2015 Top 10 San Diego Dishes

Top 10 List

Any entry on this list would be well worth repeating.

MORE TOP 10 PICKS ON PREVIOUS PAGE

San Diego, which some Angelenos see as L.A.’s laid back kid brother, had a big culinary growth spurt. Neighborhoods like Little Italy, the East Village, and Kearny Mesa are coming on strong. Popular areas like North Park and University Heights continue to plug gaps. I visited San Diego County four times in 2015. Learn about my 2015 Top 10 San Diego dishes, which appear in alphabetical order.

5. Ironside Fish & Oyster Lobster Roll

This Little Italy seafood spot from Consortium Holdings and executive chef Jason McLeod resembles something out of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” with giant tentacles wrapped around lights, female ship figureheads calling to customers like sirens from the second floor, and a wall of fish skeletons looming above a banquette, teeth bared, which prompted me to guard Ironside’s prized lobster roll, which arrives on a buttered, pan-fried bun that Pastry Chef Donna Antaloczy bakes in-house with cream cheese and eggs. Ironside’s fries are a great riff on salt and vinegar potato chips, with skin-on, twice-fried potatoes seasoned with malt powder, salt, and parsley. They come with a ramekin of tangy malt aioli, which is mayo mixed with roasted garlic, thyme, and malt vinegar.


Lobster Roll San Diego

McLeod’s Lobster Roll ($21) stars sweet, plump butter-poached lobster meat tossed with brown butter mayo. Crispy fried shallots and chives complete the savory picture, as do some of the best French fries in recent memory.

4. Alforon Kaack

This Lebanese restaurant resides in San Diego’s College Area Business District, in Plaza Shopping Center. Walls are clay-colored and faux stone, with stained glass “windows,” wrought iron chandeliers and sconces. George Salameh is from Beirut and immigrated to San Diego in 1984. He’s the chef and wife Samia runs front of house of Alforon, with a name that translates to “the oven.” Yes, the falafel flatbread is very fun, but not as satisfying as kaack

Lebanese Food San Diego

Kaack ($2.45) is a traditional Lebanese sesame flatbread shaped like a kettle bell, filled with pull apart ackawi cheese and knafeh, semolina and flour soaked with simple syrup.

3. Yakitori Taisho Fried Chicken Wings

Yakitori Taisho, a dinner-only Japanese restaurant in a Clairemont Mesa strip mall, houses only 16 seats, meaning you may have to wait for your meal. That wait is well worth it, since chef Takayuki Hirano serves stupendous Japanese food. He uses binchotan charcoal to beautifully blister a variety of meats, seafoods and vegetables.

Japanese Food San Diego

Excellent Fried Chicken Wings ($6) sport thin, crisp batter and a beautiful peppery seasoning that builds with each bite.

2. Bracero Cocina de Raiz Zarandeado Whole Fish [CLOSED]

Mexican Food San Diego

This contemporary, double-decker Mexican restaurant from Javier Plascencia and business partner Luis Peña in San Diego’s Little Italy honors Mexican farm workers who stepped up to perform manual labor in the U.S. under the Bracero program from World War II through 1964. During my first dinner there, Zarandeado Whole Fish ($28) was a particular standout. This butterflied and wood-grilled fish preparation is popular in coastal Mexican states like Sinaloa and Nayarit. At Bracero, they use pink grouper, a flaky fish with crisp skin that cooked in the custom Caja Baja, Bracero’s oak-fired riff on the Caja China. The fish rested in a silky sabritas emulsion crafted with puréed potatoes, heavy cream and San Felipe sea salt, an elevated reference to Mexico’s popular Sabritas chip company. Up top, they placed crunchy, house-made fingerling potato chips. The plate also hosted beautifully charred scallions and a fennel thatch. A cast-iron dish of roasted seasonal mushrooms al ajillo, served in a garlicky jus, accompanied the delectable entree.

Mexican Food San Diego

Bracero’s pescado zarandeado pulled easily from bones and tasted great in sturdy house-made corn tortillas, drizzled with four different house salsas.

1. Addison Pithivier Hiver

French Food San Diego

Chef William Bradley helms the Fairmont Grand Del Mar resort’s marquee restaurant. Pithivier Hiver was particularly outstanding. He bakes this pie in the tradition of Pithiviers, a small town in north central France. Bradley’s buttery, egg-brushed puff pastry sports a decorative dome and contains slow-braised Wagyu oxtail meat, beef cheek and shiitake mushrooms. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the pastry were crafted from double rainbows and childhood dreams. Bonus: Bradley anchors his Pithivier to the plate in a sticky pool of sauce Bordelaise made with red wine, butter, beef essence and shallots.

French Food San Diego

Another chef could have easily built a meal around this Pithivier, which was just part of William Bradley’s rotating hit parade.

Tags:

Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Leave a Comment