   Mini burgers go from simple to sensational in the hands of Guild chef and artist Melissa Mayer. (photo/deckerphoto.com)
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There are foodies, there are gourmands, and then there are bon vivants. I consider myself more of a restaurant junkie. Yes, I love to eat, and yes, of course, I love food. But more than the smelling, tasting, swirling and swallowing of cuisine, what really turns me on is the restaurant itself. It is the bones of the building, the color of the walls, and the clinking sound of a distant table completing a toast that really do it for me. I like the aroma that crosses my face as a waiter hurries a plate to a nearby table, and I love knowing that someone took the risk to lay it all on the line to try and express their personal vision of perfect gastronomy.
The Guild is such an indulgence. It is hard to know where to start.
Co-owner Paul Basile is a talented artist whose custom design and fabrication work is featured in buildings and restaurants throughout San Diego. He has collaborated with top-tier architects such as Jennifer Luce and Graham Downes on projects like the recent George’s remodel and local hot spots like THIN and Kensington Grill.
One day Basile got the idea to take the unused portion of his Barrio Logan design studio and fabrication shop and make it into a restaurant. So along with his partner in the building, Linda Karp, an insurance executive, he did just that.
In between other jobs, he then spent the next three years designing and building out the space. Pay extra notice to the design detail in the handmade chairs. Basile incorporated an artistically arranged slot in the back of the chair to act as a hook to hold women’s purses — form and function.
Painted and polished concrete floors meet warm woods, Plexiglas tabletops, metalwork detailing and layers of ambient and direct lighting to create a convivial and contemporary dining room with smashing good looks.
Melissa Mayer, a trained painter and self-taught cook, is executive chef. Her artistic sensibilities are evident in her plate presentations. She has a great eye for balance and detail and her plate-ups are simple yet stunning.
Mayer’s eclectic menu features contemporary and unusual interpretations of popular cuisine. The “New Haven BLT” ($12) is a duo of petite (a bit larger than a canapé) sandwiches. Artisan bread is cut into rounds and layered with lobster, bacon, tomato and avocado. It is served with the “standard frites” and a wonderful wasabi aioli.
“Kobe Beef Sliders” ($12) are served similarly on round artisan bread with Humboldt Fog goat cheese, avocado, tomato, basil and arugula aioli. Perfectly cooked to medium rare and served with frites, this is an excellent dish.
Mayer does a stuffed and roasted pasilla chile that is to die for. It’s on both the lunch and dinner menu so don’t miss it. Stuffed with queso fresco, feta, gorgonzola (which gives it oomph), and served with a rojo cream sauce and chile lime foam, this is a dish I wake up wishing for in the middle of the night.
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