Chef Daniel Roberts wants you to work for your meal.

The executive chef at Marina del Rey Mediterranean seafood restaurant Café Del Rey, Roberts will lead as many as 190 guests – he expects 10 to 20 on each trip – on two deep-sea fishing expeditions Oct. 5, bringing their catches back to the restaurant to be cooked for dinner.

The excursions, which will take place at 7 a.m. and noon on a 75-foot vessel that can accommodate 96 people, will run $80 for the four-and-a-half hour fishing trip. The cost includes fishing license, bait, rods – and dinner.

If this trip is popular enough, Roberts said he’ll consider adding a spring trip, in addition to one on the books for next summer.

An avid angler, Roberts admitted his work made it tough to keep up with his hobby. When he gets the chance, he goes to Palos Verdes to fish and relax. With this event, he gets to balance both his culinary and sporting passions.

“It’s more fun when you’re on a boat with a bunch of people going deep-sea fishing,” Roberts said. “It allows us to connect with our guests.”

The idea for the event came up after Roberts brought a few journalists along on a fishing trip. During a restaurant marketing meeting a few weeks later, he suggested it would be a great idea if he could re-create the experience with the restaurant’s patrons.

Planning the evening’s menu might be a challenge: The Southern California coast is home to a wide array of fish, from salmon grouper to red snapper and halibut.

And what about the ones that got away?

Roberts said he isn’t worried that the day’s haul won’t be enough to feed all the participants. For one thing, he is confident he could catch some extra fish for his patrons. But he is also prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“If we all go bust, I guess we’ll just go back to the restaurant and have some chopped fish of some kind,” he laughed.

– Justin Yang