Entrepreneur Felicia Wilson and partner/chef Darryl Harmon is scheduled to bring a new Southern seafood fusion restaurant to University City next year, writes Emma Dooling for the Philadelphia Business Journal. 

The new restaurant, Amina Ocean, will fill the ground floor anchor retail space in the $100 million life sciences development, University Place 3.0.

Amina Ocean is expected to begin construction in February and open late next fall. 

It will occupy 4,800 square feet and seat 118 people, including at a 20-seat bar and across roughly 24 outdoor seats. The restaurant will also feature a small stage where local artists can perform, as well as a private dining room.

Wilson’s plan for the restaurant is to blend Southern cuisine and seafood, with potential dishes including pan-seared scallops on candied yams and branzino paired with collard greens. 

It will also have African-inspired design elements. 

“We didn’t want to go for the traditional blues that you kind of think of when you think of seafood restaurants. … We wanted to do something definitely different, definitely that the city doesn’t have,” Wilson said.

The goal is for the restaurant to be somewhere the surrounding community can gather throughout the day.

Read more about plans for Amina Ocean in University City at the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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