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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SIP @Flavor Del Mar

Date of Dining: 10/22/2011
Price: $7-15 per tapas plate
Location: 1555 Camino Del Mar, Suite #322, Del Mar, CA 92014
sip website
flavor website


The Quick Bit:
+ New chef with a great tapas menu
+ Food directly from Flavor Del Mar restaurant
+ Great selection of wine with friendly staff
+ Great ambiance with the racks of wine
Δ High bar chair seating doesn't necessarily suit everyone
Δ Some garnish re-use in the dishes

If you're confused with the headings read here. With the name SIP, I couldn't resist.

REGISTER
While there has been much turmoil in the Del Mar/Solana Beach dining scene with Blanca closing and Chef McCabe leaving Kitchen 1540, the hiring of a new chef at Flavor Del Mar has largely gone unnoticed. However, one of my fellow bloggers at Gourmand's Review was keen to this development and invited me to go sample some of the fare. Instead of going into the restaurant, we decided that we would sample the food at the attached SIP wine bar so that we could sample a variety of dishes and hang stay at the restaurant later.

INFO
SIP is a wine bar that is attached to the kitchen of the Flavor Del Mar restaurant. While Flavor may be more of a fine dining restaurant, SIP provides a more casual atmosphere to have a snack and a drink rather than an entire meal. The dishes at SIP are currently directly from the menu at Flavor, but this may be just because the new chef is still settling in.
Flavor is owned by restauranteur and entrepreneur Jeff Hunter. Mr. Hunter owns several businesses in several different industries in Canada, but has recently set his sights on Del Mar. His first endeavor in the United States is Flavor Del Mar. General Manager Jerome Astolfi runs both Flavor and SIP. Mr. Astolfi is an expert at opening and running successful restaurants. His resume includes many successful restaurants in New York City and San Diego.
Chef Brian Redzikowski was recently hired as the new chef at Flavor Del Mar. Chef Redzikowski graduated first in his class from the Culinary Institute of America where he worked at Alain Ducasse and Le Bernadin during his monthly stages. He competed on Iron Chef America in 2008 and was named StarChefs Rising Chef Nominee in 2010. Chef Redzikowski previously worked at Nobu Matsuhisa in Aspen and Joel Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas. Chef Redzikowski was largely influenced by Asian flavors after a trip to Southeast Asia - his cooking style is to use the freshest seasonal ingredients and combine French and Asian flavors using modern techniques.

SUBSCRIBE

foie gras doughnut - persimmon, arugla, acacia honey

We started the evening with the foie, which was prepared perfectly. However, another star of the dish was the perfectly fried doughnut topped with the sweet honey. The crispy yet soft, moist, and warm doughnut was the perfect compliment to the foie. The persimmon was a nice compliment to the foie in using a seasonal fruit.

NOTIFY

lobster tempura - serrano chile, sweet ponzu, cilantro

The lobster was fried perfectly and the flesh was tender, sweet, and succulent. The ponzu seemed to be fortified with a bit of dashi, which cut the acidity and carried the deep flavor through to the tempura more. The sliced serrano chiles provided a nice nip of heat to round out the dish.

INVITE

mexican bay scallop ceviche - serrano, lime, tomato, red onion

This was probably the least successful dish of the night for me. The re-use of the garnish from the lobster turned me off a little and I felt that the lime flavor wasn't really strong enough to be the "tiger's milk" of the ceviche. The dish was not bad as it was made using top notch ingredients, but it just seemed a little bit off my expectation of a ceviche.

OPTIONS

pickled potatoes - creme fraiche, chives

I was surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. The potatoes were cooked and seasoned perfectly. The pickling gave the potatoes a touch of acidity that made them stand out.

REFER

big eye tuna tacos - guacamole, red onion, micro cilantro, sour cream

At first, I was again miffed by the re-use of the micro cilantro and red onion, but after biting into the crisp wonton wrapper with the tuna, I experienced an explosion of flavor and textures that made my mouth sing.

PUBLISH

beef sliders - nima ranch beef, brioche, ketchup, mayonnaise, arugla, carmelized onion,
aged white cheddar, cherry tomato

Ostensibly, the burger was going to be part of the fine dining burger shootout, but I felt that comparing sliders to burgers wasn't really fair. Overall, these sliders were pretty good as the cherry tomato and the arugla are not usually found in burgers. The extra sweetness from the cherry tomato worked in the slider. However, the sliders were sauced a little too heavily for my taste and the bun to meat ratio had a little too much bun for my taste.

BYE
In conclusion, the food at Flavor/SIP seems to be coming along well. I really enjoyed my experience and look forward to a future visit at Flavor itself. All of the dishes were well prepared and aside from the constant re-use of the micro-cilantro and red onion topping, each of the dishes was unique showcased a different flavor profile.
As I attribute the food to Flavor more than SIP, I will refrain from assigning a food award until I visit Flavor. In the meantime, the great wine selection that was enjoyed with all of the bites is enough to award SIP with the oeno-byte award.

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Gavin Schmidt Re-Pop @El Take It Easy

Date of Dining: 10/26/2011
Price: $45 for 5 courses
Location: 3926 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104


The Quick Bit:
+ (Relatively) Cheap prices for Chef Schmidt's Food
+ Nice range of dishes
+ Great celebration for National Seafood Month
Δ Some inconsistencies in preparation
Δ Atmosphere of the restaurant and Chef Schmidt's food are not the best pairing

Being a one time popup, I was conflicted whether to review this experience as others would not be able to go. However, with the "new" Blanca dying before it even opened, I thought it appropriate to cover this event. Hopefully I will have time to make a second post later this week to a restaurant all are able to visit.

In the many times I've covered Chef Gavin Schmidt in the past, he was always the head chef at Blanca. In the previous coverage, I surmised that Chef Schmidt may in fact be a hobbit. With the closure of Blanca being something akin to the Scouring of the Shire, this pop up was supposed to be something like seeing Chef Schmidt try to open a pop-up at The Prancing Pony.
As the month of October is National Seafood Month, Chef Schmidt celebrated the theme by having an all seafood pop-up. I can only assume that Chef Schmidt knows some other Stoorish Hobbits that helped him catch all the seafood, but ultimately I was just happy to get to eat his food again.
Having previously been to The Prancing Pony El Take it Easy, I decided not to order of the regular menu and instead opted entire for the pop up food.

First Course:

Still Life of Local Waters - local spiny lobster, uni, smoked avocado, dashi vinnaigrette

Still Life was one of favorite dishes at Blanca, and having this one really satisfied a craving I had long been having. This particular Still Life was not as good as the ones at Blanca if only because the dashi gelatin layer was a little too thick. I attribute this to different equipment being used to produce the gelatin layer. Still the extra thick gelatin didn't ruin it dish, it just changed up the expected flavors and textures a bit.


Second Course:

Kobacha Squash Chawan Mushi - Erendira abalone, pickled radish, slow cooked egg

The slow cooked egg really worked well in this dish. The earthiness of the yolk really tied the pickled spicyiness of the kimchee with the abalone and gave a luxurious earthy mouthful. That said, I ended up getting caught up in the naming of the dish as a chawanmushi as this dish was more like a deconstructed chawanmushi.

Third Course:

Cassoulet of Baja White Prawns - fresh shelling beans, scallop boudin, nasturtium pistou

While I generally dislike bean dishes, the prawn and the scallop boudin did distract me enough to enjoy the dish. If that wasn't enough, some of the dishes included some chicharones in the garnish, which totally took the dish to another level. The crunch and flavor of the chicharones really contrasted to the more delicate, yet intensely flavored seafood and brought the dish to another level.

Surprise Course:

Chicharrones

Since my table had ordered four of the previous course, we found that some of the dishes did not include chicharrone garnish while others did. To make up for missing this, Chef Schmidt sent out a plate of Chicharrones for the table. We heartily dug in and enjoyed this.

Fourth Course:

Seared Wild Mexican Red Rock Cod - chorizo mussel broth, olive oil, poached potato, kale

The mussel was cooked perfectly in this dish and really brought out a nice flavor contrast to that of the rock cod. The potato was also cooked beautifully as it was delicate and full of flavor. Unfortunately, the rock cod was overcooked and somewhat lacking in flavor.

Fifth Course:

Fried Chicken and Octopus - fried pastured chicken from Tag Farms, stewed wild Mexican octopus
sassafras

This was the best dish of the night. Chef Schmidt mentioned that in a recent trip to New Orleans, he was inspired by the Southern flavors and fried chicken, so he wanted to share that. The dish he created to celebrate that memory was a success. The fried chicken was succulent and moist and the octopus stew was full of spice and flavor. The only slight complaint about the dish is that the octopus was a little chewy.

Conclusion:
Overall, I thought the food was very nice. Unfortunately, the food isn't always the entire experience when eating out. When I said that Chef Schmidt was essentially popping up at The Prancing Pony, I really meant that all the way complete with all the raucous and bawdy behavior that could be expected in a medieval tavern. While there was not a dark, hooded stranger in the back named Strider, the food did seem a little out of place with the environment of the restaurant.
I wish Chef Schmidt the best in finding a new place and look forward to any other events he may be holding in the meantime. Meanwhile, let us hope that a newer and better Shire in constructed where Chef Schmidt can showcase the amazing food I know he is capable of producing.

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Blue Ribbon Pizzeria

Date of Dining: 10/8/2011

Price: $8-14 appetizers, 13-16 pizzas
Location: 897 South Coast Highway 101 Suite F102, Encinitas, CA 92024
website


The Quick Bit:
+ Nice Brick Oven Pizzas
+ Use of high quality ingredients
Δ Front of House experience left a lot to be desired
Δ Space is small and cramped, more like a New York City style area


When I last reviewed Neopolitan pizza, I insinuated that the pizza was the best in San Diego, which triggered a lot of responses of other pizza places to try out. Unfortunately the timing of this was such that it was the dog days of tourist summer and even showing up to some of these recommended places at 8pm on a Thursday, I was told I would have to wait up to 90 minutes for a table. Instead of trying to fight through the crowds, I figured it more prudent to bide my time and wait for the tourists to move on.
Now that the summer season is over, I finally made it out to Blue Ribbon Pizza in Encinitas. Blue Ribbon is owned and operated by Wade Hageman, former head chef of Blanca. While at Blanca, Hageman received many accolades for this food and developed the ubiquitous Blanca favorite of truffle popcorn that is now appearing on menus at other restaurants.

In his new space, Hageman operates in an open pizza perch facing the rest of the space. He gets to see all his customers enjoy his food while the customers see him make pizzas for others. I did briefly get to talk to Chef Hageman as I walked back from the restroom and he mentioned that he is much happier in his new restaurant because he can feed the masses and see that they are happy to be enjoying his food.
When my party first arrived, it was still early in the evening so there were empty seats available. However, upon asking for a table, we were told the wait was at least 45 minutes. The next party also did not have reservations, but they were offered a seat at the bar and sat immediately. When we confronted the hostess, she was noncommital and said we would have to wait the 45 minutes. Luckily, Chef Hageman's wife came to the front of the house and when I asked her if we could be seated at the bar, she gladly accommodated. While I do not wish to speculate about the hostess's reasons, this was not the only problem we had with the front of house. Since we were seated at the bar, a friend was in the area and wanted to join us for dinner. When we informed the hostess, she acknowledged the request and said it was no problem. However, when the friend arrived, the hostess gave us a lot of trouble in having the friend seated with us.


Appetizers:

Albacore tuna crudo with haas avocado, ruby grapefruit and lemon olive oil

This was a great dish and a great way to start off the meal. the acid from the citrus was a great way to open the palette while the albacore was very fresh and tasty. The fat of the avocado tied all the tastes together in a very Californian approach. This dish was much more like something I would have expected from Blanca rather than Blue Ribbon (although it was similarly priced to Blanca as well).

Fresh burrata with EVOO, sea salt and organic arugla

While I really wanted to like this dish, the burrata had a very washed out flavor. It distinctly lacked the milky goodness expected from a good burrata. The black pepper was also a little too aggressive and it caused one of my party to continuously sneeze for five minutes.


Pizza:

White Oak - mozzerella, ricotta, La Quercia proscuitto and arugla

This pretty much seemed to be a take on the brunoverde except with proscuitto added. Invariably, I ordered this to be able to make a direct comparison to to Bruno. The cheese on this pizza, both the mozzerella and ricotta lacked the richness of a great cheese. The arugla is meant to cut the richness of the cheese, but when there isn't really a lot of richness to cut, then the bitterness of the arugla comes through and the pizza wasn't balanced. However, the pizza was still in the same league as the brunoverde - it was just more of a backup player rather than a star.

Classic - tomato sauce, fresh mozerella, fennel sausage and crimini mushrooms

This was an enjoyable pizza. In fact, it compares to the campania I had at Bruno and was superior to it. The house made fennel sausage really carried through the flavors of this dish. I would have liked for it to also perhaps have had a pepperonata, but the pizza was enjoyable.


Dessert:

___ Pudding - sea salt caramel, house made whipped cream

I forgot exactly what type of pudding this was, but the star of the dish was the caramel. The sea salt and caramel when integrated with the rest of the dish really contrasted the pudding in flavor and texture. It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but overall an enjoyable dessert.


Conclusion:
While Blue Ribbon Pizzeria delivered a good and compelling pizza, there were aspects to the experience that overshadowed the food. The main issue we had was with the hostess, who we couldn't seem to stop butting heads with - usually they seat you and you never see them again, but we had to keep interacting with her, which brought down the experience. Further, while the pizza was good, it wasn't ultimately better than Bruno's pizza. It says a lot that when you go to a pizza place for dinner and you think the appetizer was the best dish of the night....
However, Blue Ribbon Pizzeria is still a great restaurant, and one that I would recommend with the front of house disclaimer. Had the hostess been more friendly, I would be awarding Blue Ribbon Pizzeria a bit award, but there were just too many small nitpicks to give the restaurant an award.

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