Riva Mare, a seafood-focused Italian restaurant, plans to open in late summer on the rooftop of the Navy Yard Charleston in North Charleston. Sean McMullen, who has spent two years as chef de cuisine at Luminosa in Asheville, has been named executive chef.

McMullen helped shape Luminosa’s combination of Italian cooking and Appalachian ingredients alongside executive chef Graham House. The restaurant earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and Green Star in the inaugural American South guide. McMullen’s cooking has been built around relationships with farmers, whole-animal butchery, and preservation techniques including fermenting, pickling, and dehydrating. At Riva Mare, his new surroundings will supply a different set of regional ingredients.  The restaurant is taking inspiration from the Amalfi and Ligurian coasts, emphasizing seafood, vegetables, olive oil, and the brighter side of Italian cooking.