2011 Gastrobits Awards

As 2011 is now over, it seems only natural to have some sort of concluding post to round out the year. While some other bloggers have done some form of 2011, I decided to go ahead and do the "geeky" thing and give a bunch of different awards.

Kitchen 1540 - Seared Foie on Volcanic Stone

Before I get to the awards, I'll go ahead and give a preview of what is in store in 2012. For most of the past year, I've only done one post per week. Starting sometime (soon) in the next year, I'd like to start updating twice a week. While I would love nothing more than to give the same detailed review coverage twice a week, it's probably unlikely that I will be able to. To that end, I've come up with two new "types" of blog posts:

1. The Flash: The Flash will be a smaller review. Sometimes I go to a restaurant by myself and I only order a few things. I mean to go back and visit and order more things, but I don't get around to it. Rather than sitting on these reviews, I'm going to start giving some coverage of these places. Restaurants featured in The Flash will not be eligible for awards until they have been flashed at least 3 times.
2. Interrupt: Besides the initial posts on China, I've largely kept my coverage San Diego based to this point. The interrupt will feature coverage of restaurants outside of San Diego (primarily in Orange County and LA). Some interrupts will be longer and feature full tasting menu reviews while others will be more like a flash. Restaurants featured as an Interrupt are eligible for awards.

In the new two-update per week format, my tentative plan is to have one post be the same full-length review that I have been posting up to this point, and the other post be either a flash or interrupt.

The Awards:

Now that the business is out of the way, let's go ahead and get to the awards. Some of the content you will see will likely be things that you haven't seen in a post up to this point, and may be featured in a post in the near future. Being geeky means that I'm going to have to have a ridiculous amount of awards, so here are the award categories: Note - Items featured in one category are not eligible in another category

• Best Protein Encased by Carbohydrates - This award is meant to encompass any form of sandwich, taco, burger, or other meaty filling surrounded by some sort of carb.
• Best Savory Baked Carbohydrate with Toppings - This award is meant to name the best pizza, flatbread, or similar concept food item.
• Best Ethnic Indian Dish
• Best Ethnic East Asian Dish 
• Best Ethnic European Dish
• Best Ethnic Latin Dish
• Best American Dish
• Best Dessert
• Best Food Truck
• Best Random Unexpected Item
• Best Overall Raw Dish
• Best Overall Cooked Dish
• Best Progressive Meal
• Best Overall Dish

Best Protein Encased by Carbohydrates

Winner:

Blanca - Lamb Burger

The lamb burger from Blanca was the winner for me in this category. The lamb was a grass fed, happy pastured free range lamb from Bakersfield, and was cooked medium rare and juicy. The bun was baked in house, lightly buttered, toasted, and the correct bread to meat ratio. The cheese was a truffled pecorino that added a large amount of flavor to the dish. While this burger was originally going to be showcased in the fine dining burger shootout, I never did manage to go to enough fine dining restaurants and just order a burger. Also, I figured it wouldn't be fair to feature this burger in that category any longer as Blanca is long closed...

Runner-Up:

Devilicious - Soft Shell Crab Club

The Soft-shell crab club at Devilicious features a soft shell crab with bacon wrapped in a cheesy sourdough sandwich. What really makes this dish for me was that the soft shell crab is of high quality and fried just right so that the flavor of the roe in the crab is still retained.

Best Savory Baked Carbohydrate with Toppings

Winner:

Pizzeria Mozza - Fennel Sausage Pizza

The fennel sausage with the leeks and fennel pollen really brought out all the flavors in this dish. Combined with the legendary Mozza pizza crust and this pizza was easily ran away with the victory.

Runner-Up:

Pizzeria Bruno Napoletano - Brunoverde

While Pizzeria Mozza had an excellent pizza, the Brunoverde still holds the top spot for me of San Diego pizzas. The Brunoverde has the exact correct balance of richness and pepperiness, and was a white pizza on top of it.

Best Ethnic Indian Dish:

Winner:

Surati Farsan - Dahi Puri

The Dahi Puri contained exceptional balance of flavors, and really surprised me that I could find a dish of that caliber in a (relatively) small mom and pop place. The key to this dish for me was the tamarind date mint water.

Best Ethnic East Asian Dish:

Winner:

Da Dong - Peking Duck

The Peking Duck in Beijing was exceptional. The way the skin was fried along with how well the rest of the duck was cooked to maintain flavor and moisture was a real surprise for me. I also enjoyed how Da Dong had three different methods for eating the duck.

Runner-Up:

Ikko - Black Truffle Uni Chawanmushi

The flavor of the uni permeated into the entire Chawanmushi. Above the top layer, there was a layer of black truffles that added an amazing richness to the entire dish.

Best Ethnic European Dish:

Winner:

Cavaillon - Black Truffle and Scallop Veloute

While I was underwhelmed by some of the other dishes at Cavaillon, this dish left me completely satisfied. The richness and purity of flavor in the veloute was extremely impressive to me. Alone, the veloute was already amazing, but coupled with some raw slices of scallop and black truffle, and this dish was elevated to a higher level.

Runner-Up:

Blanca - Charcuterie Selection

I was ready to award this for just the Ciccoli, but then I remembered there was a charcuterie that contained duck mousse, lamb speck, and even a chicharrone. This plate was almost too much to hope for and contained an amazingly fine selection of high quality charcuterie.

Best Ethnic Latin Dish:

Winner:

Super Cocina - Birria Soup

The goat soup at Super Cocina contained a healthy dose of that low and slow gelatinous broth as well as some very tender goat meat. The combination of spices in the soup was a great flavor combination and contained just the right level of spice to compliment the goat.

Runner-up:

La Playita - Super Crazy Tostada

This ceviche from La Playita contained all of the various seafoods available at the restaurant - fish, octopus, scallop, shrimp. While it was a huge portion, it had an amazing combination of flavors and was well-prepared.

Best American Dish:

Winner:

Whisknladle - Maine Diver Scallops

The Maine Diver Scallops were loaded with flavor and cooked perfectly. The capelin roe that topped each scallop was a truly amazing touch as the saltiness of the roe added a nice taste of the sea and contrasting textural element to the dish

Runner-Up:

Blanca - Sous-vide Brisket

The sous-vide Brisket dish at Blanca was one of my favorite dishes of the year. One of the best ways to sum up the dish was a comment I heard about the dish from another diner - "Wow, is this what beef is supposed to taste like?" The preparation of the dish really highlighted the grass-fed flavor of the beef along with a great meat to fat to chewiness ratio.

Best Dessert:

Winner:

Nine-Ten - Strauss Yogurt Panna Cotta

The Strauss Yogurt Panna Cotta contained the best overall composed dessert. The panna cotta had the correct texture and the additional elements on the plate added a balance of sweet, sour, and crunch to round out the dish.

Runner-up:

Blanca - Goat Cheese Semifreddo

What set this dessert apart from the rest of the field was the inclusion of the fizzy melons with the dessert. This allowed the dessert to act as a palate cleanser along with being a great dessert in its own right. However, the fact that it was also a palate cleanser is what kept it from being just the best overall dessert.

Best Food Truck:

Winner:

As the only food truck to get a dish into another category, it comes as no surprise the Devilicious was my favorite food truck of the year. The only real question to me is if any other truck can knock them off the pedestal in 2012...

Best Random Unexpected Item:

Winner:

Rancho Valencia - Ramp Butter (top)

Not only was the ramp butter delicious, fellow blogger Gourmand's Review and I still talk about it in hushed reverent whispers. It's a shame that I didn't get a good photo of the butter in the foreground.

Runner-Up:

Blue Point Coastal Cuisine - English Pea Veloute

While the veloute wasn't a real surprise, the syringes that it came served in was a big surprise, and it was a lot of fun to eat. To add to the surprise factor, the coating of espresso at the nozzle added a great touch of flavor and really elevated the dish.

Best Overall Raw Dish:

Blanca - Still Life of Local Waters

The Still Life is one of Chef Gavin Schmidt's signature dishes, and it is well deserved. The still life has a great deal of umami from the dashi covering that completely complements the high quality seafood items encased. The smoked avocado puree adds the great smoky depth of flavor which is contrasted from the sweetness of   the apples.

Best Overall Cooked Dish:

TBL3 @ Georges - Onion

The Onion at George's was a huge surprise to me. Each layer of the onion peeled and contained a slice of black truffle, and the entire dish was cooked in a precise technical manner. The dish really captured the essence of the truffle. The comte provided a great contrast in saltiness and milky flavor. Another truly wonderful element of the dish was the aroma, which was entirely of the truffle.

Best Overall Progressive Menu:

Blanca - Last Supper

With the way the awards were stacking up, it should come as no surprise that Blanca earns top honors. On attending the final meal at Blanca, I was treated to a his/her menu containing one of every item off the menu at Blanca. In terms of breadth, this menu was extremely impressive. However, what was more impressive was simply that every dish was extremely well executed and tasted amazing.

Best Overall Dish:

Blanca - Dumpling

To find the best overall dish of 2011, you have to go all the way back to the first tasting menu I had of the year. The pork dumpling with foie gras and black truffle was easily the best and most memorable dish of the year for me. The dumpling was brought out in small cups with lids that when lifted completely enveloped the room in the wonderful truffle aroma. To top off the richness, the inclusion of foie gras threw this dish over the top. The dumpling itself was well constructed and the dumpling skin was hand rolled of the exact correct thickness.

Conlcusion

With the start of the blog in 2011, I truly had my best eating year of my life. I met many wonderful people and had many great experiences. It will be tough to top the year, but I'm excited to try and make 2012 even better than 2011! I hope you loyal readers have enjoyed the ride so far in the year and will continue to follow me in the future. The comments I get about my blog from the readers is what inspires me to continue. Please don't hesitate to add some feedback now and again to keep me going. :)

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Surati Farsan Mart - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 3

Date of Dining: 10/7/2011 
Price: About $5-7 per item
Location: 9494 Black Mountain Road, San Diego, CA 92126
website


The Quick Bit:
+ Exciting flavor combinations
+ Fully Vegetarian, but still satiates the appetite
+ Selection of Indian Sweets
Δ Some flavors can be a little aggressive for a western palate
Δ Food can be surprisingly heavy even for being vegetarian
Δ Variation in food was somewhat lacking

Blogger's Note: With next week being Christmas, I will not be updating the blog. I expect to have an update for New Years along with some potential blog changes in 2012.

While I visited Surati Farsan Mart in October, I really wanted to post about it after seeing this amazing video footage (watch the video, really). Unfortunately there were some higher priority posts that had to be done first. At the time of this posting, it is unclear to me whether Surati Farsan has re-opened for business yet. It wouldn't surprise me if they are already reopen at this point, but hopefully a helpful reader can provide an update on the situation.

Getting back to the search for Indian food, Surati Farsan has long been mentioned as a bastion for enjoyable  Indian fare in San Diego. Prior to this visit, I had never actually gone there despite hearing about it several times. The key part that prevented me from visiting is that whenever I mentioned it to some Indian friends, they would brush it off as "just being a snack place." I set out to Surati Farsan to find out if I could eat a complete satisfying meal that was completely vegetarian.

I enlisted a group of friends and coworkers to help me navigate the menu and recommend items for me to try. 

dahi puri

The first item I tried was the dahi puri. The puri is the shell that holds the ingredients and the dahi is the yogurt. The inner filling contained a mix of chickpeas, green lentils, potato, and there was a water infused with tamarind, dates and mint chutney. 

For being a relatively cheap snack item, I was very impressed with this dish. The tamarind, date, mint water was the key component to the dish infusing the elements with sweetness, freshness, and a tiny bit of spice. The key to the water was that it infused a lot of flavor without being overpowering. The puri itself had an enjoyable contrast of textures and flavors between the different components with the yogurt marrying the textures together. This was easily my favorite dish of the night and I imagine it would work as an amuse on most fine dining menus.

pav bhaji

The pav bhaji was an Indian curry mixture containing potato, pea, onions, and a tomato-based curry. The bhaji was accompanied with some hamburger buns spread with ghee and some chopped white onions.

I found this dish fairly aggressively spiced, and otherwise uninteresting. I can see where an item like this is a staple food that people would eat on a daily basis as it contains some cheap and filling ingredients that contain a nice mix of flavors. Ultimately, I feel that while there was nothing wrong with the dish, a Western palate may not take the aggressive spicing well, and that there are more interesting things to order on the menu.

chole samosa

The chole is the curry of chickpeas and tamarind sauce that accompany the samosas, which contained potatoes, corn, and mustard seeds. 

This dish was a great dish for me. There was a large play between the contrasting flavors of sweetness and spice throughout the course. The chole contained an aggressive sweetness from the tamarind infusion to the curry, which was more restrained in the spicing; this mix was juxtaposed with the samosa which had a light sweetness from the corn and an aggressive sweetness from the mustard seeds and other spices. This play on the components worked really well for me. I also enjoyed that the samosas were prepared well as they were fried crisply and cooked well.

selection of sweets

While Surati has some savory dishes, it is even more known for its selection of Indian sweets. Similar to the chocolate display case at Godiva, the sweets are available for order in some large quantities. Fortunately for me, the proprietor took mercy on me for being the clueless Westerner and allowed me to purchase a sample selection of the sweets.

My favorite of the sweets was the item on the upper left, which was a sweet containing mostly dates and mixed with pistachios, almonds, and cashews. I found the different contrast in nut flavors and textures blended with the date to be satisfying and not too sweet.

I also enjoyed the rolled candy on the far right, which I was informed was a cashew filling to a milk based outer shell. 

Conclusion:

While Surati Farsan is certainly a change of pace in relation to the other Indian food places I've been exploring, it does not mean that it cannot be part of the Indian food search. I came away from Surati with some mixed feelings; while I did enjoy the food I did feel there was the "comfort food" aspect of Indian food missing from the experience (which may be a good thing). I also felt that while I was able to take most of the aggressive seasonings, it may not be for everyone. While I can recommend Surati Farsan to adventurous eaters that are willing to experience an "unfamiliar" type of Indian cuisine, I don't believe that it will ultimately hold as the winner of the Indian food search.

Even so, for the exceptional dahi puri (a dish I think that could be served in a high end restaurant with a little more refinement), Surati Farsan is awarded with the bit award.

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BKC (Bismillah Kabob-n-Curry) - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 2

Date of Dining: 9/29/2011 
Price: $6-$13 per appetizer, $10-15 per entree
Location: 5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd #G, San Diego, CA 92117
website


The Quick Bit:
+ Adequate Indian Meat dishes
+ Strong, aggressive spicing
Δ Tables could be larger
Δ Service could be more consistent


It has been awhile since I've made a post on the many series posts I have running, especially in the Indian Food Search. While I would love to have an excuse like I just didn't visit any restaurants, the reality is that there have just been so many other things to post since October that I didn't get a chance to fit these posts in.
After making the first post about Indian food, I received an overwhelming amount of feed back from friends and coworkers urging me include/try several different restaurants as part of the search. I got three separate recommendations from people that don't know each other to try BKC, so I thought it would be a good second stop. Technically, BKC is slightly cheating as the food seems slightly more Pakistani than Indian. However, I'm going to pretend I'm ignorant of these things and just clump it into the Indian food as most diners would probably not be able to distinguish the differences in the cuisine.
Another reason I chose BKC was that there was a special item on the menu that I thought many of my readers would want to hear about: Magas Masala (Behja Fry). Prior to going to BKC, I did google this dish and found out that there were two varieties - the deep fried and stir fried version. I resolved to try this dish only if the stir fried version was the one served. Unfortunately when querying the waitress, she explained that their version of the dish was deep fried. Further, BKC serves a special Biryani dish after weekend prayer service (I want to say around 3pm Sunday), which I also didn't get to sample due to dining there for dinner. However, I still felt that I got a good feel for the restaurant with the dishes that were sampled.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were greeted by an older gentleman waiter that did not take a very friendly demeanor with our group. Luckily we were rescued by a younger female waitress who ended up being our server for the night and gave us excellent service. However, the initial impression I got left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth throughout the meal.


Breads:

garlic naan

As I'm no Indian food expert, perhaps the dish I can judge the best at each restaurant is the garlic naan. This particular garlic naan was slightly below average. There was a nice crust and crispy texture to the bottom of the naan. Unfortunately, the positives of the naan ended there. There was a lot more coriander than garlic, which threw off the balance of the garlic flavor, and the bread was slightly cold and too chewy. 

papadum

As I had not had papadum in the past, the table insisted that I take this opportunity to try it. This particular papadum seemed baked rather than deep fried, which I found positive. However, I seemed to not understand how to properly eat with this accompaniment. While I was using it as a naan substitute, I felt a great desire to have naan instead.

house salad and mint chutney

Perhaps the papadum was meant to accompany what I took for a house salad and mint chutney, but the papadum arrived so late that these accompaniments were forgotten. The salad was a typical side salad expected at any restaurant, and the mint chutney seemed like it had missed its prime by about three hours prior to our arrival.


Curries:
The chief complaint about curry dishes is that some restaurants will use the same base sauce for the curries and then take shortcuts to cut down on prep (even though all sauces should be different). We ordered in such a way to be able to make a determination if the restaurant took this shortcut.

Kashmiri kabob masala - boneless tandoor chicken, cooked in herbs & spices

Considered one of the restaurant's signature dishes, we decided that this would be a good dish to evaluate on the sauce differential. For being a signature dish, this dish delivered on the flavor. The sauce was packed with a nice spicy punch and had a nice thickness to it. The chicken was overcooked, but this is a common thing in Indian cuisine, so I did not hold it against them. By the time this plate was taken away, the plate was largely white as we had used the naan to sop up any extra curry.

paneer tikka masala - gourmet dish made with marinated tandoor paneer & tomato base gravy

To compare the Kasmiri kabob, we ordered the paneer tikka masala. While both dishes contain masala, I was assured that the sauces should have been different enough that a proper cook would prepare each sauce individually. Unfortunately, these sauces were definitely the same sauce. Where the Kashmiri kabob added spice to the sauce, the paneer tikka masala seemed to add sugar to the base sauce.
The curry itself was largely enjoyable as the sauce still contained a nice thick texture that was complimented by some sweetness. However, the texture of the paneer seemed too tough as it was dry to the point where it was actually chewy like overcooked chicken. 


Meat:

lamb karahi - delicately spiced lamb pieces cooked in a karahi (wok)

This dish was the best dish of the night. The lamb pieces included bones including some pieces that included gelatinous bits of bone marrow. The spicing was aggressive to convey depth of flavor, but restrained enough to not overwhelm the palette. This dish also had a nice kick of spiciness that took it to the next level. 


Dessert:

gulab jamun - North Indian sweet dumplings

In addition to the naan, apparently I have been volunteered to sample the gulab jamun at every Indian restaurant.
These particular gulab jamun had been previously frozen and not completely thawed as biting into the center released a large concentration of cold breading. Additionally, I felt the simple syrup was a bit overly sweet and lacked refinement.


Conclusion:
While it may seem like I was overly critical on many of these dishes, I did end up enjoying the the meal at BKC. While I don't think it is the best Indian food in San Diego, it is Indian food that I would return to enjoy again in future. The curries and meats were prepared with ample flavor and were aggressively spiced to be more interesting than the run of the mill curry. However, if I was a vegetarian, I would avoid BKC as their strength seems to lie in mainly in their meat-based dishes.

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Bawarchi - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 1

Date of Dining: 3/4/2011
Price: $20-35 per person
Location: 9520 Black Mountain Rd Ste. A, San Diego, CA 92126
website

The Quick Bit:
+ The garlic naan was good
+ Food was not overly buttery
Δ Servers could have been more attentive
Δ Non-vegetarian Biryanis could be cooked with meat
Δ Spices in Biryani could have been milder
Δ "breading" of the Indo-Chino dishes could have been less disgusting in texture

I'm a big fan of Indian food - from the rich complex flavors of curry to the succulent tenderness of the tandoori grilled meats to actually being able to eat vegetarian and enjoying a good meal, good Indian food is something I would love to have. Unfortunately, I have still yet to enjoy a properly amazing Indian meal, so I can only imagine how good Indian food should be.

As I work with many Indians (who are regular readers of this blog no less), I have asked them to help me find a good Indian restaurant in San Diego. For the first stop of this journey, we decided to pick somewhere in the Indian "hub" of San Diego - Black Mountain Road complex. Now you may ask why they picked Bawarchi vs Surati Farsan Mart, but I was informed that they don't consider Surati Farsan Mart to be a proper place to get a meal - "It's just a snack place." Since I'm no expert on Indian Cuisine, I'll simply defer on that argument and say that while Surati Farsan Mart may be reviewed in the future, it would be part of the Searching for Indian Food series.

I ended up with four others at Bawarchi, so we went ahead and ordered a lot of things:

Pakora

The pakora were completely over-fried to the point that the original vegetables had no flavor at all. This was quite a shame since the dipping sauces were pretty good. Our table didn't finish this dish.

Gobi Manchurian (cauliflower)

The first of the Indo-Chino dishes; Gobi Manchurian appears to be a take on sweet and sour pork except with cauliflower instead of pork. The breading used to fry the cauliflower seemed to be too wet. It's almost like the cauliflower was dipped in some wet mixture and then not finished off with flour/breadcrumbs, so all that adhered to the vegetable was some runny mess of flower and egg. Furthermore, the cauliflower seemed to not be respected as an ingredient as it was overcooked and the aggressive saucing of the dish completely overwhelmed any taste of cauliflower.

Chicken 65

Chicken 65 seems to be an Indo-Chino take on Szechwan cooking. The chicken was deep fried (notice a trend?) and then slathered with some spicy sauce that resembled Sambal. It was also finished with an Indian spice mix to add some depth. Perhaps I'm slightly biased, but I prefer some of the subtleties of good Szechwan cooking over the Indo-Chino version. While there is definitely heat in the Szechwan food, there is also added depth with the inclusion of fermented soy beans and there is also a nice numbing quality from the Szechwan peppercorns. However, this dish tried to pair a Chinese spice with and Indian spice and they seemed to work against each other rather in with each other in harmony.

Garlic Naan

Easily the best dish of the night. The naan was nicely crispy in the center and the outer portions were appropriately doughy.

Matar Paneer

The paneer was uninspired at best. Many Indian restaurants seem to take the shortcut of making one sauce and then adapting that sauce into all the different curries rather than making each sauce separately. I feel that Bawarchi was certainly guilty of this.

Vegetable Dum Biryani

Bawarchi Special Chicken Dum Biryani

I actually tried to order the Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani, but was informed they were out. Since this dish was more expensive, one would figure that it should be more impressive. Instead, I was extremely disappointed in the results. The Vegetable Biryani was the exact same rice base as the Chicken Biryani, which speaks of total laziness in the preparation. One would expect that a meat Biryani is cooked in the juices of the meat in order to impart an additional layer of savory flavor. Bawarchi decided that they would not do that. Additionally, it may just be a cultural thing but I completely missed why there was a pairing of a hard boiled egg.

Rasmalai

I found this dish to be average and at least somewhat enjoyable after the rest of the meal didn't go particularly well. However, I was informed that this dish was in fact terrible. I did end up eating this, but the rest of the people looked at me strangely that I would actually enjoy it.

Gulab Jamun

This Gulab Jamun was simply way too sweet. The sweetness overwhelmed everything else. I would be surprised if the entire ball was not filled completely with pure sugar.

So the first stop of the search for Indian food failed to produce a result to my liking. However, I did find the experience educational, especially on how Biryanis are supposed to be prepared.

Additionally, in the five months since I visited Bawarchi, apparently the food has taken a turn for the worse. This claim is complete here-say, but the coworkers that I visited the restaurant with have all informed me that they refuse to go the restaurant any longer. Perhaps even my beloved Garlic Naan is no longer any good there?

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