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Celebrating Chef Julia Child |
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‘astronauts’ serve wine |
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On Feb. 10, the San Diego chapter of AIWF joins with 21 others across the country in celebrating the anniversary by hosting a boeuf bourguignon dinner. Local chefs will prepare Child’s recipe for the dish along with a first course and dessert. The highlight of the evening will be the playing of the famous first episode of “The French Chef:” Boeuf Bourguignon. Amiko Gubbins, of Parallel 33, will prepare the first course, Michael Stebner, executive chef at Nine-Ten, is doing the entrée, and Jack Fisher, pastry chef at Nine-Ten, will do the dessert honors. The event will be held Downtown at the Ramsden Morrison Gallery. Seating is limited to 50 persons, so reserve early; the cost is $50 for members and $65 for nonmembers. For information, call (858) 847-9421. *** Galileo 101 opens this month in the ground-floor retail space of the west tower of the twin-towered Harbor Club condominiums across Harbor Drive from the Convention Center. Morton’s occupies the East tower. Owners Robert and Isabella Keyvan, who formerly owned and operated Bollicine in La Jolla, describe Galileo as “new progressive Italian cuisine” inspired by Italian cuisine of the 17th century with a vision of the future.” Hence the name. The restaurant, which is two and one-half stories, was designed by David Robinson (Prime 10, Roppongi). While the downstairs restaurant boasts a formal dining room complete with white tablecloths and a sommelier, the upstairs cocktail lounge is futuristic with servers dressed as astronauts going up and down ladders to retrieve bottled wine. Galileo will offer live light jazz Thursday through Saturday. *** Shiraz Prime Steak House has opened in the Gaslamp Quarter at 827 Fourth Ave. The restaurant serves prime meats along with fine seafood. Shiraz is the second Downtown eatery by Behrooz Farahani, who opened Bandar in 1996. *** Check out Sui Shin of Hillcrest, a new teahouse and sushi bar located at 420 Robinson Ave., between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Sui Shin offers specialty sushi at its 20-seat sushi bar as well as more than 100 different Chinese and Japanese teas available in bulk or for sipping during Sui Shin’s traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. Sui Shin is owned by Neil Wasserman, who recently ran The Tea Pavilion in Balboa Park. *** Famous locally for its television series “Silk Stalkings,” “Renegade” and “Pensacola,” Stu Segall Productions now turns its lights on the food business, creating Studio Diner on Ruffin Road between Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Balboa in Kearny Mesa. The under-construction diner will be located on the film company’s studio lot so guests can rub elbows with the celebrities and crews making the shows. The upscale yet moderately priced menu is dedicated to bridging the East Coast ’40s diner experience with West Coast Hollywood hip. Look for menu items such as genuine lobster rolls, fried clams, and hot pastrami sandwiches. The 3,500-square-foot restaurant is a prefabbed diner by Dinermite. The interior design will be done by Stu Segall’s staff, and Dave Jaryniecki (formerly of Hard Rock Café in La Jolla) will serve as general manager. Studio Diner is slated to open in early March. *** Another concept redux making its debut in late January was Lou and Mickey’s. The restaurant opened just in time for the big Super Bowl “payday” in the Gaslamp Quarter. Owned and operated by King’s Seafood Co., Lou and Mickey’s is located at 224 Fifth Ave. in the former Royale Brasserie & Bar space. Royale opened in September of 2000 and was one King Seafood concept that just didn’t hook enough customers. (King also owns and operates many other concepts such as King’s Fish House in Mission Valley, Water Grill in Los Angeles and Ocean Avenue Seafood in Santa Monica.) The company closed Royale last November, and after a handsome remodel opened this more casual eatery which features steaks, seafood and exotic drinks. *** In December, Green Tomato Restaurant took over the former Kensington Village Café located at 4090 Adams Ave. The 45-seat restaurant serves upscale American cuisine for lunch Monday through Friday and for dinner seven nights a week. It also offers a boutique beer and wine list. Proprietors Royce Hammond and Alberto Montaro were longtime employees at Fifth and Hawthorn prior to opening the Tomato. Hammond worked for many years as a server and most recently as manager. Montaro, who served as executive chef, will be heading up the kitchen. *** Have you ever really been thin? Probably not like this “THIN,” which opened Jan. 16 as a contemporary cocktail lounge with a hip, laid-back atmosphere and upscale drinks. Located at 852 Fifth Ave., it is the ground floor, 4,500-square-foot space directly above ONYX. THIN is brought to us by the owners of ONYX. (Notice it’s no longer ONYX Room, just ONYX, the “room” was dropped from the name late last year.) The lounge is ultra-cool and has a real metropolitan feel, thanks to Graham Downes Architecture and Design (CHIVE, Tower 23). One special design feature of THIN is a circular room called “PLAY,” which offers a different atmosphere and seating for 40 to 50 persons. Down-tempo electronic lounge music is played nightly and, because of extensive special fiber optics, the lighting and mood of the lounge changes throughout the night. Gals, don’t plan on primping in the restroom — have your game face on before you arrive at THIN as the restroom is unisex, and ladies and gents wash hands elbow-to-elbow in a huge stainless steel common washbasin. THIN is open daily from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Check out the happy hour complimentary sushi. 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.
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