Best Things I Ate This Month: January Main Dish

Duck @ Gang Kitchen

Gang Kitchen is the new venture from Jon Mangini, who started his SD mini-empire with killer pizza at Basic and URBN. Gang, however, is a new beast—a pan-Asian gourmet collaboration with chef Jo Ann Plympton (who put in time at UK’s two-star Michelin, Le Gavroche). And that duck, with glass-crackle skin and oh-jeebus tenderness in a black vinegar sauce, is fantastic. In fact, most of Plympton’s menu sets a new bar for fusion in town.
Gang Kitchen, 345 6^th Ave., Downtown. 619.550.1600. www.gangkitchen.com

Scallops @ 100 Wines

100 Wines is the Cohn Restaurant Group’s follow-up to their best concept yet—Ocean Beach’s Bo-Beau. The same players—designer Philippe Beltran and chef Katherine Humphus—spearhead the rustic French ambiance and menu. There’s not a whole bunch to recommend on the menu, unfortunately. But the ambiance makes you a sexier person, and those scallops are a pure winner, served over creamy white beans in a brown butter –and-blackberry-reduction sauce.
1027 University Ave., Hillcrest, 619.491.0100. 100wineshillcrest.com.

Suzuki "Fettucini" Sashimi at Harney Sushi

Suzuki "Fettuccine" Sashimi @ Harney Sushi

Let’s just stick to brown butter dishes because, after a week of eating resolution-friendly kale salads, you deserve a treat. This dish features ribbons of Suzuki (Japanese sea bass) in brown butter, thyme and sea salt—topped with Manchego cheese, quail egg yolk and shaved spring onion. To top it off, Harney is only one of a few sushi restaurants in America to have gone 100-percent sustainable seafood. It’s great fusion without getting into deep-fry and cream cheese territory.
301 Mission Ave., Oceanside, 760.967.1820, harneysushi.com.