FLAVORS OF THE BIG EASY AND CARIBBEAN
LOUISIANA PURCHASE CHEF CREATED THE MENUS AT EATERIES AT THE BRICK HOTEL IN OCEANSIDE
Up until September, North County residents who wanted a taste of chef Quinnton “Q” Austin’s authentic Creole and Cajun food had to drive to his North Park restaurant, Louisiana Purchase.
Since the New Orleans-trained chef moved to San Diego in 2018 to open Louisiana Purchase, he has been attracting diners from as far away as Los Angeles for his uptown gumbo, fried chicken, lemon pepper catfish and shrimp and grits. But in September, Austin — as executive chef for San Diego’s Grind and Prosper Hospitality
Group — opened the Creole- and Cajunthemed Q&A Restaurant and Oyster Bar at the new three-story Brick Hotel in downtown Oceanside.
Q&A, a play on Austin’s initials, serves many of the same New Orleans-inspired dishes you’ll find at Louisiana Purchase, but with slightly different preparations and ingredients. Q&A also offers an extensive oyster menu and a full bar.
Austin has created a lighter, tropical and Caribbean-inspired menu for the Brick Hotel’s rooftop bar, Cococabana, which opened in August. Cococabana also serves a weekend brunch.
The Brick Hotel is one of only three surviving brick buildings that were erected in Oceanside in the 1880s. Built originally as a two-story building by John Franklin Schuyler in 1888, the building housed a hardware store with a meeting room on the second floor. In 2017, Tom Aldrich bought the building, spent years restoring and renovating it, and then reopened it last year as a 10-room boutique hotel. Aldrich also bought the former Firewater Saloon building next door and reopened it last month as Frankie’s Oceanside. Besides cocktails, wine and beer, Frankie’s serves a few small bites plates from the Q&A kitchen next door.
What to order at Q&A Restaurant & Oyster Bar
Chef Q’s prawn jambalaya arrives impressively plated with the exoskeletons of two large shrimp on top. The rich and savory Creole stew has a deeply satisfying
mélange of rice, Andouille sausage, tender chicken, shrimp, peppers, onions and a spicy Creole sauce. Chicken Man is Austin’s signature fried chicken dish, a trio of crispy wings and half breast with a crunchy, slightly peppery crust that’s drizzled with hot honey and red chili flakes. It comes with a big, fresh-baked cheddar biscuit (you’ll want another, and can order them a la carte). The Poppa Legba oysters, named after a voodoo king, are grilled and dressed with a tangy sriracha lime butter sauce and spicy ghost chili pepper jerk spice. Diners can choose oysters from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in charbroiled and Rockefeller preparations. The best way to eat Austin’s food is to buy three or four plates for the table and share the feast in a true Southern family style.
What to order at Cococabana
With its stunning rooftop view and cocktails served in hollowed-out coconuts and extra-large copper-toned plastic flamingo pitchers, Cococabana is better known for its drinks than its food menu. But there’s plenty to enjoy. My favorite dish was the roasted wild mushroom dish, which was topped with avocado crema, a gently cooked, runny egg yolk, jerk-spiced butter and microgreens. It comes with a side of grilled sourdough bread to soak up
all the creamy goodness in the dish (they’ll bring out more bread for $1). The pulpo ceviche is also nice. Charred jerk-seasoned octopus is served over a fresh-tossed mango salsa-salad with strips of marinated red onions. It’s crunchy, quite spicy and delicious.