One of the chef Lay Alston’s signature recipes, which she calls shimi sauce, is an herb-forward blend modeled after chimichurri with a few twists of her own — bird’s-eye chiles for a spicy kick, a dab of miso and coconut sugar to lend mild sweetness, and fish sauce to add a savory depth. The confetti-like sauce holds together well and is loosened with lime juice for a pop of acidity. The sauce lovingly coats shrimp here, but can go over any seafood, meat or vegetable. Ms. Alston often serves the dish at her pop-up dining series Yaya’s Crib, which she hosts out of kitchen spaces in San Diego, with a mission to create accessible culinary spaces for herself and her guests. She recommends taking your time when charring the shrimp and her words sound like poetry: “The pan hisses when the shrimp hit the pan … and for a moment the kitchen fills with that clean, briny scent of the ocean meeting heat. You don’t rush this part. You let the shrimp tell you when they’re ready.” Ms. Alston recommends serving the shrimp “with warm jasmine rice and a summer salad: charred corn, juicy tomatoes and ripe mango that tastes like sunshine that stayed a little longer than expected.”