10 VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL MENUS
Haven’t made dinner reservations yet for Valentine’s Day? Here are some restaurants around the county offering special prix fixe dinners for a romantic night out.
Avant at Rancho Bernardo Inn: Today, Saturday and Tuesday, Avant will serve a five-course prix fixe Valentine’s menu. Priced at $149 per person, the menu includes a glass of sparkling rosé and options of Dungeness crab salad, pork bello with black night carrot, wagyu rib-eye and more.
17550 Bernardo Oaks Drive, San Diego. ranchobernardoinn.com
George’s at the Cove, La Jolla: On Feb. 14, George’s will serve a threecourse prix fixe menu for $95 per person, which includes a glass of sparkling wine and box of truffles for each couple. Wine pairings are $40 extra. Options include Baja striped bass, mushroom ragu lasagna and New York steak. 1250 Prospect St., La Jolla. georgesatthecove.com
Juniper & Ivy, Little Italy: On Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, the restaurant will serve a four-course, prix fixe dinner featuring dishes including red-wine-braised short rib and duck breast, priced at $125 per person. Optional add-ons are flowers and bonbons delivered to the table.
2228 Kettner Blvd., San Diego. juniperandivy.com/valentines-day
Mister A’s, Bankers Hill: On Feb. 14, this newly remodeled rooftop restaurant is serving a four-course, prix fixe meal priced at $155 per person, plus optional $60 wine pairings. Dish choices include lobster vol au vent, prime beef chateaubriand and chocolate fondue for two. 2550 Fifth Ave.,
12th floor, San Diego. asrestaurant.com/valentines-menu
Q&A Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Oceanside: On Feb. 14, this new venue helmed by New Orleans-trained Quinnton “Q” Austin will serve a $90 four-course meal featuring dishes such as truffle Caesar salad, crab cake with tasso butter cream sauce, and bread pudding with bourbon cream sauce. 408 Pier View Way, Suite 101, Oceanside. shuckwitus.com
Sea 180 Coastal Tavern, Imperial Beach: From 4 to 9 p.m. Feb. 14, this oceanfront restaurant will serve a three-course, prix fixe menu priced at $69.95 per person. Options include local halibut with little neck clam risotto, short rib pappardelle and acorn squash stuffed with Humboldt Fog cheese. 800 Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach. cohnrestaurants.com/sea180
Smokey & the Brisket, La Mesa: On Saturday and Sunday only, this casual barbecue restaurant will serve a Lovebirds Weekend Special. For $45 per person, diners get a half-rack of pork spareribs, smoked bone-in halfchicken, a half order of prime brisket, two sides, and a bottle of Kinderwood merlot for the table. 5465 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa. smokeyandthebrisket.com
Tahona, Old Town: Chef Adrian Villareal will serve a four-course prix fixe dinner for $75 per person with optional mezcal pairings for $45. Dishes include beef and broccoli sope, smoked hamachi empanadas and masa dumplings. 2414 San Diego Ave., San Diego. tahonabar.com
Vintana Wine + Dine, Escondido: This rooftop restaurant will serve a three-course, prix fixe meal on Feb. 14 for $74.95 per person. Options include miso roasted halibut, coffee-spiced filet mignon and fire-roasted vegetable Wellington. Wine pairings are $35.95. 120 Auto Park Way, Escondido. cohnrestaurants.com/vintana
Waverly, Cardiff by the Sea: SDCM Restaurant Group’s coastal restaurant will serve a five-course, prix fix menu on Feb. 14, priced at $105 per person. Wine pairings are $50 extra. Dishes include seared Maine scallop, prime tenderloin steak and chocolate hazelnut cake with Nutella ice cream. 2005 San Elijo Ave., Cardiff. thewaverly.com
Kingfisher chef Jon Bautista is a James Beard Award semifinalist
Jon Bautista, the founding executive chef of the year-old, Michelin-recommended Kingfisher Cocktail Bar & Eatery in Golden Hill, has been named a semifinalist for a James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef: California. He is the only San Diego County chef to make the prestigious California list of 20 semifinalists, which includes some chefs with two and three Michelin stars.
Bautista, 38, is a longtime San Diego chef of Filipino heritage who served as chef de cuisine under chef-owner Trey Foshee at George’s at the Cove in La Jolla from 2013 to 2019. Among his regular diners at George’s were sisters Ky Phan and Kim Phan. With Kim’s husband, Quan Le, they recruited him in 2020 to help open Kingfisher, an upscale modern Vietnamese restaurant.
Bautista told The San Diego Union-Tribune last year that he’d never cooked Vietnamese food before he met the Phans, so he trained in the kitchen with their parents to learn traditional recipes, which he gave an updated and fine-dining twist.
“What I’m cooking now, it’s me,” Bautista said. “I’m classically trained, so that’s the French. Vietnamese food is a lot of herbs and seafood and freshness, and my style of cooking is very light and clean. So what I learned from Trey fit perfectly. I needed to be grounded on what’s going to please the Vietnamese community and traditionalists, but also be approachable enough for the Americans that are coming in here.”
The pared-down list of final nominees will be announced March 29, and the winners will be unveiled June 5.
Blais unveils California English
California English, a restaurant collaboration between Del Mar celebrity chef Richard Blais and Longfellow Real Estate Partners, opened last weekend at 9276 Scranton Road in Sorrento Mesa.
Blais describes the 6,000-square-foot
all-day restaurant as a mix between casual European bistros and Southern California seasonal produce-forward eateries. Among the menu’s English-inspired specialties are fish and chips, Cornish pasties, cheddar and chive scones and a ploughman’s salad. Other dishes include chicken tikka masala, spaghetti Bolognese, beef short rib and roasted halfchicken. Desserts include a lemon curd and a sticky toffee and date cake. The restaurant is also serving a pre-order-only Sunday beef roast dinner for four that includes Yorkshire pudding and whiskey mushrooms. californiaenglishsd.com
Captain’s Quarters opens in P.B.
SDCM, the hospitality group behind Kettner Exchange and Camino Riviera, has opened Captain’s Quarters, a new upscale nautical restaurant-bar in the space next door to its Grass Skirt tiki speakeasy at 910 Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach.
The interior of Captain’s Quarters was built to resemble the interior of a luxurious 17thcentury sailing ship, with animated videos of rolling ocean waves through its porthole “windows.” Captain’s Quarters features a limited galley menu created by SDCM executive chef Brian Redzikowski that includes mussels escabeche, grilled prawns, a Manchego prosciutto sandwich, smoked samon poppers and halloumi fries. SDCM beverage director Eric Johnson’s bar menu
specializes in gin cocktails, with additional drinks crafted from rum, mezcal, bourbon, tequila and vodka. Opens at 5 p.m. daily. thegrassskirt.com/captainsquarters
Wynston’s Ice Cream wins again
One year after its chocolate ice cream was named one of the best in the nation, Wynston’s Ice Cream in San Marcos has earned high honors once again for its vanilla flavor.
Wynston’s Old Reliable vanilla earned a red ribbon last month at the North American Ice Cream Association’s 2023 competition.
Old Reliable was one of 12 vanilla ice creams nationwide to win the second-place, redribbon prize. The ice creams are judged in a double-blind test on the basis of taste, texture, experience and craveability.
Last year, Wynston’s For the Wynn chocolate was one of only four ice creams in the U.S. to earn a coveted first-place blue ribbon for the nation’s best chocolate ice cream. Wynston’s is at 251 N. City Drive in San Marcos. wynstons.com
Chocolate shop and factory opens
Seabreeze Craft Chocolates, a shop and chocolate factory offering hands-on, bean-tobonbon classes, has opened in Carmel Valley.
The pandemic-born business was launched by San Diego resident Jim Lantry, who previously worked as a state lobbyist for autism research funding. When the state Capitol closed in March 2020, Lantry took up the art of chocolate-making, studying in California and then Hawaii. Then he began sourcing and roasting cacao beans from Belize, Mexico, Haiti, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The shop makes and sells singleorigin chocolate bars, bonbons and spreads.
Seabreeze hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays at 3840 Valley Centre Drive, Suite 604, in San Diego. seabreezechocolates.com