Don’t Light That Match

DISH: BY David Nelson Photography by Martin Mann

Don’t Light That Match

ANOTHER EXCELLENT reason smoking in restaurants is banned: the Maker’s Mark milkshake poured at Marina Kitchen (pictured). Explosively good and potentially explosive, the blatantly blissful blend of vanilla ice cream and caramel fumes with a generous jigger of prime bourbon. Oddly enough, it is possible to share one and remain friends, right down to halving the stick of lacquered bacon that, given the restaurant’s “Modern Comfort” theme, inevitably garnishes the glass. In this decade, we cannot consider ourselves comforted in the absence of cured pork.

The larger-than-life restaurant in downtown’s remodeled and re-named Marriott Marquis & Marina sprawls through 19,000 square feet in the hotel’s South tower, a space sufficient to accommodate you and 320 of your Facebook friends, too. The vast bar gives way to relatively intimate public and private dining rooms, and as a bonus, a dining terrace both overlooks bay vistas and overhears Summer Pops concerts.

To fulfill Marina Kitchen’s pledge to purvey comfort food and nothing but, chef Aron Schwartz detours sharply from the French menu he cooked at Bernard Mougel’s ineffable Bernard’o in Rancho Bernardo. Treats encompass warm potato chips layered with prosciutto crisps and shredded cheese; given the chived crème fraîche dip, they should be called “Spud Nachos.” Fridays and Saturdays, the featured “daily roast” unsurprisingly is prime rib with twice-baked potatoes, but other nights venture offerings like Berkshire pork loin with yucca puree and pepita pesto, and even seasonal fish baked in parchment.

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: fancy potato chips sizzle around town, like the crisp Yukon slices Avenue 5‘s Colin McLaggin pairs with warm blue cheese…

JUST HOW FRAGILE ARE the antique, rose-etched glasses that harbor the Grant Grill‘s unique, bottle-conditioned “sur lie” cocktails? Very, unfortunately. The contents sometimes out-class the guests, thanks to a remarkable concept developed by Jeff Josenhans, who takes advantage of the U.S. Grant’s soaring ceilings to pile the hats of director of venues, certified sommelier and head mixologist atop his head. Co-mastery of the often-opposed realms of wine and booze enabled Josenhans to adapt the method that creates Champagne to ferment a “tea” of sugar, water, hops, ginger and yeast. After reposing for a few weeks in the cellars of Temecula’s Middle Ridge Winery, the bottles are degorged by hand, then dosed with vodka and muscat grape concentrate, re-bottled and aged. Josenhans says the season inspires his “floral cocktails,” which in summer taste of the yellow tomatoes, chocolate mint, strawberries and other produce grown in the hotel’s rooftop garden. Doubtless delicious sipped from Mason jars, they’re wonderful in Josenhans’ treasured, so-delicate stemware…

SURPRISES WILL ABOUND WHEN the ongoing $180 million renovation of University Towne Center unveils a buffet of new food retailers, including the first local branch of a small California chain called Eureka!Burger. The day may come when San Diegans tire of the daily grind, but burgers currently remain boffo, and although shopping centers usually promote themselves as family venues, Eureka styles itself a “burger-centric gastropub” that emphasizes American craft beers and whiskeys. Interesting eats: the fig mar-
malade burger features homemade jam along with goat cheese and crisp bacon (oink!). This close to Ensenada, will blackened Pacific fish tacos with avocado aioli and mango-chutney salsa fly? Maybe if they’re made with flying fish…

NOT TO BE OUTDONE, Fashion Valley lures the boutique-bedazzled with the new True Food (it fills Bing Crosby’s tired old shoes), where San Diego’s own Nathan Coulon will serve the cuisine he refined heading the kitchen at the Arizona chain’s Newport Beach location. Adding the private dining room’s 24 seats brings total capacity to 335, surely a modest fraction of the local enthusiasts of healthy-eating  author and True Food co-owner Dr. Andrew Weil…

PLEASE DON’T THROW ME in that briar patch! After all, who wants to enjoy accomplished French chef Pascal Vignau’s gorgeous cuisine at an ocean-view luxury resort view when it’s easier to grab a bacon-burger at the corner dive? Directly across from Carlsbad State Beach, the Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort & Spa showcases Vignau’s new gastro-approach, “Simple Food, Simply Prepared,” in Chandler’s Restaurant & Lounge. Can’t wait…

NORTH PARK WASN’T BIG ENOUGH to corral ambitious David Cohen (no relation to restaurateur David Cohn), the savvy young East Coaster whose West Coast Tavern is one of the neighborhood’s liveliest, most personable joints. Cohen brings his style to Hillcrest this summer with Uptown Tavern, for which chef Eli Freebairn envisions a “something for everyone” menu. Bet on bacon…

PIGGY PLEASURES ABOUND IN 2012, few better than the pulled-pork sandwich with barbecue sauce, cider coleslaw and crispy leeks at Hillcrest’s Urban Eats. Tiny place, huge flavors.