Stephen Clickner, executive chef at Soleil @ K, hoists a pizza pie. (photo/alandeckerphoto.com)

Lately it seems I’m always eating in a hotel restaurant, and not because of a busy travel schedule. Rather, clever hoteliers like the Kimpton Group, Morgans Hotel Group and even Marriott have been placing top-notch hip and trendy restaurants in their hotels.
Soleil @ K, on the corner of Sixth Avenue and K Street in the newly opened Gaslamp Marriott, is no exception. Although Soleil (what I’m going to call it because I really don’t like making the @ sign except when e-mailing) is so close to Petco Park that it feels like a foul ball could easily land right in the soup of street side patio diners, you won’t confuse its offerings with typical ballpark fare. This place is a casually elegant eatery with a list of creative and delicious dishes.

The dining room is laid back. Painted and polished concrete floors the color of butternut squash meet floor-to-ceiling French-style doors that open out to patio dining. A pair of long communal tables span the dining room front to back, surrounded by a smattering of tables for two or four. Three crescent shaped booths fit nicely along the back wall and are a great place to slouch, drink a bottle of wine and people watch.

Soleil was designed by cb5, a restaurant consulting group also responsible for RICE in the W Hotel and the recently deceased China Doll in the Shapery-Wyndham, as well as restaurants in other major cities throughout the country. The firm is to be credited with the appointment of Stephen Clickner as executive chef. In each of five dining visits, Clickner’s fare was very well executed. Every time my meal began with the “Velvet Garlic Soup” ($7) — it’s just that good. This delicious chicken-based soup is enhanced with the flavor of poached garlic, sautéed onion and white wine and finished with the flavor of smoky bacon and basil oil.

Clickner does an old world version of Caesar Salad ($7) in which the leaves are kept whole and thickly painted with a creamy, garlicky and slightly acidic dressing. It is garnished with shaved reggiano, house made parmesan shards and one very shiny silver anchovy.

As long as we’re talking about salads, his “Spinach Salad” ($7) with roasted wild mushrooms, crispy shallots and warm maple-sherry vinaigrette is fab as well, as is the “Calamari Salad” ($8).

Long, skinny wood-fired pizzas that come in a variety of flavors join handmade pastas on the menu, and at lunch I totally recommend the prosciutto and fig jam panini.

For meat eaters there’s a mighty good “Seared Beef Tenderloin” ($32) on the menu. It is served with candied baby carrots and what the chef calls “potato brulée” (think really light, creamy potatoes). On the other hand, the “Pan Roasted Chicken Breast” ($19) is for chicken fanciers. An “airline breast” (skin on with the first wing joint attached) is seared skin side down in olive oil and butter. It is finished in a very hot oven and served with a white wine butter sauce, green olives and olive oil poached tomatoes. The perfectly cooked chicken is served with garlic frites.

Soleil serves lunch seven days a week during which most of the “small plates” and pizzas on the dinner menu are joined by a few paninis and entrées.

While Soleil is a great choice before or after a ball game, it’s also a pretty darn good choice for lunch or dinner even when our Padres are out of town.

— Terryl Gavre