The Manhattan Ocean Club has provided Steven Mellina with a dramatic stage on which to present his classic seafood cuisine. One of America's spotlighted and distinguished new breed of young chefs, Mellina started cooking professionally at the age of 14. His credentials include a year of training at the Cordon Bleu (Paris) as well as working with Michel Guerard and Paul Bocuse. Mellina held responsible positions in various Caribbean establishments, after which he became associated with such prestigious New York operations as The Helmsley Palace Hotel and La Gauloise. Gael Greene, writing for New York magazine, called his crab cake an "aristocratic patty, nothing but crab with a tangy mustard sauce." Jay Jacobs, writing in Gourmet magazine, had this to say about Mellina's style at The Manhattan Ocean Club: "To his great credit, Chef Mellina respects the integrity of quality seafoods and serves them forth with the sort of probity they deserve."