Malarkey Talks North County Dining

A review of Wine Spectator's spotlight on North County's cuisine

A WHOLE LOT OF MALARKEY

Moving ON!

Spring is in the air in San Diego and I’m sure like myself many local chefs are excited to switch up their menus. The nice thing about San Diego and its almost perfect weather is that so much great produce is always available at our local farms and markets; however, this can also become our crutch and can keep us from “pretending” we don’t always have access to the freshest and the best. What am I talking about? I have always felt it’s fun to pretend it’s freezing outside and we all have to dig through our storage and find the cherries we dried last fall and saved for this winter day, the figs, the tomatoes etc. Well, thank Mother Earth spring is in the air and my imagination can live in the now and not in abstract pre-FedEx dark ages.

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Some of our local North County restaurants got some great national attention in this month’s Wine Spectator on page 43, “Del Mar Raises the Stakes” by Tim Fish. It’s not often we hear world-class dining and Southern California in the same breath, but the Fish breathes some oxygen into some of our favorite local restaurants.

CliffsNotes version if you don’t feel like buying the magazine:

Addison: Chef William Bradley is “brilliant with intense simplicity!” Expensive but worth the price! French-California cuisine with world-class wine list.

Arterra: Overlook the décor of the hotel and the restaurant and focus on the food for a great dining experience.

El Bizcocho: Steven Rojas (truths) is playful and in his modern interpretation of classics and innovate cuisine. Extensive wine collection and first-rate atmosphere.

Market: One of the best meals I have ever had in San Diego and an extremely talented chef in Carl Schroeder, who is also reigning Chef of the Year! Everything from sushi to blue cheese soufflé. Great wine list and comfortable “urban” atmosphere. Ask for Carl to come pitch the menu himself — he loves to interact with the guests.

Sbicca: One of the sweetest lady chefs in town and equally talented with her Del Mar-staple restaurant. Not as highbrow as the others in this list but extremely comfortable and, better yet, affordable.

Go and explore North County and let me know how your dining experience goes.

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Ron James and his team have launched San Diego News Network, at sdnn.com. If you were wondering where all of our favorite writers have gone with the U-T in flux and being sold, you can find a good lot of them right here. SDNN intends to bring more in-depth coverage to our dining scene and I, like you, should look forward to following the good, the bad and the ugly.

Until next time San Diego, “Keep Eating … OUT!”

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