La Jolla’s Mermaids & Cowboys switches gears with new operating partner

It’s been a long road to success for Mermaids & Cowboys, a surf-and-turf restaurant that opened in 2020 on Prospect Street in La Jolla. But a new leader with longtime local credentials is optimistic that the changes he’s made to the menu and service model in recent months will make Mermaids the neighborhood hangout it has been aiming to be.

Dwayne Gale became Mermaids’ operating partner in February. Before that, he spent 10 years as executive chef across the street at Eddie V’s. He also opened Buck’s Meat Market in February on Fay Avenue in La Jolla along with business partner Steve Horowitz.

When Mermaids owners Michael Matthews and Brett Murphy offered Gale a stake in the business, he came over and brought Elias Gonzales, his chef de cuisine at Eddie V’s, to lead the kitchen team as executive chef.

Gale focuses on the front of the house and business operations. Since he arrived, about 90 percent of the menu has been changed and new tableside services, a happy hour and live music have been added, he said.

“We’re trying to make it the neighborhood place to be,” Gale said.

Dwayne Gale (right), pictured with his Buck’s Meat Market partner, Steve Horowitz, is Mermaids & Cowboys’ new operating partner.

(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Mermaids & Cowboys replaced the former Alfonso’s restaurant at 1251 Prospect. Originally it was going to be a Ways & Means Oyster House. But the Ways & Means concept folded in 2020 and the partners developed a new concept, Mermaids & Cowboys, which opened that October.

As COVID-19 cases spiked in fall 2020, the partners temporarily closed Mermaids & Cowboys, then reopened in spring 2021. But the concept struggled to make its mark in the crowded La Jolla restaurant community.

Erik Freshley was hired for his first executive chef role, combining elements of barbecue and fine dining, but Matthews said he left last summer about seven months after starting.

Finally, after searching for a new full-time leader for Mermaids & Cowboys, Matthews and Murphy approached Gale, who Murphy said had made Eddie V’s one of the area’s most popular date-night destinations.

Mermaids & Cowboys’ menu includes spicy maple-glazed quail with frisee, micro greens and house vinaigrette.

(Pam Kragen / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Gale started with the menu, replacing virtually all the fried foods with healthier items. He took the heavy sauces off the fresh fish, changed up a pasta dish and added seasonal side dishes and desserts. He revamped the Oysters Rockefeller recipe to be more authentic to the Gulf Coast, where he grew up, and he introduced some flambéed dishes for more memorable presentation. He also added live country-pop music Wednesday through Friday evenings and weekday happy hours beginning at 4 p.m.

Asked to name some of his favorite dishes on the menu, Gale recommended the spicy maple-glazed quail; the flambéed hot rock beef satay with ginger ponzu and rosemary sprigs; and the pan-roasted Chilean sea bass with risotto, forest mushrooms and crab fondue. For dessert, he recommends the seasonal fruit cobblers or the butter cake, which is topped with bourbon pecan ice cream and a bourbon caramel glaze, which is flambéed tableside.

Pan-roasted Chilean sea bass with risotto, forest mushrooms and crab fondue is served at Mermaids & Cowboys.

(Pam Kragen / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“We’re at a different level these days,” Matthews said. “It’s a completely new restaurant.”

As a longtime La Jolla resident with decades of restaurant experience, Gale said he’s determined to make Mermaids & Cowboys an enduring success. He’s in the dining room every evening to greet guests, many of whom were his loyal customers at Eddie V’s.

“I feel like this is my year. Everything has come together,” Gale said. “If you’d asked me in January if I knew I’d end up here, I wouldn’t have believed it. But I feel like this is where I was destined to be.”

— La Jolla Light staff writer Elisabeth Frausto contributed to this report. ◆