The restaurant’s Cioppino is a longtime menu favorite.

Tinkering with Mama Scoma’s cioppino recipe— you know the one; it’s been on Scoma’s menu since they opened on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf in 1965 and in Sausalito since it opened in 1970—should only be attempted by a masterful chef. So when Chef Gordon Drysdale came aboard as Scoma’s culinary director in 2014, the chef known for Gordon’s House of Fine Eats, Bix, and Fog City Diner aimed high. He transitioned the seafood program to 100% sustainable (originally certified by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, now certified by the Aquarium of the Bay Sustainable Seafood Alliance). Drysdale only buys farmed salmon that meets the Alliance’s green standard.

“[Between the San Francisco and Sausalito locations], we can use over 1,000 salmon in a season,” Drysdale says. “Is it fair to remove that many from a critically endangered species?”

Longtime fans may recall that Scoma’s boat was approved to fish for their own salmon and crab from Pier 47. Though the boat is no more, Drysdale’s silver lining is the long-running relationships with other fishermen operating out of Pier 45. With seven types of fish and shellfish (Littleneck clams, mussels, lingcod or other white fish, Gulf shrimp, scallops, calamari and crabmeat), Scoma’s cioppino relies on those close-knit relationships to ensure exceptional freshness.

Chefs Jesus Escobar and Gordon Drysdale on the deck at Scoma’s in Sausalito.

Other elements of the cioppino underwent a “gentle refresh,” Drysdale says. Out with frozen vegetables and unsustainable cuttlefish; in with Sicilian oregano, San Marzano tomatoes, and smaller clams and mussels. Also gone? Whole crab legs. “Who would want to burn their fingers cleaning boiling-sauce-covered crab legs?,” Drysdale wondered.

The simpler presentation marks a change from the dish’s early days when the cioppino was offered both shell-on as well as “lazy,” that is, with most of the shells removed. The next generation of the Scoma family—Al’s daughter, Sancia Scoma, is a co-owner as is her sister’s husband, Tom Creedon—alongside San Francisco Head Chef Luis Albarenga and Sausalito’s 56-year co-owners, Roland and Victor Gotti and their Executive Chef Jesus Escobar, balance a commitment to flavor and community.

“That’s why I’m there,” says Drysdale. “It’s about the people.”