If the docks along San Diego Bay stretched about 12 miles inland, they would lead directly to the kitchen door of Sea Rocket Bistro in North Park. Consider the restaurant something of an offshore wharf to local fishermen who drop in regularly to sell their catch of the day. Some hang and mingle over craft beers. Others have become mini celebrities, appearing in a two-hour video loop that plays on a flat screen above the bar showing them trawling the seas. Mario, Romolo, Ghio, John and Mike – they’re all part of an oceanic family that allows Sea Rocket to crank out throat-to-boat meals within an urban neighborhood setting.

The casual two-room eatery is the brainchild of Dennis Stein, who jumped ship in his career last year after managing UPS stores. “I wanted to do something different,” he recalls. So he turned to fellow Sierra Club member Elena Rivellino to help him launch a kitchen that focuses on both sustainable, intensely fresh seafood from local waters as well as produce from nearby farms, the latter reflected in “agricultural art” adorning these walls.

Fish selections occupy about 90 percent of the menu. And some of the dishes are a rare treat, such as grilled sardines purchased in “scoops” from a Shelter Island bait company. “A dish for adults,” my dinner companion commented as we gleefully forked through three filets that were rich in texture and high in flavor. Fishy yes, but hardly offensive. They’re righteously brushed with a little salt and olive oil, and served with fresh beets, roasted garlic and giant capers. If you’re accustomed only to wormy sardines packed into a tin box, then prepare for a superior rival.

Sea urchins from Point Loma waters are served either in the shell with their spikes still moving at times, or as smooth and earthy bisque augmented by pureed root vegetables, in which case pieces of the urchin are whisked into the stock right before leaving the kitchen. The bisque fell into the desirable segment of our meal, along with the sardines and two other starters.

Sea Rocket ceviche, using halibut the night we visited, exploded with flavors of citrus, melon, red onions, cilantro and habanero peppers. We loved it, although realized when biting into an order of mild-tasting mahi mahi fish cakes immediately afterwards that we should’ve eaten them before diving in to the high-powered ceviche. A few slugs of dry petite syrah from Fleur de California Winery nonetheless helped reset the palate in between.

Fisherman John Law is one of Sea Rocket’s primary suppliers of spiny lobster, an affable guy whom we met upon our arrival as he was making a delivery. Knowing full well of a super-fresh bounty in the house, we ordered lobster risotto as one of our entrées. Though to our dismay, we waited about 40 minutes for the meal to arrive, and it turned up as a gummy blob of wallpaper glue.

“Risotto gone wrong,” we concluded. A victim of over-stirring perhaps? In wading through the Arborio rice grains, riddled also with pieces of overcooked portobello mushrooms, we fished out a few chunks of perfectly cooked lobster meat, and then left the rest for dead.

Our second entrée, a fish sandwich using available yellowtail, didn’t float our boats either. The filet was waterlogged by too many tomatoes and from lettuce that I’m guessing wasn’t fully dried after being rinsed. And with the addition of melted Gouda cheese on the sandwich, plus chimchurri sauce (parsley, cilantro, lemon and olive oil), the yellowtail didn’t stand a chance at revealing its delicate flavor.

While Sea Rocket’s ocean gems are indisputably fresh and sustainable, their preparations and accompaniments might strike some as being overstated. Barbecued pinquito beans served with the fish sandwich, for instance, proved a dominating mismatch. And when a friend recently reported an order of seared scallops on the menu, she pooh-poohed the smoky mashed potatoes served alongside, saying they distracted from the main event.

A couple of red-meat choices were recently added to the menu, such as Da-Le Ranch pork chops with whole grain mustard sauce and lamb chili, neither of which grabbed us since we came here with the ocean in mind. Though back on land, we enjoyed a sweet ending with a slice of pie incorporating rich macadamia nuts from a local Fallbrook supplier.

As the newest saying goes in today’s restaurant scene: “Keep it fresh and keep it local and it will probably taste good,” Sea Rocket is wholeheartedly on board.