Having the title “Food Editor” allows one many perks and privileges. One such perk is from time to time publishers send me their latest releases of new cookbooks and food-related books before they hit the bookstores, hoping I’ll write something about them. Last month I was sent a book titled “The Restaurant Dream: An Inside Look at Restaurant Development from Concept to Reality.” I laughed and thought, “Well, it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it?”

For those who for the last decade haven’t read the tagline at the end of this column, I have owned a restaurant for almost 15 years. And for a few years I owned two, but eventually sold the second (a Del Mar offshoot of the original) because I just couldn’t manage running two restaurants by myself and I thought I was going to go insane trying.

That cured me of the “restaurant bug” for almost six years, until this July when Carl Schroeder, one of my best friends and one of the most talented chefs I’ve met, told me he’d just bought Blackhorse Grille (formerly Prime 10 Steakhouse and Cilantros) from another good friend of mine, Sami Ladeki. Over the years, Carl and I talked often about opening a place. We decided to join forces. After remaining open as Blackhorse Grille for the track season, the restaurant closed for a quick remodel and reopened as MARKET Restaurant + Bar. (Yes, that’s a plus sign.)

Those familiar with Carl from his days at Arterra Restaurant know his farm-fresh cuisine well and can look forward to much of the same at MARKET. The restaurant is a mile from Chino farm so it’s really easy for him to make daily trips there to hand-pick his produce. What do I do? About everything except the cooking. Although it may seem like a stretch for a girl who has made a career out of bacon and eggs to go into business with an established chef who has at least five or six components to every dish, it seems to work. What we have in common is our passion for the restaurant business and our idiotic love of hard work. Please stop in some time and visit us at MARKET.

Incidentally, I thumbed through a few chapters of “The Restaurant Dream” and thought it was for the most part spot-on. Sans the location, luck and timing factor, which can’t be taught, it’s a pretty good read.

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Michael Davis is now heading up the kitchen at Dobson’s, long one of Downtown’s leading lunch spots. “We needed to get with the new food program,” says Paul Dobson, the proprietor and local celebrity. “We need to be competitive with all the new restaurants opening up Downtown.” Davis, who most recently worked with Jeffrey Strauss at Pamplemousse overseeing all of the catering, has added dishes to the long list of Strauss favorites that reflect his love for American cuisine.

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Thomas DiMella is the new executive chef at Dussini Mediterranean Bistro. You remember Dussini, the “new and improved” upscale eatery by the folks at The Old Spaghetti Factory, whose Fifth Avenue location closed last year and reopened as Dussini. DiMella, a graduate of Johnson & Wales, may sound familiar as he has worked at some favorite local places including Pamplemousse, Americana, Meritage and, most recently, Firefly Grill in Encinitas.

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Those who haven’t been to RA Sushi in a while are missing out on some menu additions. Look for a new “Crunchy Shrimp Tempura Roll,” deep-fried shrimp, crab mix and cucumber wrapped in seaweed and rice, topped with crunchy red beet flakes and drizzled with sweet eel sauce. If you’re looking for something outrageously rich and sinfully fattening, go for the new “King Crab Dynamite.” King crab legs and mushrooms are baked in that lovely sweet mayonnaisey dynamite sauce and served over, now get this, wasabi mashed potatoes. I love it.

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Congrats again to Susan Sbicca, executive chef and co-owner of Sbicca Bistro in Del Mar and Meritage Restaurant in Encinitas who was recently honored as “Chef of the Year” at the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation Hall of Fame celebration in Los Angeles. I say “again,” because earlier this year she won the Gold Medallion Award for San Diego’s “Chef of the Year” at the association’s annual banquet and fund-raiser.

Terryl Gavre 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 (619) 233-4060, Ext. 316, or terryl@sandiegometro.com.