From sushi to poke bowls, S.E.A. Dinette has served a variety of seafood since its opening on Sept. 8, 2024, replacing the space in McCullough Student Center that once housed the student-run Crossroads Café and then Wilson Café for the 2023–2024 academic year, which sold Starbucks products. The space that once smelled of lattes and cappuccinos is now a stop for South East Asian cuisine, wildly altering the purpose and aura of the space.
As the new food retail operation works its way into Middlebury campus culture, students have responded in various ways — ranging from excitement to disinterest. At the forefront of the enthusiasm is S.E.A Dinette founder and long-time Middlebury partner John Maru.
Maru started his sushi journey at Middlebury by working with Sushi with Gusto, a franchise which was absorbed by a larger company in 2018. Maru then decided to start his own business, Sushi Maru, so he could pursue his passion: making sushi to bring people together.
“I realized that if the company I worked with is no longer running its business, but I’m still here doing sushi, why don’t I try to have a deal with the college directly?” Maru asked. “So I tried to meet with the Dining System Director, then Dan [Detora], and I talked about what I wanted it to be. I want to run my own [business].”
Maru has been operating Sushi Maru since 2020, hand-crafting his specialty sold in Midd Xpress, Crossroads and now in S.E.A. Dinette — served with a smile and an extra piece of sushi, if you’re lucky.
Between Maru’s interest and financial issues in The Grille and Crossroads at the time, it seemed like a natural choice to let Maru create and operate S.E.A. Dinette independently from the college, wrote Director of Food Operations Dan Detora in an email to The Campus. This is unlike Crossroads, which is student-run and operates under Retail Food Operations.
“We were looking for a way to give more variety to the campus community. Grille sales were very low during the daytime hours, and we were asked to close [during those hours] due to financial reasons. This left a void in the space. We have had a long-standing relationship with John Maru, as he has produced our Sushi for many years. He was asking for additional space for hot items, so we felt this would work well in the current location,” Detora wrote.
During the initial years of Sushi Maru, Maru made his sushi in Crossroads with students. After two years, he moved to the Freeman International Center (FIC) in a kosher kitchen, which he did for four years. Working alone, Maru expressed how he missed connecting with students, an experience that S.E.A Dinette has revived for him.
“I used to have communication directly working upfront with students, and since I moved to the FIC building, I hadn’t had any contact with customers, staff, faculty, students. I was all by myself alone in the FIC building. I would say it wasn’t really good. Still good, but not this much,” Maru said.
In its early stages, many students have responded favorably to S.E.A. Anastasia Liapkovich ’28 described having just bought a salmon poke bowl earlier this week — an evening study snack.
“I usually go to S.E.A. Dinette when I have a busy week or need to destress, so it helps me relax by eating good food. I used to get sushi at home all the time, so it’s kind of nostalgic,” Liapkovich said.
“As someone who’s from the desert, I appreciate access to fresh and tasty seafood,” said Ridgly Anzalone ’28, a lifelong New Mexico resident.
But not all students know about S.E.A. Dinette, or frequent the space as much as they used to when coffee was sold there. Agnes Heffner ’25.5 reflected on her experience ordering their food.
“The people were very nice, the service was very fast, but the options that I chose were subpar and a little disappointing. My pork inside the bao buns was great, but the outside broke four of my plastic forks when I tried to eat it. I do know that the fried egg noodles are really good,” Heffner said.
Heffner thinks that the S.E.A Dinette makes the space feel more like a restaurant than a place to study, leading her to be less inclined to spend time there than she was when coffee was available. She thinks that they should consider selling more beverage options, such as bubble tea, to attract more customers and enliven the space.
“I’ve honestly never heard of it,” Violet Ross ’25 wrote to The Campus. “I haven’t spent time in the space since it was the Crossroads location my freshman year (2021–22). I spent a lot of time in the space that year doing work and hanging out with my friends and I loved it.”
As S.E.A. Dinette gets on its feet, only time will tell to what extent it will be a financial success.
“I think people love it, and so do I. What I’m trying to say is, yes. It’s getting busier than before,” Maru said, beaming.
Editor’s Note: Managing Editor Madeleine Kaptein ’25.5 and News Editor Evan Weiss ’25 contributed reporting to this article.
Rachelle Talbert '28 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Rachelle previously served as a Copy Editor. She intends to major in English with minors in Art History and Linguistics.
