FIRST LOOK: Tidal

Hotel restaurants can go two ways: chef-driven, or driven by an anonymous staff whose principal skill is warming food. So when Mission Bay’s 44-acre island resort Paradise Point starts its press release with “chef Amy DiBiase’s highly anticipated new dining concept, Tidal“—it’s a great sign.

The talented chef made a good name for herself at former Point Loma restaurant Roseville. Her next move to The Glass Door didn’t really work out. La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club quickly snapped her up, where she mostly played a supporting role to Marine Room’s Master French Chef Bernard Guillas and chef de cuisine, Ron Oliver.

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Meanwhile, Destination Hotels had spent $20 Million rebirthing Paradise Point. The signature restaurant (formerly Baleen) needed help. Hollywood producer Jack Skirball developed the island in 1962 as his own lagoon-ridden South Seas fantasyland. The 3,000 square-foot restaurant was originally his private residence. It has one of the best water views in San Diego—a 180-degree sweeper of the non-malodorous part of Mission Bay. But come 2013, the room felt painfully tourist-chic, with heavily lacquered woods, white tablecloths, palm fronds and assorted waterside clichés.

So they hired DiBiase as the attraction, then built her a room to match. Tidal looks pretty damn fantastic, with riveted aviator chairs, live-edge wooden tables, disco-looking shell globes, indoor and outdoor fire pits, communal dining tables, some modernism here, some soft resort sofas there.

Opening April 10, DiBiase will put a Mediterranean spin on local seafood with dishes like olive oil-poached halibut. Another promising young chef, Kyle Bergman (ex-Lodge at Torrey Pines, Ritual Tavern) will oversee the oysters, cheese and craft beer, while Snake Oil Cocktail Company will do the creative work on the bar program.

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So, enough jabbering. Here are the first photos of Tidal, and a new era at Paradise Point:

FIRST LOOK: Tidal