovering a love of seafood. Our food is approachable yet high quality. We pride ourselves on sustainable sourcing, and we know that sustainability is becoming more and more important to today’s consumers. Source matters. We partner with Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and other third-party sources that verify sustainability. We also visit the sites ourselves to see the way they harvest our finfish and shellfish.
KA: What’s your creative process for developing new builds?
LJ: Seafood has to be the star of the show, and the messaging around sourcing has to be good, too. We like to keep builds simple and keep flavors recognizable. We build our plates to enhance the natural seafood flavor.
KA: Describe your approach to LTOs.
LJ: We run LTOs about three or four times a year. They incorporate a myriad of food experiences from our team, and we draw inspiration from what we see in market—everything from a creative deli sandwich to a new spin on a Caesar salad.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill California Fish Grill launches its latest LTO, a Mediterranean Branzino Sea Bass Grill Plate featuring sustainably sourced branzino, simply grilled and served with a Kalamata olive relish and tahini drizzle, served over white rice with dressed kale, rosemary zucchini, seasoned tomato with feta and pickled onions.
KA: What is your biggest challenge with flavor innovation?
LJ: Our challenge is in developing flavors: Is the flavor profile authentic enough? Is it bold enough? Is it easy enough to execute? We want to find the balance between edgy and approachable.
KA: How do you filter today’s trends through your restaurant brand? Which ones are providing the most inspiration today?
LJ: I’m fortunate enough to travel to global destinations as part of our ongoing efforts to work with our seafood sources and verify their practices. I get to experience rich food cultures in countries like Peru, Vietnam, Costa Rica and India. The commonality is the balance between sweet, acid, heat, salt and fat. The fun is in seeing the different approaches to achieving that balance with local/regional ingredients—heat from local peppers in Vietnam that are packed with flavor and spice to the mellower ají chile from Peru. The same with acid—like yuzu from Japan or calamansi from the Philippines. They each bring nuance to builds and are so fun to explore.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill One of the most popular menu items, the Dynamite Shrimp Bowl, stars quick-fried sustainable shrimp in a spicy dynamite sauce, garnished with fresh cilantro and green onions, then served with tomatoes, cabbage mix and sesame soy sauce.
KA: Tell me about recent menu successes and/or surprises.
LJ: We’re really happy with a recent LTO, the Miso Salmon Bowl. The sauce/glaze is composed of organic white miso, honey and sugar. The combination of the sweet and salt with the fattiness of the salmon—they’re made for each other. It’s great over our quinoa-edamame rice, mixed with sambal, soy and sesame. We’re also excited to launch our next LTO, Grilled Branzino with a Kalamata olive relish, tomatoes, seasoned olive oil and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
KA: Any generational preferences with seafood?
LJ: We find a commonality among all generations—the common thread today is that sustainability is a key factor for all generations.
Photo Credit: California Fish Grill In a recent LTO, California Fish Grill successfully pushed the flavor envelope with its Miso Salmon Grill Plate, which features sustainable Atlantic salmon, simply grilled and topped with a sauce made with organic white miso, served over quinoa-edamame rice with sambal, soy sauce and black sesame seeds, accompanied by miso slaw.
QUICKFIRE
Source of inspiration:
I find inspiration pretty much everywhere. I could be at a supermarket in the chip aisle and see so many fun and interesting flavor combinations. In fact, I think the snacking aisles are a great gateway to easy flavor innovation.
Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
Nothing too weird, but you will find alcohol-free beer and wine.
Cuisine or ingredient you’re particularly excited to explore:
I really love Japanese food. I admire the simplicity of it—simple shouldn’t be confused with easy. I’ve been playing around with white soy sauce. Try it drizzled on top of raw salmon or tuna—simple but complex flavor.
Your go-to late-night snack:
Unsalted nuts combined with blackberries and Medjool dates.
Best bite you’ve had recently:
Oliboli Donuts in Tustin, Calif., has these amazing donuts with fermented sourdough, made to order—super-thin exterior and then the middle is pillowy soft. My other favorite bite is from the one and only Pizzeria Bianco: the margherita pizza with anchovies added.
About the Author
Katie Ayoub serves as managing editor of Flavor & The Menu and content strategist for the Flavor Experience, an annual conference geared toward chain operators. She is president of Katie Ayoub & Associates, serving up menu trends expertise, content creation and food & beverage consultancy. Based in Chicago, Katie has been working in foodservice publishing for more than 20 years and part of the Flavor team since 2006. [email protected]
