Tri-tip sando anyone?

Deanna Sandoval

In an innocuous-looking restaurant, a culinary romp around the world awaits. The catch: It isn’t located Downtown or Little Italy or North Park. It’s in the emerging north.

With flavors from Latin America and Asia and a little Southern cooking, the dishes at Inland Tavern in San Marcos remain rooted in Southern California. Prime example: the Korean Cali Burrito. Skirt steak is marinated in a sweet and spicy Korean gochujang sauce and then grilled, wrapped up alongside thick-cut fries (essential, or else it’s not a Cali burrito), given a deep note with caramelized onions, and served with a cooling curry sauce.

Delicious.

Located on the main commercial artery of San Marcos Boulevard, Inland Tavern is surrounded by fast food chains, and for now, a clanking orchestra of construction as the city erects its Creekside District (a $108 million project to build bridges, bike lanes, and trails, restore habitat, prevent flooding, just generally improve the area). This summer, the restaurant relaunched its menu under chef Keith Lord, who started his career at the Lark Creek Inn in Marin County, before becoming a staple in San Diego’s catering scene (Wild Thyme, Picnic People). Lord worked closely with owner Pete Zacarias on a land-and-sea menu—enough intrigue to lure adventurous palates without scaring away the timid.

The word ‘elevated’ is overused in food journalism precisely because it works in cases like this: Inland Tavern does elevated pub food. Take the Caesar salad, for instance. It’s garnished with rose water-pickled onions for a gentler bite and dusted with finely grated nutty, salty Parmigiano-Reggiano—flavors that contrast beautifully with the creamy dressing. Slivered Brussels sprouts add enough substance to order as a meal, and crushed croutons bring just enough crunch and yield—thankfully unlike the rock hard, bagged-and-boxed squares that have wrecked the roofs of mouths for generations. This salad is exceptional.

Inland Tavern’s ‘elevated’ Caesar salad

Deanna Sandoval

If dining with a group, start with a few rounds of shrimp and salmon poke seasoned with furikake and served with taro chips (ask for more chips). Then add the flatbread with labneh, a soft Mediterranean yogurt so thick it’s nearly the consistency of cheese, drizzled with olive oil and amped up with za’atar (a spice blend starring toasted sesame seeds, sumac, and oregano).

Next, order the Katsu Crack Sando. This one’s substantial enough to share, and may require a fork, a knife, and ambition. The famed tri-tip from Seaside Market (known colloquially as Cardiff Crack) gets the katsu treatment (breaded with panko crumbs and fried) while griddled slices of Hokkaido milk bread aims to contain crunchy kimchi slaw, garlic aioli, hot mustard, and Asian BBQ sauce.

A perfect order at Inland Tavern

Deanna Sandoval

For vegetarians and vegans, well, there’s always water and oxygen. Not much. But they’ve got a few salads and a hearts of palm ceviche, which proves zesty and refreshing with microgreens, quartered watermelon radish slices, and charred lime. Again… elevated. As I snack on cream cheese-stuffed garlic milk bread rolls (softer and fluffier than the average bread roll), I watch a pair of regulars hem and haw over the ceviche, then suspiciously inspect the dish, and finally call chef Lord over to rave about it.

In addition to its new menu, happy hour specials include 20 percent off appetizers and $2 off craft beers on tap, a Taco Tuesday lineup of carnitas, carne asada, and shrimp tacos, and half-off wings on Wednesdays.

I’ll make it out for weekend brunch as soon as I’ve had my fill of that Caesar salad.

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Steak Sandwich from Miho Gastrotruck

Steak Sandwich @ Miho Gastrotruck

Had this at the one-year-old birthday party of a friend. While most of my friends are plying their pals with discount pizza, this friend splurged for one of the city’s best food trucks. And this sandwich was phenomenal—grilled grass-fed hangar steak, swiss, crispy shallots, frisee, horseradish aioli, ciabatta bread. Food from a truck has been drastically upgraded throughout America, but Miho is exceptional even for the exceptional crowd.

Gazpacho from Brockton Villa

Gazpacho @ Brockton Villa

Brockton Villa’s very, very happy about the city’s project to clean up the eau-de-seagull that mars their million-dollar view of La Jolla Cove. I sat there the morning it started and the difference was noticeable (placebo effect)? On their summer lunch menu, the gazpacho is a winner—grilled runken shrimp in tomato gazpacho with a summer melon and avocado salsa, plus a citrus-and-chive crème fraiche. A spicy little number, real bright with the melon. And as a native I must admit it took me this long to taste their “Coast Toast,” a legendary riff on French toast that tastes more like bread pudding topped with ice cream. Lived up to its billing. 1325 Coast Blvd., La Jolla, 858.454.7393

Beet Salad from Bellamy’s

Beet Salad @ Bellamy’s

Can’t repeat this enough. One of San Diego’s two Master French Chefs (an official, hard-to-come-by designation) is cooking at Bellamy’s in Escondido. At least for the next few months (at which point he’ll head up the group’s bigger project, Bandy Canyon Ranch). And sure he makes a pretty amazing parsley risotto with lobster chunks. But this beet salad is edible art, with glistening roasted red-and-gold beets, beet ice cream, warm goat cheese tart and watercress—all served over a “soil” made of dried porcini powder, pistachio and cocoa nibb. Just beyond. 417 W. Grand Ave., Escondido, 760.747.500.

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What you’ll get is beautifully prepared seafood nestled between slices of warm, toasted bread, flavored by house-made aiolis, rubs, and marinades; chopped bacon; Asian-marinated chopped tomatoes; and some crispy lettuce. Bread-averse? No problem. They don’t advertise it, but you can get salads that mimic the various sandwiches—which are cleverly named after mythological sea creatures, such as Siren, Nessie, and Hydra.

Sandwiches range from $8 to $10. Currently, you can find SuperNatural Sandwiches on Sundays and Wednesdays at the Public Market, but they’re eyeing some additional markets to participate in.

Here are a few I tasted.

SuperNatural Sandwiches

Harpy

Just when you thought you’d had shrimp in every possible way, here comes the mouthwatering Harpy sandwich. Sweet Mexican white shrimp are beautifully grilled and still tender to the bite. Between them are dabs of tangy goat cheese, crispy pieces of smoked bacon, a rich tri-chili aioli interspersed with balsamic glaze, and a sprinkling of tomatoes marinated in ginger, rice wine vinegar, miren, peanut oil, and chives. $9

Kraken

Eggert’s wife is from Bangkok, and when they go there to visit family, they always stop at a three-story palace that makes their favorite red curry crab. When it came time to develop the menu, Eggert—the chef of the duo—adapted the red curry crab  into crab cakes, using a combo of Pacific stone crabs and blue crabs. You get two of these mildly spicy cakes with a squeeze of their version of tartar sauce made with citrus and horseradish, along with greens and those yummy Asian-marinated tomatoes. $10

Neptune

These sautéed petite bay scallops marry beautifully with crispy smoked bacon and are elevated by the three-chili “pyro” aioli and new avocado ponzu sauce. It’s a big sandwich, so get a fork to help you make the most out of it. $9

The aiolis are all so delicious I asked Eggert for a recipe for one of them. I got their sublime basic garlic aioli, which I can share with you here. This pairs well with shrimp, white-fleshed fish, and crab.

RECIPE

Elemental Aioli

From SuperNatural Sandwiches – makes 12 ounces

For Roasted Garlic

• 1 head garlic
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 gloves fresh garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ lemon, zest and juice
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon chives, minced
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (to taste) salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (to taste) white pepper, ground

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the first layer of skin from the garlic head. Rinse thoroughly and dry the garlic head. Cut off the top 1/3 of the head, exposing the cloves. Place two 8″X 8″ sheets of foil on top of each other and place the garlic head in the center. Cup the foil around the garlic and drizzle with the tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, close the foil around the garlic, and place on a sheet pan to bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. To extract the roasted garlic, let cool to the touch, open the foil to expose the top of the garlic, and squeeze the entire bundle.

2. Combine the egg, fresh garlic, and roasted garlic paste to a blending container. Using an immersion blender, pulse until combined and frothy.

3. Combine oils in a container for pouring.

4. With the immersion blending running, slowly drizzle in the oil until just combined.

5. Add lemon juice and zest to the mixture and blend until smooth.

6. Add water as needed to thin aioli.

7. Fold in chives and season to taste with salt and pepper.

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