Bargain Bluesalt Fish Grill - Redondo Beach

Sometimes I think I am a terrible person. Maybe not entirely terrible but definitely far from normal, and sometimes it comes out when I least expect it. Like after 40 scenic minutes submerged in a gorgeous Catalina dive park, a normal person would be reveling in the beauty of nature, but there I was, reveling in its deliciousness instead. Everyone else gasped at all the beautiful fish. I salivated. 

Obviously we ended up at a fish grill  after the dive because I was about to start stuffing abalone into my purse. 

Sadly Bluesalt didn't have any abalone, but they did have a pretty good Ahi Tuna steak served raving red and rare.

In case you couldn't tell from my desire to sample everything in the dive park, I'm an equal-opportunity eater. Except when I'm a White Fish supremecist. And it's hard not to be when facing a folder rubbed with a heavy coat of cajun butter, herbed and significantly spiced.

I'm almost as hooked on diving as I am on eating, but I definitely wasn't hooked on the Fried Calamari. The breading was so thick it was impossible to tell if they were rings of onions or squid.

I started wishing for a jet pack when the black sea bass swam by for a finale of food-that-moves, so I'm glad I had the soft, splurg-y Cajun-spice Chilean Sea Bass to hit the spot. The free-swimming sea bass was fresher, but actually not by much. Plus it came with a pretty great side of sweet corn and grilled zucchini. It was a splurge, but I was sold.

I wasn't expecting much from what looked like a fairly-priced, non-chain spin-off of Malibu Fish Grill, but Bluesalt is far better than it seems. It's no-frills at its finest, but quality fish at a price I can afford is a catch I'll never go.