Mad Scientists of the 21st Century

DISH: By David Nelson Photography by Martin Mann

Mad Scientists of the 21st Century

IF SOCIAL MEDIA has diverted the typical American teenager’s attention from the delights of creating stink bombs in chemistry class, dazzling new kitchen technologies have lured some younger chefs to reinvent themselves as culinary Dr. Zharkovs (oh, Google it). Pressure cookers and German knives formerly defined high-tech cooking, but devices now exist that allow the daredevils in San Diego kitchens to turn ordinary foodstuffs into powders, bubbles, foams, gels and other things familiar to molecular biologists. There is a fearlessness afoot not seen since the Nouvelle Cuisine era, and the urge to innovate is illustrated by Evolve, the culinary union between chefs Daniel Barron and Flor Franco that expresses itself in “pop-up” restaurants. Hosted by existing eateries, the pop-ups serve never-to-be-repeated menus on one or two nights only. Diners recently paid $75 each to experience Evolve’s first presentations at The Wellington in Mission Hills. Guests chewed through seven “modernist” courses, which featured cherry gels and vanilla-cinnamon bubbles as garnishes for a pairing of crispy lamb tongue and sous-vide lamb foreshank, and included items like marshmallow, freeze-dried pop-corn, maple-sage caramel and Szechuan spicing in a dish called “chicken and waffles.” Quite a departure for anyone who finds the terrifically old-school, tarragon-flavored chicken fricassee occasionally featured at Hillcrest’s Au Revoir a bit of gastronomic heaven…

CHICKEN AND WAFFLES, a specialty of South Carolina home kitchens since be-fore the Civil War, are turning up all over San Diego, including the new weekend brunch menu served at Little Italy’s ever-innovative Craft & Commerce. Not that it’s a particularly traditional rendition: vanilla butter melts on the cornmeal waffles, and there’s spicy vinegar to season the crisply cooked bird. This is unquestionably the only local haunt where hangovers can be medicated with an order of “dos soft-cooked duck eggs,” served not just with buttered toast, but with “salt varieties”…

BRUNCH USED TO BE characterized by belly-busting buffets in this corner of California, but now it’s a wake-up call for rock star wanabees intent on partying every minute of the weekend. At Del Mar Heights’ trendoid-magnet Burlap, fashion shows, art shows, pop-up shops and rock music edge a menu characterized by plates like crab cakes Benedict with avocado and Asian hollandaise, flavored with miso…

THE SUN ALSO SETS IN DEL MAR, casting winsome rays on Del Mar Plaza, which just introduced “Sunset Tuesdays.” On this traditionally slowest day of the retail week, the plaza’s numerous eateries and hangouts offer deals at times ranging from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ($4 sushi rolls at Shimbashi) to all day/all night at Smashburger, which offers buckets containing four beers for $10.99. Lots of interesting fare at Del Mar Plaza, which has been anchored for 20-plus years by Pacifica Del Mar and Il Fornaio. Cute and welcoming, Del Mar Rendezvous takes double honors: it prepares exceptionally good Chinese fare and offers 40 gluten-free specialties on a separate menu. The konnyaku (noodles made from a root vegetable rather than wheat) with a fine assortment of sautéed vegetables are as good an Asian pasta as any, the hot-and-sour soup burns most agreeably, and the Szechuan jumbo prawns impress not just with their good looks, but with careful seasoning that magnifies every flavor. High atop the plaza, new Flavor Del Mar chef Brian Radzikowski laces lobster tempura with shavings of Serrano chiles and red onions, offers crème fraîche as a dip for his unique and pleasing pickled potatoes, and invests considerable expertise in the big-eye tuna tataki, localized with avocado to suit Radzikowski’s goal to “do as much local as we can”…

NUMEROLOGISTS TAKE NOTE: Doing it by the numbers is the latest craze among local restaurateurs. If you ever sang (or sing) “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” you get the idea behind 98 Bottles, a beery bistro on Kettner Boulevard that specializes in rustic flatbread pizzas and brew-friendly snacks like spicy, gazpacho-inspired shrimp cocktail and sushi-like stacks of Hawaiian-style tuna ahi poke. Up in Hillcrest, the former Buonissimo 2, closed for repairs after a big fire next door, will not re-open in this guise after all. David and Lesley Cohn are expanding their empire yet again by remaking the place as 100 Wines Hillcrest, which besides that many (or more) vintages will offer a menu of small plates drawn from various Mediterranean cuisines. Bo-beau chef Katherine Humphus will design the fare…

THE “SNOOZE SALUTE” has become quite the chic gesture during breakfast at Hill-crest’s hugely popular “A.M. Eatery.” On sunny mornings, the restaurant’s street-side wall of glass allows the sun to muscle fiercely into the space, forcing guests facing Fifth Avenue to shield their peepers with one hand while decimating platters of pancakes with the other. Regulars tell time by the locations of saluters, which shift northwards as the sun burns a southerly path across the sky. By 10 a.m. or so, the phenomenon goes on hiatus until the next morning. We suspect that long, tailored window shades are in order. Hard to fall in love with the Ham Benedict III when the sun gets in your eyes…