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San Diego Menu Favorites

by Deena Ensworth

San Diego chefs continue to push the bar with innovative, farm-fresh foods. Take a peek at what dishes keep us coming back for more:

Beef: Let it be known that Carl Schroeder is our favorite San Diego chef. Although it’s hard to choose a single dish from his eclectic, ever-changing menu at Market Restaurant + Bar, his fork-tender beef short ribs top our list. We never tire of eating these sumptuous, meaty ribs served with whipped sweet onion potatoes, choy sum and intensely flavored Cabernet jus.

Burgers: San Diegans can get pretty serious about their burgers. There is the Hodad’s camp and then there are the Rocky’s Crown Pub fans…but to us the Beaumont burger, served in Birdrock's Beaumont’s restaurant, beats them all. This hearty combination of beef, pork and veal is topped with balsamic-glazed onions, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and basil aioli—earning it our “Best Burger In Town” stamp of approval.

Blanca

Chocolate: Every restaurant has a version of the flourless chocolate cake. Quite frankly, we prefer to order something a little on the more adventurous side—but Jennifer Lango’s (of Solana Beach’s Blanca) version is the exception. Decadent, not too cakey, not too gooey…this is the cake that sets the San Diego benchmark. Keep your eye on this woman—we foresee great sweets to come…

Comfort Food: Georgian restaurant Pomegranate serves a spectacular array of rib-sticking peasant dishes from the old country. This cozy, sometimes raucous restaurant is where we go when on chilly nights for zharkoyie, braised beef with baby onions, dried fruit and KGB secret spices. A bowl of this rich Russian stew followed by a samovar of hot tea will warm any soul.

Communal Dining: Fine food lovers shouldn’t miss the A.R. Valentien’s Thursday night Artisan’s Table—where diners are seated with other epicureans and served family-style. Chef Jeff Jackson’s menu is never the same but we’ve enjoyed such diverse dishes as crostini with fresh chick peas, poached pullet egg and summer truffles; horseradish-crusted beef cheeks with English peas and house-made tessa; and locally-caught fluke with clams, white wine sauce and Romano beans.

Crab Cakes: The Oceanaire Seafood Room’s signature Maryland blue crab cake is divine—possibly the finest we’ve eaten. Forget what you think you know about crab cakes; this heaping mound of sweet crab meat isn’t deep fried or dominated by mayonnaise and bread crumbs. Instead, chef Brian Malarkey melds the sweet, briny seafood flavors with sharp mustard and Worcestershire.

The Guild

Design: It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer artistry of The Guild. Industrially glamorous, conceptual without feeling contrived, stylish but not pretentious, The Guild has set the bar for a new type of San Diego restaurant. Co-owner Paul Basile originally designed The Guild as a meeting place for architects, artisans and artists to enjoy fine food and good company; their creative energy has attracted the rest of San Diego to up-and-coming Barrio Logan for the chance to rub elbows with the city’s creative elite. We love the hand-crafted furniture, the combination of glass, steel and textured wood, the use of multiple, bi-level spaces and the sneak-peak window into Basile’s functioning furniture design studio.

Dessert: James Foran, who splits his time creating innovative desserts for Market Restaurant + Bar and the Marriott’s Arterra, continues to wow us with his unusual, exciting flavor combinations. His chilled pear soup with impossibly airy cream cheese-ricotta fritters with stewed cranberries and poached pear sorbet proves that fantasy desserts don’t have to be chocolate.

Exotic: Adventurous, flavor-seeking diners will be pleased with the intelligently, intuitively matched dishes of The Marine Room’s Bernard Guillas. His wattle seed-crusted ostrich filets transport us to Australia; the accompanying Kabocha squash tian recalls Morocco, the brandy-soaked cherries evoke Germany and the ice wine jus leaves us in Scandinavia. Talk about global fusion!

Onion Rings: Hodad’s, the epitome of Ocean Beach hippie-surfer casualness, is famed for their mammoth, messy burgers. But our Hodad dreams are not of the meat variety; rather we crave their thick-cut, batter-dipped onion rings. Deep fried crunchy perfection!

Pork: Chef Michael Davis has tweaked Dobson’s menu enough to make it current, yet left the local favorites intact. Our hands-down choice is the Kurobuta pork; sides of haricot vert, toasted almonds and raspberry vinegar demi glace are on the mellow side, allowing the natural pork flavors to shine through.

Risotto: The beauty of executive chef Tony DiSalvo’s menu at The Dining Room at Jack’s lies in the subtly layered, well-researched recipes. Case in point: his butter-poached Maine lobster risotto with green apple and kefir lime broth. Dishes such as this are to be savored: take time to smell the aromas, visually feast on the artful presentation and taste his unique blend of flavors.

Salad: Nine-Ten’s chef Jason Knibb elevates the salad course to a high level. His artfully arranged Black Mission fig-baby arugula salad bursts with the strong flavors of shaved truffles, Parma prosciutto, Parmigiano-Reggiano and jammy fig vinegar syrup.

Small Plates: Yakitori Yakyudori is a humble strip mall restaurant with very little square footage and even less ambiance. What this authentic Japanese yakitori bar does have in spades, though, are bold ingredients with big flavors. It’s all about the food here, and the most impressive item is their pork shiso roll. Strips of marbled pork are rolled pinwheel style with shiso leaves (Japanese basil), skewered on wooden sticks and grilled to caramelized perfection. These tasty tidbits are even better when dipped in umibashi plum sauce and accompanied by an ice cold Orion beer.

George’s California Modern

Soup: The food at Trattoria Acqua is Italian by way of California, traditional at times, but adventurous more often than not. One such example is the pastry-crowned lobster-lemongrass bisque. Chef Hugo Lee modernizes the classic bisque recipe with the bright Asian flavor of lemongrass and adds glamour to the presentation with a puffed pastry topping.

View: George’s at the Cove has been a La Jolla institution for over twenty years. Their prime Prospect Street location looks directly across to the sweeping cliffs of Black’s beach and the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows afford nearly every table a bird’s eye view of this fantastic panorama. Owner George Hauer completely revamped the formal dining room and reopened it as George’s California Modern, but thankfully the view remains same.