Dishing It Out Archive

Renovations are under way at the Downtown corner of Fifth Avenue and E Street for Osetra The Fish House. A fall opening is scheduled for this fourth restaurant of partners Alessandro Minutella and Vincenzo Lo Vergo, the fellows who brought us Greystone, Panevino Osteria and Portobello. The two-story restaurant will seat 275 and feature a floor-to-ceiling wine tower displaying more than 10,000 bottles of wine. Each of the four sides of the ground level wine tower will feature a different bar: caviar, sushi, oyster and vodka bars. If that isn’t cool enough, how about this: “Wine angels” (probably cute little 20-somethings wearing cute little nothings) will be suspended from cables and float up and down and to and fro to retrieve wines from the two-story tower. (Gee, do you think anyone will order the wines placed nice and low so that the bartender can easily reach them?)

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In case you were wondering, all the Gaslamp Quarter’s soon-to-open restaurants demonstrate it still has plenty of juice. Restaurateur/developer Michael Viscuso (On Broadway, E Street Alley) is busy remodeling the former Lobster Co. space on Fourth Avenue. Red Circle Café will open late May/early June and feature a Russian theme. A large assortment of caviars will highlight the menu, which will be heavy on stacked, high-end appetizers and small plates. The restaurant walls will feature “masters’ style” murals painted by local artists. The interior design and custom furniture will be bold in its own right and will serve as an apt complement to the drama of the pigmented walls.

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Around the corner on Fifth in the old Tupelo space, and also under construction, is The Gaslamp Strip Joint. Not to be confused with Larry Flynt’s shop Hustler Hollywood on Sixth Avenue across from the official Gaslamp’s boundary, this meat market serves do-it-yourself steaks. Five grills and plenty of booths will flank the dining room in which diners will be encouraged to literally “throw one on the barbie.” The Gaslamp Strip Joint is brought to you by the people at the Cohn Restaurant Group who’ve opened too many restaurants to name in a by-the-item column.

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Award-winning chef and cookbook author Bradley Ogden has signed on as executive chef and partner at Arterra (“Art of the Earth”) located in the new San Diego Marriott Del Mar. The menu specializes in contemporary seasonal American cuisine featuring locally harvested produce as well as meats, poultry and game purchased from local ranchers. Arterra, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, also has a great bar menu with sushi, a fabulous burger with gorgonzola cheese and my favorite, the “Yukon Gold Frites” served with a truffled mayonnaise for dipping. Carl Schroeder, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who most recently worked as executive sous chef for Bertrand Hug of Bertrand at Mister A’s, will serve as chef de cuisine. Odgen is best known for his Lark Creek Inn located in Larkspur and One Market in San Francisco.

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Look for a new restaurant from the people who brought us Sbicca Restaurant in Del Mar. Dan and Susan Sbicca took over the former Le Peep space, located in the Encinitas Lumberyard, in January. After renovating for the next few months, they will introduce Meritage, which will serve fare described as a “unique blend of flavors” in an atmosphere of casual fine dining. The menu will be moderately priced and offer value-oriented dishes to be savored with selections from an approachable wine list. Susan will have her hands full serving as executive chef for both Sbicca and Meritage. She will, no doubt, rely heavily on Sbicca’s chef de cuisine, Jason Holmes, to keep things running smoothly in Del Mar while she’s babysitting the new place for awhile.

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Next month, the owners of Come On In, the popular La Jolla eatery, will reopen the Museum Café at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The café will feature small dishes and light meals in a quick-service venue. Michael Reid, who received an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the Art Institute of Colorado, will serve as executive chef. Prior to accepting this new position, Reid spent his days refining his haute cuisine skills in the kitchen of Café 222 and his evenings behind the line at Sam Choy’s Restaurant at Bali Hai.

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Some may ask, “Why are all these new restaurants with fancy names and expensive build-outs opening at a time when many analysts think our economy is in serious jeopardy?” When queried, two local restaurateurs provide two different but closely related answers.

Dan Sbicca simply says, “Well, if we were smart in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this business at all.” As compelling as I find that response, I am better persuaded by Jeff Jackson, executive chef of the new restaurant at The Lodge at Torrey Pines, who says, “Why do I cook? Because I have to. If I don’t cook, I slowly rot from the inside out. I become miserable to myself and those around me (if) there is no creative process. I cook because I have to, otherwise I am a rotting bastard slowing infecting those I come in contact with. I die slowly.”

Hmmm.

Now I think I understand.

Terryl Gavre spends her entire day thinking about what she is going to eat for dinner. She believes the world would be a better place if everyone worked once as a foodserver. She is owner of Café 222, Downtown, and can be reached at 233-4060, Ext. 316, or at food@san.rr.com.