Tunaville Fish Market & Grocery Nearly Ready To Unveil In San Diego's Point Loma

February 9, 2022

One of San Diego's most iconic culinary personalities, celebrity fishmonger Tommy Gomes has partnered with the founder of Mitch's Seafood for the impending opening of Tunaville Fish Market & Grocery at Point Loma's harbor.

In 2020, news broke that lifelong San Diego seafood purveyor Tommy Gomes had signed on to host a new television program dubbed The Fishmonger about the American commercial fishing industry. At the same time, information was released that Gomes had partnered with Mitch's Seafood namesake founder Mitch Conniff for the future opening of a new fish market named Tunaville to open adjacent to the docks within Driscoll's Wharf in Point Loma. 

"The idea behind our fish Market is that we wanted to have a place devoted to bringing consumers local seafood directly off the boats," explained Tunaville Market co-founder Mitch Conniff. "There are a number of great seafood markets in San Diego, but none of them truly specialize in our local seafood products. With our waterfront location we will be working directly with the variety of local commercial fishing vessels to have local products avaialble. Everything from the longline boats that bring in Opah and Big Eye tuna from weeks long trips to day boat guys that come in with a mixed haul of Rock fish, crab and mackerel. We really want to highlight the variety of amazing seafood and the men and women that are catching it - and hopefully broaden the local seafood consumers appetite for some of the overlooked species and products available here."

After over two years of development, Tunaville Fish Market & Grocery will open this spring. Expect glass cases filled with dock-to-market seafood choices, as well as a variety of high-end grocery items, local produce, bread from area bakers, prepared ceviche and poke, and condiments like olive oil and spices. Tunaville is designed with a clean, sleek look with numerous windows throughout the building so that customers can watch fish being delivered and processed in the back area, as well as a view of the commercial harbor at the prime Driscoll's Wharf location. 

The Fishmonger Tommy Gomes

"Tunaville is the historic name for Point Loma, back when the fleet of boats operating here were responsible for catching as much as 80% of the world tuna," commented Gomes. "We hope to honor that history and bring some of that cache back to Point Loma by honoring the amazing products and the hard work of our local fleet."

A native San Diegan whose Portuguese family settled here in 1892, Tommy Gomes is a fishmonger by blood, coming from several generations of professional fishermen. Over his career, Tommy has become an industry leader in seafood education and a true advocate of sustainable sourcing of sealife. Tommy is the founder of the nonprofit dining series Collaboration Kitchen and has been a guest speaker for many culinary programs and specialty meals. In addition to working with some of San Diego's best chefs, Tommy has served uni and swordfish marrow to Bizarre Foods’ host Andrew Zimmern and has an Opah breakdown video on Facebook with more than 24 million views. After a 15 year career with Catalina Offshore Products, Gomes stepped down from his public role with the San Diego seafood wholesaler in late 2019 to build his own Tommy the Fishmonger brand. Tommy is currently filming season 2 of The Fishmonger television series, which is expected to debut on The Outdoor Channel later this year. 

Mitch Conniff is the current owner of Mitch's Seafood in Point Loma and has been involved in San Diego fishing for decades with stints working as a deckhand on commercial lobster boats and years spent cooking aboard fishing vessels. He has been a chef for approximately 25 years with stints at well known bay area seafood mainstay Steamer's in Los Gatos, as well as time spent locally at Hotel Solamar heading up their banquet division. Conniff started his casual dining seafood restaurant Mitch's Seafood in 2008 in a desire to offer high quality, local seafood in a casual reasonably priced environment.

Tunaville Market & Grocery is anticipated to open in early April at 4904 North Harbor Drive within Driscolls Wharf in San Diego's Point Loma. For more information, follow Tunaville Market on Facebook & Instagram.