Shoreline Seafood Market
Much like the tides, one’s path in life is defined by ebbs and flows, advancing and retreating, constantly changing. For one local entrepreneur, the newly opened Shoreline Seafood Market marks a return to the water. Located in Henrico’s Canterbury Shopping Center, the venture is a modern-day fishmonger’s dream, and the unveiling of a plan years in the making.
Drawing inspiration from multifunctional fish markets such as Washington, D.C.’s Black Salt, Shoreline pulls triple duty as a seafood shop, grocer and mini restaurant. A 10-seat bar — full by noon on a recent visit — loops around the fish counter, offering a peek at the action, whether it’s a hunk of fish gaining sear marks on the grill or a chef cutting fresh herbs from a tiered indoor grow tower to garnish seafood crudo.
Steering the operation is South Side Richmond native David Whitby. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because seafood is a family business. He previously owned and operated Yellow Umbrella Provisions, which was started by his father, George, in 1986.
“I worked there since ’99, right out of college,” Whitby says.
His father had worked for corporations including Land O’Lakes and United Fruit Company, but after falling in love with a woman from the Northern Neck, he began selling fresh oysters and crabs plucked from Virginia waters out of a truck on Patterson Avenue.
Of the store’s early days, Whitby says, “My grandmother made the crab cakes. My aunt ... used to make the egg salad and crab quiche, and they would make a bunch of that stuff there and bring it up.”
After charting the way for two decades — and responsible for much of Yellow Umbrella’s 21st-century momentum, including the introduction of a meat counter and in-house chef — Whitby sold the company in 2020 to longtime patrons and brothers Thomas and Tucker Brown.
“[The Browns’] in-laws were some of my dad’s first customers when he started in his trailer years ago, so they saw the progression,” Whitby says.
Following the sale, Whitby spent time with his growing family. But after a few years, he was ready to get his feet wet again with Shoreline.
[From left] Shoreline executive chef Josh Loeb and co-owners Matt Snow and David Whitby
Co-owner Matt Snow previously clocked shifts at Yellow Umbrella through college and beyond. Over the years, he remained close with Whitby, and when the Shoreline project began to move forward, he got a call from his former boss and returned to the fold.
“Our team is awesome,” Snow says. “There’s been a lot of people that have been helpful, and everyone has been on the same page.”
Josh Loeb, Shoreline’s executive chef, originally met Whitby during his first job at The Berkeley Hotel, which sourced its seafood from Yellow Umbrella. “[Dave and I] were introduced and were talking about doing something like this at Yellow Umbrella back then. That never materialized, but we stayed in touch,” Loeb says.
Shoreline offers a crudo du jour during lunch.
Loeb’s wide-ranging resume includes stints at Midlothian Chef’s Kitchen, catering operation A Sharper Palate and serving as one of the original owners of Laura Lee’s restaurant.
“I’ve always enjoyed seafood more than any other proteins; there’s a lot of room for creativity, and definitely technique shows through when you cook something just right,” Loeb says, noting that he draws influence from Asian and Mediterranean cuisines. “That’s where it’s great having David: He has years and years of experience and is able to pick the best oyster or best salmon and knows the seasonality.”
Although the menu is ever-changing, during lunch, diners can usually expect jumbo lump blue crab served on a buttery roll, a grilled catch of the day, and the popular and perfectly shareable sticky rice fries — crisped rice cooked with ginger, scallions, yuzu and spices, formed into logs, fried and served with a side of creamy, heat-tinged Shark Sauce.
If you’re looking for the freshest fish in the house, opt for the crudo du jour. An early-summer version featured hamachi with crisp celery hearts, slivers of daikon radish, crushed pork rinds and dots of housemade Fresno hot sauce.
That’s where it’s great having David: He has years and years of experience and is able to pick the best oyster or best salmon and knows the seasonality.
—Josh Loeb, executive chef at Shoreline
Specials double as ways to showcase a prime catch and utilize the whole fish. They’ve included a smoked seafood sausage sandwich — topped with fennel giardiniera, zippy Spanish guindilla peppers and mustard — and an ode to Brunswick stew dubbed Fishwick Stew, studded with grilled fish and shellfish.
Shoreline plans to introduce dinner service, a no-substitution, multicourse tasting menu curated by Loeb, at the end of the month. A preview dish plated white anchovy with celery root remoulade, pickled shallots and capers.
And while stepping into the local waters again has been exciting, Whitby says there were some initial moments of uncertainty. “Leading up and building out the design, that was great, but opening the door, it took me a minute to be like, ‘Is this right, is this a good idea?’” he says. “But no, it’s been great, I wasn’t ready to give it up. This is something different that Richmond hadn’t had. We’ll do this for a bit and hopefully can scale it; we’ll see how it takes off after a few years.”
