Hell’s Kitchen

Zach Cordner

When you’re Harrah’s, you do not go small. Understated is not what we desire with our casino experience. No thanks midcentury. Not now, minimalism. The lights should be lightier. Plush things plushier. The music should not be smooth nor jazz. And the restaurants and chefs should be shows themselves.

Next week Harrah’s Resort Southern California and the Rincon Tribe adhere to those casino life ground rules when they unveil the first Hell’s Kitchen in the state. It’s just the fourth location worldwide, and third in the U.S. The restaurant is, of course, named after celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s TV show that’s been going strong for 17 years (!) and counting.

Hells Kitchen Gordon

Zach Cordner

Fans of the show, and fans of food in general, now have the chance to experience reality TV in reality. The menu will feature items that have been seen on the show, such as a Mishima reserve ribeye, beef Wellington, and sticky toffee pudding. The restaurant itself looks a bit like a TV set, with a show kitchen, a plush lounge (for you, the judges), and a highly curated ocean of wine. With enough space for over 300 guests, it’s the largest Hell’s Kitchen yet

Housemade cocktails will be created specifically for the San Diego location, with names like Notes from Gordon, Fear and Loathing, and Meet Your Maker – just to name a few. The bar will have a selection of beers, wines, and spirits sourced locally from San Diego itself, making this location unlike any other.

Hell’s Kitchen opens August 12.

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Zach Cordner

Hell’s Kitchen lighting

Zach Cordner

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Zach Cordner

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Zach Cordner

Hell’s Kitchen stools

Zach Cordner

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Zach Cordner

The post First Look: Hell’s Kitchen appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The famed Stefano Ferrara pizza oven burns anywhere from 700 to 1,000 degrees.

Photo Credit: James Tran

This lake has racy secrets. I can just tell. It’s lined with unassuming single-story homes that have their own tiny docks, pontoon boats moored until the next martinis. Martinis tend to be plural on lakes. A giant inflatable unicorn suns in one of the yards, its vinyl rainbow mane lightly bleached. In the middle of the lake, a 30-foot-tall fountain blooms, like an indie version of the Bellagio water show. There is a man standing in a gondola with a striped shirt and a flat-brim hat, guiding his love canoe with his love oar. I call down to ask him how big the lake is. Says about a mile. Says there’s a little waterfall at the end. Says for a price he’ll show me a sunset.

I have wandered onto the set of Ozark. It all feels too suspiciously idyllic and hidden in plain sight to not have one or two versions of Jason Bateman running illicit lake schemes. Someone tells me Lake San Marcos is unincorporated, a word that’s always had an appealing “Timothy Leary of real estate” ring to it. No boat is allowed to have an engine over 9.9 horsepower, so it’s a nice, safe lake full of buoyant golf carts.

Forty-eight years a native and I’ve never been here. How did this manmade wonderpond of suburban serenity escape me for so long?

The puffy unicorn suggests a younger crowd is moving into Lake San Marcos, which has primarily been a golden-aged community. To be fair, it still has a strong elder scene, but an influx of new blood is also suggested by the fact that I’m eating some bruschetta and drinking a gigantic Aperol spritz on the deck of an impressive modern restaurant—Amalfi Cucina Italiana—overlooking the man in the love boat trying to sell me sunsets.

From the coast of Amalfi to the coast of San Marcos—a feast.

Photo Credit: James Tran

Lake San Marcos was created in 1946 when the landowner built a 50-foot dam on San Marcos Creek so he could have year-round access to water for his onion, tomato, and walnut crops. In the late ’50s, the lake was bought by three brothers—Bob, Don, and Gordon Frazar. More than a few thought Gordon (the lead dreamer) was nuts—a neighborhood on a glorified pond? A community in a then-rural area too far from San Diego and much too far from LA? They drained the lake, increased its size to 80 acres, and built the first master-planned lakeside development in California (also one of the first in the country). It was the first housing community to have built-in cable TV (no gaudy antennas on rooftops), and one of the first to have all utilities underground.

They put in a couple golf courses, a community center, and a grand two-story restaurant hanging over the water (originally called The Quails Inn, now Amalfi). They filled the lake with bass. The first houses were sold in 1963 for $30,000. And by god, it worked. Locals called it “the compound.”

Over the decades it’s had its share of issues. Mostly with water quality, due to agricultural runoff and algal blooms. The water can look muddy in spots and the algae can stink. It’s no Crater Lake. But in recent years a few municipal entities have taken to cleaning it, adding water purifiers. On the two days we dine here, the only scent we catch is the lusty musk of wood-fired pizza.

Imperfections aside, I love it here. Far as I’m concerned, this is boat-ramp La Jolla.

Amalfi lit up at dusk for the martini pontooners.

Photo Credit: James Tran

I also love Amalfi’s artichokes. Full stalks and hearts and tender leaves, lightly pan-fried in olive oil and served on a bed of arugula and shards of Grana Padano Parmesan.

The dish looks spartan, like just a few great things rested on a plate. But it’s incredibly delicious, proof that sometimes the best cooking technique is restraint. Amalfi imports them from Civitavecchia, Rome. In Rome, artichokes rank somewhere between carbonara and the Pope.

Amalfi opened here in summer 2020, a timing best described with many curse words. And yet, here they are. The main dining room—with its window-rich A-frame overlooking the lake—is jammed on a Saturday for lunch, packed for Tuesday lunch, stuffed for Wednesday dinner. This fact isn’t surprising given the team: four Italian friends and former leaders of the Buona Forchetta group. Chef Marcello Avitabile was the executive chef of Buona Forchetta, and is a five-time World Pizza Champion.

Some pretty famous Italian speck and sausage on a blistered pie.

Photo Credit: James Tran

Visitors see his oven when they first walk in—a custom Stefano Ferrara (the Ferrari of pizza ovens) built in Naples, golden tile, formidable, hot as hell, designed to do one thing perfectly in its lifespan. So no surprise Amalfi’s pizza is instantly in any “what’s your favorite in the city” conversation, thin crusted, leopard spotted, laden with famous ingredients. For instance, the Valtellina has speck imported from Alto Adige Sudtirol, the revered mozzarella provola di Agerola, Brie, caramelized onions, and Italian sausage flown in from Campagna. Or just get a Margherita, or have them stick a plain dough circle in the oven and eat the crust by itself. It’s that good.

Amalfi is far more than a pizza joint with fancy light fixtures. It’s a whole ode to the culinary scene of the Amalfi coast, with housemade pastas, apps, seafood, and specials. Start with the fried eggplant, tossed with San Marzano tomato sauce and topped with burrata cheese—a recipe that’s been passed down through Chef Avitabile’s family for three generations. The bruschetta is bright and beautiful, even if I wish it were toasted more—baked in the wood-fired oven, spread with burrata, topped with heirloom tomatoes, Meyer lemon zest, and olive oil chosen by Italians who know what great olive oil tastes like. The team grinds the beef for their polpette (meatballs) in house, but the key is that sauce. The meatballs rest in the San Marzano sauce for hours, trading flavors back and forth until everything is right in the world.

The house-ground meatballs rest in San Marzano sauce for hours, trading secrets.

Photo Credit: James Tran

The pizza in a jar is cute, but it’s a bit of a jumble. I don’t care if the pizza is on a plate or in a jar or on a bed of $100 bills, but I’m a stickler about wanting char on that crust and I didn’t get any. I calmed down about this immediately when I saw just how massive their bar program is—cocktails and Italian wines and beers of all stripes. It’s part Italian restaurant, part beverage emporium. Try the Amalfi Spritz (Aperol, Solerno blood orange liqueur, Prosecco, soda water) or the Four Seasons (Bacardí Superior rum, Giffard pamplemousse, cinnamon-bark syrup, lime, pineapple, and a stick of torched cinnamon).

Mind if we smoke? The Four Seasons cocktail is rum, grapefruit, cinnamon-bark syrup, lime, and pineapple, topped with torched cinnamon.

Photo Credit: James Tran

For seafood, the dish that sounds terrible on paper but absolutely works is the ravioli—filled with shrimp scampi and Buffalo mozzarella, then sautéed in a pan with butter and basil. The intimidating part is that they then airlift a whole heap of Baja ahi tartare atop. Sounds odd, but I’ve had raw tuna tossed in browned butter at a sushi restaurant and it’s a revelation. This is basically that, plus handmade pasta.

They take two days to concoct their Bolognese, and it’s about as classic as they come (Chef Avitabile cooked in Bologna for most of his career). It’s 100-percent grass-fed beef (no pork), ground the day before to let it dry-age overnight. Chef does the same thing with the veggies for the soffritto (Italian mirepoix)—dices and then rests them, which he says removes the acidity and water. The sauce is slow-cooked for six hours. Also try the boscaiola, a pink sauce (tomato, touch of cream) with farmers’ market veggies and two kinds of imported meats: sausage from Campagna and prosciutto from Emilia-Romana.

Even if San Diego’s drought one day drains the lake and it turns into a museum explaining to future generations what lakes were—I get a feeling Amalfi will still be right here.

The post Review: Amalfi Cucina Italiana appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Chinese noodles

1

Lucky Liu’s has filled the Chinese food void left downtown when Red Pearl Kitchen closed last year. It’s now open in the Gaslamp.

2

Dunkin’ Donuts will open soon inside the Embassy Suites location across from Seaport Village. It’s among the first of 150 stores planned for Southern California.

3

Richard Sandoval is behind the new Venga Venga Cantina and Tequila bar debuting in Otay Ranch Town Center this month, in the former El Vitral space.

4

Along with coffee and pizzas, Caffé Calabria is now home to the city’s first parklet, a small patch of green space in place of one parking space outside the café.

5

Jimbo’s… Naturally grocery store opened its first downtown location at Westfield Horton Plaza last month and plans to offer cooking classes.

6

Two local restaurants, Stone Brewing Co.’s Liberty Station location and Polite Provisions in Normal Heights, were nominated for Orchid & Onion design awards.

Farm House Kitchen

Farm House Kitchen

7

Encinitas welcomes the new Priority Public House, with a focus on local beers and happy-hour deals.

8

Lucky Bastard Saloon is now open downtown, with dozens of TVs, pool tables, beer pong, and shuffleboard.

9

The Marine Room will offer a special new menu for the holiday season. Beginning this month, look for pumpkin-themed desserts and more.

10

After a $2.5 million reno, the Temecula Creek Inn’s new restaurant, Farm House Kitchen, is now open, featuring an all-local menu.

The post 10 Hot Plates appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Lobster Poutine

Lobster Poutine @ Great Maple

Oh, sweet Jesus. You’ve worked hard keeping those abs in formation for the summer. But beach season is nearly over, so it’s time to pony up to some high-calorie happiness. This riff on the Canadian classic is it. Traditionally made with fries, cheese curds and gravy, Great Maple essentially replaces the gravy with lobster bisque and generous chunks of sherry-steeped Maine lobster over steak fries and cheese curds. It’s a moaner. 1451 W. Washington St., North Park, 619.255.2282, thegreatmaple.com.

Pumpkin Sesame Donut

Pumpkin Sesame Donut @ Paris Baguette

This chain bakery at the Asian grocery outlet Zion Market has a huge selection of French-Asian baked goods. The pumpkin-sesame donut is a little grenade of awesomeness, with a chewy, glutinous crust (made of rice flour), bean paste, pumpkin syrup and sesame. 7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa, 858.650.0404, parisbaguetteusa.com.

Beef kebab

Beef kebab @ Grill House Café

My wife’s Afghan. We have a family gathering at least once a week. And at every one, there are kebabs that put most restaurants to shame. The Kebab Shop and Grill House are the closest things I’ve found to Afghan mamas’ home cooking. A tender foot-long stretch of beef kebab is served with basmati rice. Season it up with a little sumac (tart, lemon-flavored spice) to cut the fat of the meat and it’s one hell of a lunch. (Note: It’s next to Surati Farsan, one of the best Indian joints in San Diego.) 9494 Black Mountain Rd., Mira Mesa, 858.271.5599. grillhousecafe.com.

The post The Best Things I Ate This Month: August Main Dish appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Stone 17th Anniversary & Invitational Beer Festival

WHEN: Aug. 17, 11AM to 6PM

WHERE: Cal State San Marcos, 333 South Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos

Stone is to modern craft beer what Sierra Nevada was during the’90s. The jumbo shrimp. The big small guy. The giant elf. And this festival—held at a place of higher learning and higher per capita beer consumption—is their biggest production of the  year. It’ll feature over 50 guest breweries, 100 beers, special Stone brews on cask, homebrewed sodas and Mike’s Beer Cheese. A full 100% of proceeds to go local charities, including Surfrider Foundation, Boys & Girls Club, Palomar Family YMCA and Fight ALD. Plus, you get a free commemorative glass to round out your collection of fine beer china.

COST: $40

FOR MORE INFO: www.stonebrewing.com/anniv

Saltbox Hotel Palomar

Summersalt Cocktail Showdown

WHEN: Aug. 21, 6-9PM

WHERE: Summersalt Rooftop Pool Bar, Hotel Palomar, 1047 5th Ave., Downtown

If you were designing your dream home—the modern one that looks like a place business titans mingle with rap stars next to a pool that costs more than countries’ GDPs—Summersalt would be that place. The $150 million hotel is now under keeps of Kimpton, one of the country’s most progressive, likeable hotel groups. And this showdown invites a few of center city’s top cocktail havens, including Noble Experiment, Lion’s Share, Giajin Noodle + Sake House and Hotel Palomar’s own Satlbox. Teams will create one cocktail and one dish, hopefully paired so well it’ll make you pass out and have fever dreams of James Beard playing drunken leap frog with Captain Morgan. No need to do crunches; this party is fun, but not in a Girls Gone Rehab sort of way.

COST: $30/pp

MORE INFO: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/429053

San Diego Mag’s Best-Of Party

WHEN: Aug. 23, 6-9PM

WHERE: NTC at Liberty Station, 2640 Historic Decatur Rd., Point Loma

A biased pick, admittedly. But it sells out every year for a good reason. Hard to argue with 52 food and drink standouts from around the city all gathered in one outdoor summer courtyard, thousands of people converge for a decent time, and weird yoga-circus-contortionism breaking out for no apparent reason except your own pure amusement. (Note: The Cirque-du-downward dog-ists were last year, but I’m betting our event planner Megan Smith has something similar planned.) Restaurants serving food include Addison, Bencotto, Cafe Secret, Donovan’s, Donut Bar, Great Maple, Lucha Libre, Phil’s BBQ, Prepkitchen, Puesto, Romesco, Truluck’s, URBN, Whisknladle, etc. Come, hang.

COST: $60/pp

MORE INFO: http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/January-2013/Best-of-San-Diego-Party/

“Mexitalian” Showdown

WHEN: Aug. 23, 7PM

WHERE: BICE, 425 Island Ave., Downtown, 619.239.2423

For Italian in Downtown, hard to beat BICE and chef Mario Cassineri. A good reason to visit their place of business? The fact that you’re awake and care about the quality of your life. Another good reason? This dinner. It’s a big trend these days to invite a Baja chef up for a special feast, and Cassineri dips into the trend by inviting “Chef Pancho” from Tijuana’s steakhouse La Esquina Restaurante. It’s an 8-course cook-off, each chef doing their best riffs on chicken, beef and pork (sorry, gaunt-looking vegan pal). Poncho’s menu includes pork medallions with Baja-style framboise sauce and spinach-and-cheese organic chicken with cilantro sauce. A couple sample highlights from Cassineri’s menu: a Barbera porcini risotto with beef cheeks and chicken scaloppini with Parm, prosciutto, sage in a marsala sauce. A portion of proceeds will go to the SD Police Foundation, which will help BICE owners get out of speeding tickets.

COST: $65/pp

MORE INFO: http://bicesandiego.com/events

The post Top Food Events: August Main Dish appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Go to page 3 to read food critic Troy Johson’s picks.

San Diego Best Restaurants

Baby Back Rib & Chicken Dinner from Phil’s BBQ

With more than 5,000 ballots submitted and nominations in 43 categories (that’s 215,000-plus votes!), we give you the 2012 list of best restaurants in San Diego County. Plus: Critic Troy Johnson’s picks.

READERS’ PICKS

San Diego Best Restaurants

San Diego Best Restaurants

San Diego Best Restaurants

Fish tacos at South Beach Bar & Grille

San Diego Best Restaurants

FISH TACO Bracket

Looks like a different voter takes to a bracket—when given options (as opposed to the write-in survey below), readers chose Rubio’s hands down.

San Diego Best Restaurants

San Diego Best Restaurants

CRITIC’S PICKS

San Diego Best Restaurants

The Creepy Guy at Table 5 By Troy Johnson

I’ve been writing about what we put in our mouths now for six years. I’m the guy in the corner booth who appears to be scribbling on his pants. It’s a mind-blowing honor, and a health hazard. I wake up hungry, having dreamt about skipping along the shore hand-in-hand with a drop-dead short rib. Or doing the backstroke through the creamy center of a giant burrata. I also have nightmares where my foot just rolls off into the street, dislodged by gout.

Food criticism should not be a pulpit for taking out latent grade-school trauma on small business owners. Done right, it’s an artful interpretation of a story. Restaurants are stories.

My average week includes a dozen or so meals around San Diego. I have a strict “two-bite rule.” Otherwise my torso would prevent adequate sunlight from reaching earth. But it’s not uncommon to schedule three lunches in a single day.

Restaurants are more than food. Before we take a single bite, we eat with our eyes. The Brawny Man décor at The Lodge at Torrey Pines makes my incisors sweat in anticipation of slow-braised animals. The minimalist hush of Wa Dining Okan urges the saying of grace. Craft & Commerce’s street art warns to expect the unexpected, and that sanity is tenuous. Restaurants are a break from our TPS report-filing, parking ticket-paying daily drudgery. If I wanted to eat in an uninspiring environment, I’d eat leftovers in my garage.

But of course, taste matters most. To me, that means three things: top-notch ingredients, balance (acid-fat, heavy-light, sweet-savory, soft-crisp), and living up to promises.

I don’t expect the Kebab Shop to shave truffles, and I don’t expect Addison to “loosen up.” I do my best to interpret the execution of visions.

San Diego’s food scene is drastically underrated. Compared to indoctrinated foodie havens like San Francisco and New York, our city is the Wild West. Major improvements happen daily. Making a “Best Of” list is like ranking family members. I had Mariscos German cued up for Best Mexican until a carnitas taco at Rudy’s—a Solana Beach box that sells Red Bull and ciggies, too—changed my mouth forever. It’s all subjective. I didn’t overthink it. I just gut-reactioned my most memorable meals of another year of excessively masticating in San Diego.

Eat well, support ethical foodmaking, and respect the makers even if it tastes like farm-fresh garbage.

Sincerely,

The Pants Scribbler

The post San Diego Best Restaurants 2012 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

2013 Best Restaurants in San Diego

The post San Diego’s Best Restaurants 2013 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Adam Cho

1

El Take It Easy in North Park has closed—and reopened as Hubcap, under the same ownership (Jay Porter).

2

The Biergarten is opening in the former Barracuda Grill space in Encinitas.

3

James Limjoco’s Sublime Tavern is slated to open this month with 60 beers on tap in Del Mar near the polo fields.

4

Newer seafood spot Spike Africa’s has launched a new brunch menu on weekends downtown.

Spike Africa

5

Nekter Juice Bar will open soon in La Jolla in the former Extreme Pizza space.

6

The SD County Fair will celebrate local produce with a CSA day at the fair on June 22; farmers and chefs will prepare special samples.

7

The Sunset Bar at the Hotel Del Coronado will kick off the summer season June 1 with fresh-shucked oysters and special cocktail pairings.

8

Miguel Valdez, chef of the Wellington Steak & Martini Lounge, was recently honored by the National Restaurant Association with the Faces of Diversity Award.

9

Roy Yamaguchi has opened a new restaurant, Pacific Rim Cuisine, in the former Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion space.

10

A speakeasy called Magnolia Tap + Kitchen is coming soon to the downtown spot formerly occupied by Bare Back Grill.

The post 10 Hot Plates appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Angus steak du jour

Oceanside is one of the curious dining voids in San Diego. You’ve got a high-end Cohn restaurant, a chic Harney Sushi, a decent BBQ, a Peruvian joint and… uh, lots of recently unfrozen Mexican food.

Why the persistent hole in the market? Maybe Oceanside doesn’t want fancy dining concepts. Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about the city’s void. The median income here is higher than Hillcrest’s and North Park’s. Are there just no foodies? This is a bedroom community for Camp Pendleton. It’s Marine country, filled with enlistees and those who love them (17 percent of population). Enlistees have often gone from school cafeterias and home-cooked meals to the base (where they get meals for free). I’d venture to say food has long been a source of nourishment, not entertainment, for these men and women. (Please send hate mail to [email protected].)

Maybe danger drives away potential bistro owners. In O-Side there seem to be more police per capita, and no shortage of work for them to do. It’s no Compton, but gangs occasionally do gang-y things here. On my way to this dining review, two youngish guys zip by me in an El Camino. They’re more partying than driving, as if maybe blood isn’t the only thing in their system. They make a wild left turn and—BAM!—get sideswiped by a Toyota (all parties emerged safe).

Of course, Oceanside has its charms. The fact that it’s a harbor of California coastline not teeming with drastically entitled NIMBYs is a massive attraction. It’s the anti-Del Mar, the counter-La Jolla. But it’s not for the timid, and more than a few cultural revolutions have stalled here.

“You have to try the Flying Pig,” a friend in the industry had told me. “They can’t keep up with business.”

“It’ll be 45 minutes,” says a staff member at the Flying Pig Pub & Kitchen to a foursome. It’s a Monday. Forty-five minute wait on a Monday.

The farm-to-table bistro hole? The Pig is currently filling it. And killing it.

The Pig is located next to a seller of un-fine automobiles in a nondescript one-story box—the architectural equivalent of an egg crate. But inside? Inspired funk. The chief design element is rust. Metal pails overflow with succulents by the door. There are metal sculptures of pigs, metal lockers, metal signs with jokey 1950-isms, a Plinko game mounted to a wall. An old bike hangs from the ceiling, like the taxidermy of Mormon missionaries.

One wall is blue. One red. One orange-ish. One off-white. “We don’t like to match,” says a server. I see that. Dig it. It’s like dining in the greatest garage sale. Or Austin. Same thing.

Co-owner Roddy Browning spent four years as a server at Market Del Mar for James Beard-nominated chef Carl Schroeder. He and wife Aaron found Flying Pig’s chef in Mario Moser, who was a line cook under Nine-Ten’s big talent, Jason Knibb. Going from a line cook to head chef is a jump—but the relaxed atmosphere cranks down the pressure gauge. Moreover, the résumés of both prove: the team knows high-end dining, both in the kitchen and in the showroom.

As for the food? I had a very mixed experience. One night it was a very enjoyable meal. The other was technically off on every dish—drastically undercooked sprouts, dry pork belly (that’s hard to accomplish), tough steak.

Do try the polenta fritters—a bone-simple, subtle treat with aw-shucks Southern roots. The Pig serves a generous 10 of them, all deep-fried into that lovely George Hamilton brown-orange. That hush puppy-like fry taste yields to the slight sweetness of spongy cornmeal. Dipped in aioli, it will make your arteries yip and yammer. We also order bread with grill marks and a side of goat cheese mixed with rosemary-and-garlic confit (steeped in oil, super-soft). It’s a good riff on garlic bread, with a zip-tang from the goat and an herb that can stand up to it.

The menus are laminated onto vinyl album covers (Streisand’s Guilty, Mitch Miller’s Sing Along With… release). We get the salad of the day, with fresh green beans, a curl of the vine sticking up like the tree in Tim Burton’s creepy holiday film. There are pickled anchovies, a microplaned slice of preserved lemon, a touch of spicy red peppers, and Champagne vinaigrette. It’s excellent, and shows the hidden skills and aspirations of this kitchen.

There are elements—brown butter, chicken confit hash, smoked paprika, Madeira sauce—that earmark Mario’s time with Knibb. Then there are tokens like fried eggs, fried pickled veggies, hashes, polenta, and grits, that give it an antebellum feel.

They do a daily steak option. The night we have it, the oatmeal stout-and-date reduction with a mascarpone horseradish is delicious, again a fine-dining telltale. But ethics only go so far, because the steak is tough and those sprouts are dangerously close to uncooked. Better is the chicken and dumplings. An airline chicken (a boneless breast with attached drumette) gets sage, brown butter, that confit hash, and excellent sweet potatoes. Skin is crisp and pressed, ready to be loved.

The dish is plated like art. That’s the charm of a place like the Flying Pig. Servers are in jeans and tees. There’s a proud laxness here. And yet food is plated with care, napkins are refolded when you return to your seat, the servers talk about each ingredient in each dish with epic wonderment. The owner chats with regulars, excuses himself to bus tables, no job too un-owner-like. It’s like a tailgate party in an art gallery, thrown by a few fine-dining expats.

We don’t have dessert. The food here is heavy enough. They also have rotating craft beers. I could tell you about them but that’d be silly.

It’s very easy to fall in love with this restaurant. It’s slow food served in an unpretentious manner, by creative, friendly veterans of the high-dining scene. They know to make dinner special. The food lands somewhere between ambition and execution, an area we’ll call pretty good. And everything else—the vibe, the attitude, the friendliness, the questionable pop art, and unquestionable ethics—amplifies your appreciation for the Pig.

Maybe all that’s just a fancy way of saying “soul.”

Note: Seasonal menus change all the time. Your results may vary.

The post When Pigs Fly in O’Side appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The market packs a lot in its small space. Here I found a huge selection of dried legumes, spices, packaged curries, packaged naam and roti, dried fruits, chutneys, snacks, and frozen foods. To be honest, the produce isn’t much to look at, but if you’re looking for hard-to-find packaged items from the Himalayan region, this is the place to go. In fact, on the counter is a large loose leaf notebook filled with special requests from customers that Kharel is happy to fill.

Himalayan Bazaar is located at 7918 El Cajon Blvd. in La Mesa.

Food from the Himalayan Bazaar

Lentils

One of the best items on the menu of Himalayan Cuisine is the dal soup. Most dal, which is a preparation of dried lentils, peas, or beans, is more like a stew, eaten with rice and roti (a cracker-like flat bread). This version is looser, but very creamy and rich—the perfect comfort food for a chilly afternoon. You’ll need moong beans ($1.99/14 ounces), toor dal ($4.79/2 pounds), and chana dal or split chick peas ($3.99/2 pounds) to make this dish. Kharel didn’t give me the proportions, but he explained that you combine the three types of legumes in a pot with water, and add just a little oil, salt, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, then simmer until they’re tender—but don’t stir more than to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot. When the lentils are tender add more oil, minced garlic, cumin powder, coriander power, ginger, and garam masala. Add more water if necessary and cook for another 10 minutes. And, if you have other dal recipes you want to try, it’s very likely the lentils or other legumes you need will be on the shelves.

Tamarind Concentrate

Last fall I found a dal recipe from Mark Bittman in The New York Times I wanted to try, but it called for tamarind concentrate and I couldn’t find it. When I knew I was going to be checking out Himalayan Bazaar, I put it on my shopping list and, voila, there it was. Tamarind concentrate actually has the look of tar; it’s dense and dark, very sour, and adds the kind of tang you could almost replicate with lime juice, but it’s much more intense. You need just a little to flavor a dal, but you could add a bit to a barbecue sauce, or Thai dishes like pad Thai. $3.99

Fresh Curry Leaves

I wasn’t looking for these, but was so delighted when my friend and fellow shopper Lisa Altmann of Viva Pops pointed them out. I bought a bag for a whole 99 cents. The leaves are about the size of a nickel and taste like peppers mixed with citrus. Interestingly, while Himalayan Bazaar focuses on the northern realms of the region, curry leaves are actually integral to the cuisine of southern India—in rice dishes, vegetables, curries, and chutneys. Now, the way I used them was a little more unusual. I brought them over to Gaijin Noodle and Sake House in downtown San Diego, where I was to cook with chef/owner Antonio Friscia and mixologist Lucien Conner. Lucien muddled the leaves with demerara sugar, fresh ginseng, and a kumquat, then added white tequila and grand marnier to make a lovely cocktail we’re still trying to name.

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