“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” goes the old adage, and chef Davin Waite brings a playful touch to that concept at Wrench & Rodent. The Oceanside restaurant he cofounded with his wife, Jessica, follows a “waste not, want not” ethos, using sustainable seafood, plus seemingly out-there ingredients that most kitchens would normally discard. (For a recent omakase, Waite prepared swordfish bone marrow shooters with citrus-infused olive oil and fish sperm chowder.)
For this off-menu taco, Waite shines a spotlight on—believe it or not—banana peels. The dish tops an organic corn tortilla with spicy, rehydrated quinoa and caramelized banana peels that have been slow-simmered in pork adobada broth, alongside charred green cabbage deglazed with kombu broth and sprinkled with tomato salsa. Go bananas? We’d be happy to for this taco.
1815 South Coast Highway, Oceanside wrenchandrodent
Very Important Taco: Banana Peel Taco at Wrench & Rodent
