When a boy grows up in a town called King Salmon, Alaska, chances are he’ll have a passing interest in fish. That’s certainly true for chef Patrick Hoogerhyde, of Bridge Seafood, in Anchorage. Wild game and fish played a part in everyday meals for this kid on the subarctic Alaskan Peninsula, and it fostered his appreciation for where food comes from and how it’s made. It even led him to pursue studies at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon.

Wherever Hoogerhyde has cooked—Anchorage’s Marx Bros. Café, the Crow’s Nest, the Marriott Hotel (where he received a company award of excellence), restaurant Orso, Glacier Brewhouse, and the Snow Goose Restaurant—he’s put that appreciation to work, devising seafood dishes that combine global culinary invention with the best of what Alaska brings. At Bridge, the emphasis is on peerless seafood cooked simply: Kachmak Bay oysters on the half-shell, grilled Sockeye salmon steaks, King crab, and a cioppino of all-Alaskan catch. A winner of the local chapter of the American Culinary Federation’s Chef of the Year award, Hoogerhyde also placed in the Great American Seafood Cook-off competition. What else would you expect from a chef from King Salmon?