Food & Drink RESTAURANT REVIEW
ABOVE Ocio Design Group created a gilded bird cage, replete with gothy Golden Girls wallpaper. RIGHT Chef Jonathan Bautista puts the finishing touches on the congee—the greatest porridge in San Diego. OPPOSITE PAGE The scallops (center image) rest in a sauce that sounds ghastly on paper—pineapple and fish sauce—but in execution is a study in the ideal combo for a dish: salty, sweet, acidic. gone-wrong scent mellows. What’s left amplifies every flavor; adds a resonant meatiness to each bite. It’s a staple in many Asian kitchens and my own, and most Americans have tasted its charms whether they realize it or not, since Worcestershire is at its core, a bottle of anchovies. Kingfisher in Golden Hill is a showroom for fish sauce from chef Jonathan Bautista. It’s in the shrimp, poached in Thai flavors (makrut lime leaf, lemongrass) and tossed in fish sauce, lemon juice, palm sugar, and an un-shy amount of Thai chiles. It’s in the crispy chicken wings, that famed Viet specialty. They’re marinated for a full day in fish sauce, palm sugar, and black pepper, then dipped in a slurry of Sauternes, potato starch, and wonder flour—the result turns chicken wings into a creation that brings to mind the phrase “saucy kettle corn.” They are not yet serving fish sauce Negronis, though I have to guess it’s imminent. The indoor-outdoor space is in Golden Hill, looking west over East Village and downtown. It’s the gray box around the corner from the Cricket Wireless store, an elegant improv of a space lined in brass. Inside, the wallpaper is floor-to-ceiling flowers and tropical green and lime green with some pink petals—a motif I’m calling Golden Girls goth.
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FEBRUARY 2023
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