Baja Bounty North of the Border

DISH by David Nelson Photography by Martin Mann

Baja Bounty North of the Border

ORTEGA’S, A MEXICAN BISTRO, the Hillcrest rice ‘n’ beanery co-owned by a member of the family that built Puerto Nuevo into Baja’s celebrated “lobster village,” has regained its status as best upscale Mexican house (good mom ‘n’ poppers abound) thanks to new chef Liliaana Naverette. She pinpoints flavors like she’s been cooking all her life — which she pretty much has — and isn’t afraid to season south-of-the-border style, so that the chile-sharpened shrimp ceviche makes norteno mouths beg — for more. Tortilla soup can be dazzling when made right, as it so rarely is in this town, and Navarette’s sparkles like an Aztec diadem. With Puerto Nuevo made a little distant by over-the-border uncertainties, it’s good to have this one in our back yard…

THE SIGHT OF A PAIR of lunchers sharing a basket of sweet potato fries was more than a fellow patron of The Habit Burger Grill in Mission Valley could resist. Leaving his own lunch to cool at a nearby table — not wise, since The Habit’s cooked-to-order, $2.95 “Charburgers” rocket above everyday fast food — he pulled up a chair and inquired, “Did you know medical science has discovered that eating sweet potatoes will restore your hair color?” He didn’t look like a lunatic, and since sweet potatoes are not a cash crop in San Diego County, he likely lacked an agenda to promote them. The man bubbled along unhindered, keeping his victims from eating their own lunch until one waved a sweet potato frite at him and asked “Do you mean that eating these will make me blond again?”

“Absolutely,” he promised. “You should meet my wife.” Well, perhaps not, but the cuisine chez The Habit, a welcome offshoot of the famous original in Santa Barbara, is good enough to draw you back, even if you’re not determined to test the restorative qualities of sweet potatoes.

Located next to King’s Fish House, it’s less than 100 yards from the firmly established Fuddrucker’s, suggesting over-indulgence in hamburgers on the part of San Diegans, and begging the question of just how many burger emporiums we really need. So many new chains have crowded into the county that the landscape seems fortunate to have escaped inundation by a tsunami of ketchup, pickles and sliced onions.

All the new chains have a gimmick, but by no means are all created equal. The best gimmick? The signature patties at Slater’s 50/50 in Liberty Station, which contain equal parts ground beef and ground bacon. They’re both absurdly delicious and sufficiently calorific to be the sole meal of the week. Slater’s is from Orange County, not a place famed for divesting caution in the breeze…

WHEN AN ESTABLISHMENT touts “artisan-made” products, it’s usually a good idea to check your back pocket to make sure your wallet is in place. On the other hand, Dom Nieto of El Dorado Cocktail Lounge (at Broadway near 11th, the location for decades operated as a top downtown dive under a different name) doesn’t call him-self an artisan, he just works like one.

Nieto poured for paying guests at a recent “bartender challenge” that featured celeb barkeeps like Anthony Schmidt of Noble Experiment, Garth Flood of Cowboy Star and Sarah Ellis of Jayne’s Gastropub. Asked by an accomplished Manhattan fancier to shake one up, Nieto put a couple of ice chunks in the palm of his hand and used the back of a long-handled spoon to gently crack them into smaller pieces. This way, he explained to an enormously impressed guest, the ice would chill but not dilute the blend of bitters, vermouth and rye. After adding a rosy maraschino cherry to an old-fashioned cocktail coupe, Nieto worked that shaker with conviction and poured out a Manhattan worthy of the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis…

WHY SETTLE FOR PLAIN OLD crème brûlée when you can upgrade to French toast crème brûlée? This specialty of the Steakhouse at Azul La Jolla is enrobed in a crackling sugar glaze and might well goad a French toquiste to exclaim, “Why didn’t I think of it first?”

A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, the fare always seems upgraded at Tapenade, Jean-Michel and Sylvie Diot’s understated monument to the good life. Rocio Siso-Gurriaran has returned as sous-chef after spending a few years toiling under Diot pal Phillipe Verpiand, who sold his Cavaillon some months ago and reportedly will open a restaurant in Houston…

NOT 20 FEET FROM THE TAPENADE terrace, the cozy new Pleiku Cafe is worth seeking out for what it calls “Modern Asian Cuisine,” most of which seems expertly executed traditional Vietnamese cooking. The culinary influences of the French Colonial period are evident in savory raves like the pate chaud, a little puff paste pie richly stuffed with marinated ground pork, and the Vietnamese beef stew. Made of roughly equal parts of chunked meat and carrots, it mimics France’s grandmotherly boeuf aux carottes, but flavors the savory broth with subtle hints of star anise and lemongrass…