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MISTER A’S CAVIAR
PARADISAEA KUROBUTA PORK CHOP It is lovely in here. A designer’s dream built into a former La Jolla piano showroom— and also a pretty fantastic restaurant. Chef Mark Welker was the executive pastry
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TATER TOTS One of the top French chefs in the city offers his take on the best thing that ever happened to American school lunches. If you don’t like
THE MARINE ROOM
DRY AGED BLUEFIN TUNA CARPACCIO The best food news of
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recent times is that the stock of bluefin tuna has now recovered to a point that NOAA considers it a “smart seafood choice.” So local bluefin is, once again, a San Diego calling card. Enter Marine Room chef Mike Minor’s wild, pretty carpaccio—thin-sliced bluefin, lemon zest, apple blossom, lemon oil, truffle oil, yuzu salt, micro- cilantro, summer truffles, coral lace.
chef at NYC’s Eleven Madison Park (widely regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world). Try the chops, blush-pink Kurobatas in a tarragon cream sauce and jus with lapsang souchong, a Japanese oxidized black tea.
them, you may be broken. They’re “loaded tots” made in a Mister A’s way, with caviar, chantilly cream, and chives. Four-star snack bar.
CUCINA ENOTECA OCTOPUS
Octopus done wrong is old erasers. Done right, it’s this—tender, with the right bit of chew, edges charred crisp. Enoteca exec chef Cesar Sarmiento has a doozy of a version that sings thanks to a hazelnut romesco sauce you could bottle and guzzle.
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NINE-TEN GRILLED
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HALF JERK
CHICKEN Chef Jason Knibb was born in Jamaica and raised in SoCal, so
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MARISI MARISI G&T
no surprise his jerk with local-farm co-stars is fantastic. It’s a half-chicken, brined for 24 hours to guarantee juiciness, stacked with those famous jerk spices, then smoked and charred on the grill. It comes with confit Japanese sweet potato and a Fresno chili sofrito.
Marisi’s Spirits VP Beau du Bois is a refined booze encyclopedia. But sometimes the best drinks don’t require nouveau science. Just a slight shift of perspective. Take this Portuguese riff on the classic gin and tonic. The addition of white port—fortified, sweet wine—creates a bright, peachy, almost vanilla sweet-bitter cocktail that’s worlds better than just juniper and quinine.
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JUNIPER & IVY TUNA WELLINGTON Welcome back, ’80s fashion and beef Wellington. You
love puff pastry? Juicy steak catalyzes your happiness? How about we wrap that steak in puff pastry? Only, in San Diego, we don’t really ranch. We fish. Juniper & Ivy chef Anthony Wells has a long track record of loitering on local fishing boats. He Wellingtons
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VALLE WAGYU STRIP
When chef Roberto Alcocer opened Valle in 2021, he said his goal was a Michelin star. This July, he got it. The only option for dinner is an eight- course prix-fixe that includes this stunner: Wagyu strip steak with shiitake mushrooms, plus daikon radish that’s confit (or marinated) in bone marrow.
SOLOMON BAGELS & DONUTS EVERYTHING BAGEL
Local bakeries have tried all kinds of soul- trading to recreate the almighty boiled-shiny NYC bagel, but still we suffered. Enter Jeffrey Wang, bagel hero. He started in New York and built a bagel empire. His were so good that he eventually sold the whole shebang to Einstein Bagels and retired in San Diego. He came out of seclusion to grace us with Solomon Bagels, one of the best in the city.
top-quality local tuna instead of steak and serves it with a tuna bordelaise.
25 SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE
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