2008 Top 12 Meals Outside Los Angeles

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These bites inspired me more than any others over the past year.

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Learn about the Top 12 meals outside Los Angeles that I ate in 2008, regardless of cuisine or price level. The entries appear by date of consumption, not according to my level of enjoyment, which was considerable in every case.

7. SPQR – San Francisco, CAAugust 4, 2008


Italian Food San Francisco

SPQR’s succulent house-made pork patty browned on the grill and joined sweet corn, green tomato and radish “salsa.”

Nate Appleman is my kind of chef. He’s incredibly talented. In addition to SPQR, Appleman and Wine Director Shelley Lindgren also own A16, a rock-solid Marina district Italian restaurant. Most important, the heavily tattooed chef is supremely committed to pork products.

Heritage pork porterhouse was plated with frisee, hazelnuts and lemon. The pig was fed up to 2.5 pounds of plums per day, imparting a sweet flavor to the browned bone-in chop. Rigatoni Amatriciana was tossed with guanciale (cuts of pork jowl, similar to bacon), tomatoes, red onions, pecorino and chilies. The sauce was spicy due to the chilies, and the house-made pasta was perfectly cooked.

No surprise, Appleman doesn’t need pork to create flavor. Sometimes, he doesn’t even need meat. Chunks of Fried Cauliflower remained moist with help from olive oil, tossed with garlic chips, parsley, capers and lemon juice. Wild arugula salad contained slivers of sweet black Mission figs, peaches and red onion, croutons and ricotta salata whisps. Fried Local sardines accompanied chunky mashed tondani beans (similar to white beans), cucumbers and pickled onions. A squeeze of lemon helped cut the sardines’ oceanic tang. Our first Antipasti Grande – Lamb cacciatore – was basically juicy chunks of browned lamb tossed with rosemary, garlic and white wine. Cannelloni of beef sausage, ricotta, kale and pecorino was akin to Italian enchiladas, only with pasta sheets instead of tortillas. The sauce was vivid, naturally sweet.

For dessert, Riso budino with apricots and pistachios was a terrific rice pudding, a little creamy, made with the precision of a fine risotto. There were crunchy chunks of crumbled pistachio biscotti, which added to the texture. Honey granita paired well with tart blackberries, candied fennel and tangy ricotta. Sadly, the candied fennel didn’t quite achieve “candied” status. Chocolate panna cotta with cocoa nibs and cherries was incredible, bittersweet chocolate pudding with explosively sweet cherries and tart cocoa nibs.

8. Marche Moderne – Costa Mesa, CAOctober 4, 2008 [Moved to Newport Coast]

French Food Orange County

Marche Moderne’s bouillabaisse could have easily fed two people.

Chef Florent Marneau and wife/pastry chef Amelia opened this contemporary French bistro on the third floor of ritzy South Coast Plaza in spring 2007, introducing a culinary oasis to a sea of outrageously expensive shops. The interior was like the Marneaus’ food, polished without being stuffy.

Good pizza is nearly impossible to come by in Southern California, but Florent Marneau’s wood-burning-oven tart was a highly satisfying substitute. The supple crust supported gobs of creamy burrata cheese, smoky sautéed escarole, slabs of caramelized braised bacon, sweet red onion jam and earthy truffle tapenade.

Marche Moderne’s Confit Pork Belly was one of the two best pork bellies ever (the other was at Palate). Florent’s version was crisp at the edges and meaty with very little fat. Chunks of braised peach and black Mission fig jam played off the richness of the meat. At the base, we found pools of anise-scented jus.

Bouillabaisse loaded ambrosia-like fish broth with fresh seafood flown overnight from the Med, including John Dory, rouget (a crisp-skinned fish similar to red mullet), dorade grise, dorade rosé, calamaretti (minuscule calamari), mussels, clams, rouille (garlic paste), fingerling potatoes, fennel and leeks. The dish came with a few interesting accompaniments, including a pot of additional rouille, tapenade, roasted cherry tomatoes, lemon preserve and millimeters-thin toast. The entire dish was staggeringly good, but the highlights were the firm fillets of luscious fish, tender calamari and slabs of fennel. Millbrook venison “caramelizé au vin” was a surprisingly simple dish, celery root mousseline topped with seared slices of succulent burgundy-hued deer and plump chanterelle mushrooms.

For dessert, Amelia Marneau prepared a distinctive Rhubarb-Strawberry Crème Brûlée Tart with an especially yolky crème brûlée cap and a bracing scoop of peppermint-scented gelato.

9. Mesa – Costa Mesa, CAOctober 23, 2008

Dates Orange County

Bacon-wrapped dates have becoming increasingly en vogue ever since A.O.C. filled theirs with Parmesan. Mesa takes the concept to another level.

For its first year of business, the owner of Mesa didn’t allow any signage or photography, preferring to let the concept speak for itself and for support to build organically. In the two weeks leading up to dinner, Mesa added a sign, listed their phone number and printed business cards. In this economy, there’s no reason to play hide-and-seek with your customer base, especially when a restaurant offers the total package of food, atmosphere and (at least on this night) service.

David Haskell, who closed BIN 8945 to start 2008, led us on an incredible food and wine journey, with each stage featuring two dishes and two glasses. Haskell is an exceptional sommelier, not only for his knowledge and enthusiasm, but also for his straightforward manner and ability to discover esoteric varietals from the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Mesa opted to cook their mussels in a cast-iron skillet with sea salt, cracked pepper and butter. This led to some seriously supple and smoky shellfish. A silky slice of hamachi came on aioli-slathered crispy rice, topped with Chinese green garlic, a sliver of red jalapeño and wasabi-infused tobiko. To combat the pungent truffle oil in the chanterelle crostini, Haskell paired a glass of Chateau Musar, an “effervescent” northern Lebanese wine made from Marue and Obiedah grapes.

Mesa stuffs their bacon-wrapped dates with braised oxtail, plating rich packets with parsnip puree and pickled grapes. Haskell needed a bold wine to compete with the flavors of the dates. He pulled out a bottle of Bibich, the Croatian equivalent to Sangiovese.

Since the cast iron skillet worked so well with the mussels, Mesa used it again with their meatballs. The pepper-studded meat caramelized on the pan and was doused in zesty tomato sauce strewn with garlic and sea salt. Tenderloin is normally the least flavorful cut of beef, since it’s so lean, but Mesa was able to muster plenty of flavor from their char-grilled slab, which was strewn with sea salt and plated with Roquefort fondue, rows of Tuscan black kale and sweet cipollini onions.

10. Sea Rocket Bistro – San Diego, CANovember 1, 2008 [CLOSED]

Fish San Diego

Sea Rocket Bistro’s “bait” was excellent, not nearly as pungent as the second-rate canned variety.

Dennis Stein and Elena Rivellino opened their ultra-local ocean-centric bistro in red-hot North Park on June 1, naming Sea Rocket for a variety of wild arugula that grows on San Diego beaches. The duo quickly developed the kind of unpretentious, seasonal seafood restaurant that for some reason doesn’t exist in Los Angeles.

On our visit, Chef Christy Samoy prepared an outstanding Pan-Seared San Diego Opah, with a terrific char and juicy flesh that was similar to swordfish, but sweeter. The plate also held L-shaped streaks of chimichurri and “a medley of seasonal vegetables,” a luscious mix of onions, zucchini, peppers and carrots. Stein was nice enough to let us replace mashed Yukon Gold potatoes with lima bean salad drizzled with tangy lemon-infused Temecula avocado oil.

Sea Rocket Bistro offers the option to top any dish with a trio of grilled San Diego sardines. The skin had a nice sear and was a little crispy. They came on skewers, and you know that food always tastes better when it’s on a stick.

Carlsbad Steamers amounted to a pound of sweet clams and mussels from Carlsbad Aqua Farm, sautéed in an herb-flecked white wine broth and served with ciabatta crostini from nearby Cardamom Café. The clams were clearly the superior shellfish, small but sweet.

For our “sweet ending,” Honey Beer Cake turned out to be a dense vanilla pound cake layered with cream cheese and sweetened with avocado honey. Chef Samoy normally makes the cake with wheat beer, but since it wasn’t on draft, she used Ballast Point Pale Ale. Very good.

11. High Cotton – Charleston, SCDecember 27, 2008

Southern Food Charleston

High Cotton’s Prosciutto Wrapped Rabbit Loin featured juicy white meat medallions, smoky Hoppin’ John risotto studded with braised greens and a healthy Carolina mustard BBQ sauce drizzle.

It took over eight years to have dinner at High Cotton, a downtown Charleston standby that delivered one of the only meals to elicit a rave review from my father in the past five years. The duck purloo that he loved so much wasn’t on the menu, but just about every other dish that Executive Chef Anthony Gray and his crew produced was excellent, especially the Pan Fried Rabbit Livers. The rich but terrific starter featured crisp-crusted chunks of tender organ meat on white corn grits, dressed with a rich mess of smoked bacon, sweet pepper relish, roasted garlic and Marsala jus.

To drink, The Charleston Cocktail mixed local Firefly sweet tea vodka, Madeira, lemonade and mint infused syrup. The drink was like a supercharged Arnold Palmer with some of the best qualities of a Mint Julep.

The Milk Chocolate Pot de Crème was a satisfying special, ultra creamy, topped with chocolate whipped cream, a question-mark-shaped peanut butter tuile cookie and crunchy chocolate dots.

12. Trattoria Lucca – Charleston, SCDecember 30, 2008

Italian Food Charleston

To start, Trattoria Lucca served an overflowing platter of Verdure, Formaggi and Salumi.

Talented Italian chef Ken Vedrinski is no longer involved with Sienna, and Daniel Island’s loss is Charleston’s gain. For the past three months, he’s owned Trattoria Lucca on a residential stretch of Charleston and his plan for the city is just beginning. In late 2009, Vedrinski plans to open a refined Italian seafood restaurant in the nearby Cigar Factory building. In the meantime, Vedrinkski already has one of the best restaurants in Charleston, Italian or otherwise.

Antipasti included supple Grilled Artichokes seasoned with Lemon Agrumato (citrus oil), Sicilian Sea Salt and finely shaved cheese, silky Prosciutto di Parma/Grand Riserva, air cured for 36 months, and Coppa, boldly flavored with garlic and red wine. The Verdure that didn’t fit on the platter turned out to be the most impressive. A roasted Portabella cap was loaded with roasted oyster and trumpet mushrooms, plus sweet Saba (grape reduction) and salty (in a good way) Gorgonzola.

My father took one bite of the feathery Sheep’s Milk Ricotta Gnudi with house-made Italian duck sausage and Grandma Volpe Tomato Ragu, and immediately ordered a second plate. The fresh “pasta” was definitely impressive, with a rich sauce, basil and a thin sheathe of melted Caciocavallo cheese (similar to mozzarella). Strozzapreti, known as “priest stranglers” in Italy due to Umbrian clergymen’s inability to stop eating them, were strewn with a creamy sauce involving minced arugula, preserved tomato and Scamorza Fumata (a smoked relative of mozzarella).

Crispy Ashley Farm Chicken “Mattone” was a ridiculously moist, herbaceous half-chicken plated with Dried Figs, cuts of Cipollini Onion, and Olive Oil Roasted Root Vegetables, including carrot and parsnip spears and a bed of mashed turnips. It’s hard to tell from the photos, since they aren’t to scale, but the portions were definitely hearty. The chicken came in a dish that was over a foot across. Pesci Locali della Preparazione dei Cuochi, the local fish of the day, involved luscious triggerfish fillets in a light tomato broth, a bed of olive oil potato puree and a bath of tangy marinara made with tomato, garlic, capers and olives.

Dolce was highlighted by a warm polenta cake dabbed with Mascarpone, plated with sweet strawberries heightened with Chianti.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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