Golden State meets Midwest at Del Mar
Chef Sonny Pache said he was fortunate to be on the founding culinary team of Del Mar Socal Kitchen in the Short North.
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, a locally based company that owns Del Mar and several other concepts, sent Pache and a team of other employees on a tasting mission to Chicago, San Francisco and San Diego.
The result was a Southern California-centered menu with Midwest sensibilities and a chef ’s fine touch, Pache said.
“We just kind of took our brains and imaginations and got it all together and had fun with it, just rolled with it,” said Pache, who spent about a dozen of his early years growing up in Southern California.
No self-respecting Socal restaurant would be complete without a taco, and Del Mar’s brisket option ($16.49) fits the bill nicely, Pache said.
The beef is slow-cooked in a braising liquid that includes Corona beer, tomatillos and other vegetables, and several hot and mild chile peppers.
Meanwhile, the brisket is shredded and the braising liquid reduced and vegetables are blended and reintroduced to the beef, which is topped with fresh crema, pickled red onions and cotija cheese, and served with a side of corn pico de gallo and sweet potatoes covered in chimichurri sauce.
The fisherman’s stew ($35.99) is based on a seafood stock that takes eight hours to prepare. The seafood components — jumbo prawns, clams,
mussels and scallops — are cooked in the broth, infused with garlic, saffron, aromatics and butter for richness. The plate is topped with slices of toasted French baguette.
Pache said it’s a trickier dish than it sounds, because the individual pieces of seafood have to be added at the right time so they’re not overcooked.
“It’s real simple but sometimes the simplest dishes are the easiest to mess up,” he said.
Fork-tender Brussels sprouts ($11.99) are glazed with a sweet-andsour sauce and added to a mix of roasted sweet potatoes, pomegranate seeds, additional shaved Brussels sprouts, picked red onion and cashew butter and resting on a salsa verde that’s salty, sweet and tangy. The vegetable dish is garnished with blue corn tortilla chips for texture.
“Yeah, everybody has Brussels sprouts but I’d like to think ours are next level,” he said.
Del Mar’s potato bread ($8.49) is a riff on Chinese bing bread, with white cheddar, scallions and bacon rolled into layers like a cinnamon roll. Cut into small wedges, similar to pizza, the bread is served with compound sourcream butter topped with Himalayan sea salt.
“We kind of Americanized it,” Pache said. “It’s a little like a loaded bake potato.”
For a lighter dessert, the pineapple shaved ice ($7.49) is highly recommended,
Address: 705 N. High St.
Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays
Contact: 614-300-9500, www.delmarcolumbus.com
Pache said.
A state-of-the-art machine shaves the ice to almost wafer-like thinness that absorbs the pineapple syrup and fresh pineapple flavors, he said.
A combination of pineapple ice cubes and regular ice cubes are ground together, creating some texture with the dish, along with stylized cookie crumbles.
The plate is finished with slices of compressed pineapple, which are vacuum sealed to intensify the fruit flavor.
“It’s just really fruity, pineappleforward and fresh – great for summer,” Pache said.
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