Santana Row is sticking with the seafood genre for the prime space that was home to the Lark Creek Restaurant Group’s Lark Creek Blue and Yankee Pier.

EMC Seafood & Raw Bar, a popular and rapidly expanding Southern California chain, will open its first Northern California location at the upscale San Jose center. A summertime opening is planned for the restaurant known for its emphasis on raw seafood from uni (sea urchin) to oysters and such specialties as congee (rice porridge) with abalone or clams

Co-founder Michael Kwan launched EMC in 2013 in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, and has since added restaurants in Irvine, Woodland Hills and most recently, Santa Anita.

The menu is more Asian-Californian fusion than Korean, wrote Los Angeles Times reviewer Stephanie Cha, recommending the “fresh, briny and sweet” uni either in its raw form or with pasta, and the tempura-fried soft-shell crab sliders. Also, “you can’t go wrong with oysters,” she said.

The OC Weekly raved about the lobster ravioli, and the L.A. Daily News praised the restaurant’s “sophisticated” look and the blue crab lettuce cups with an “old-school Louie sauce.”

Diners who don’t eat seafood or fish will find a couple of burgers at lunchtime and steak at dinner.

For a look at the SoCal menus, go to www.emcseafood.com