Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘OLD-SCHOOL HOSPITALITY’
Surf, turf and fine dining with Taste & Sea Seafood Steaks & Libations
Forget self-service and sweatshirts, the fine dining experience is back.
John and Christina Talbot have opened Taste & Sea Seafood Steaks & Libations in Glen Mills.
The 146-seat restaurant includes real tablecloths, bottle service and coat check-in to enhance the dining experience of delicious seafood and mouthwatering steaks. There is also seating for 46 on an outside patio.
“We call it costal elegance: the sea and the sand,” said Christina. “Bringing back the guest experience of fine dining and some of that old-school hospitality experience, that’s the goal.”
John trained at the Philadelphia Restaurant School, has been in the restaurant business over 30 years and was executive chef at Creed’s Seafood and Steaks just off Route 422 in King of Prussia for 22 years.
The Talbots have been married for 25 years. They live in Glenolden and have two daughters Alexis, 22, and Ashley, 16.
“We always wanted to open our own restaurant and we wanted to do it ourselves,” said John. “With this location we like that we are still in Delaware County. We offer a large variety of shellfish, raw oysters, a lot of different fish, a lot of different steaks: the best of both worlds.”
A big change for John from his days at Creed’s is stepping back from the kitchen and bringing in Charlie Moronski as executive chef. The two had worked with together over the years at Creed’s.
In recent years, Moronski moved to Rehoboth Beach to become sous chef at SoDel Concepts at Bluecoast Grill and executive chef at Crust and Craft Kitchen.
Luckily the Talbots were able to draw him back to the area.
“His talents are just amazing,” said Christina. “We really wanted him.”
To sweeten the deal they made him a partner.
A unique name
“Our name originates from Psalms 34:8, “Taste and See the goodness of the Lord.” Our hope is to exemplify this message to the community through our restaurant,” said Christina. “We had been praying and deciding what we were going to name the restaurant for a while. That was 2019 and that stuck out on the page, with the variation of the “a” (in “sea”). We knew we wanted a seafood-forward restaurant and it just kind of stood out on the page.”
“We attribute all the success of this coming to God and his hand in everything. It’s just been a true blessing,” she said.
The Talbots hope to draw guests from West Chester to Wilmington and Chadds Ford to central Delaware County.
The dress will be business casual and while they won’t be joining the Uber Eats or DoorDash apps, they will
take orders over the phone for takeout, though that is not the experience they are trying to create.
The early reaction after a soft opening has been positive.
“Everybody is loving the food. Our chef is doing amazing,” said Christina.
Two items on the menu that have become house specialties, one is the Venison Diane.
“This area has really embraced venison,” said Christina.
The second is a unique twist on the classic Beef Wellington, which substitutes the beef for salmon cooked on a very low exact temperature with mushroom duxelles and prosciutto, wrapped in puff pastry served with garlic spinach and a mornay sauce.
“It’s been pretty popular,” John said.
A look at the menu confirms a variety of seafood from soups, such as lobster bisque with fresh chives for $12, to the San Francisco Style cioppino entrée, which has a combination of fresh fish, shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams, mussels and claw crabmeat in a tomato-white wine sauce, with grilled sour dough crostini at $41.
Wines from across the world are available from an $11 glass of Collier Creek chardonnay to a $435 bottle of The Mascot Red Blend 2019 from the Napa Valley.
For the sweet tooth, desserts include the Taste & Sea Cheesecake, Madagascar Crème Brulee, Affagoto ice cream or Peanut Butter & Jam Chocolate Layer Cake.
There will be an April 8 grand opening with a ribbon cutting and invited guests.
Taste & Sea is located at 1810 Wilmington Pike, the site of the former Pescatores, whose owner retired and sold them the restaurant.
They accept reservations. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Closed Sunday.