The daily flatbread with Creminelli salami is thin, crisp, and well-browned, arugula giving it a little food-garden required of SoCal lunches. The crab-and-lobster bisque is deep and rich it smells like tarragon and your good fortune. I eat more than humans ought to, and there is not a single bad bite. All are very good, while the sorbet-topped passion fruit is excellent-a Hawaiian à la mode. Three Times Good: Mini cheesecake trio of vanilla, hazelnut, and passion fruitįor dessert, we try pastry chef Michael Luna’s trio of cheesecake-a vanilla (with white balsamic gastrique and tangerine), hazelnut (with chocolate sauce and praline bark), and passion fruit (with coconut-lime sorbet). The combo yields a beautiful, moist bite-especially since the bacon is only lightly smoked, not overwhelming. The tenderloin, however, is treated like pork and wrapped in housemade bacon from Julian’s Cook Pigs Ranch (they raise great swine). The rutabagas and turnips, too, are served whole with inexpressive seasoning. Woods’ elemental stock reduction isn’t enough. Rabbit’s a skinny, faint protein that requires some chefly flavor-building. The rabbit comes braised in two parts-legs and loin. A dried cherry gastrique supplies the necessary acid, while the butterbean puree is some fancification of a classic Southern side-food. The duck is perfect in just about every way, poached with the small cap of fat and crisped skin on each slice. All of Amaya’s servers are pretty much the same. A real food person you’d like to ask to pull up a chair. Both are suggested by our server, who’s the sort of fine-dining lifer you’re lucky to come across. Enjoy one in the back room (“Club M”)-a supper club of sorts, with neon signage and gray-haired jazz beatniks.įor dinner entrees, we stick to French hunting proteins-duck and rabbit. It’s not a pot likker joint, but there’s a whiff of Mason-Dixon.īeing connected to the Grand Del Mar, a sommelier farm of sorts, Amaya’s 300-bottle wine list is excellent-all under $100, and 20 by the glass (a Terrassen Gruner Veltliner from Domaine Wachau, a Spanish Tempranillo from Beronia, etc.). You’ll find rutabaga and turnips, polenta, quail, butterbeans (limas), and corn muffins. He’s a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and his Southern food roots color the menu. So it’s nice to see Woods get a little sun, 10 miles to the southwest. Chef William Bradley casts a mile-wide shadow. The problem? It shares a roof with Addison-the Relais & Chateaux’d, Zagat-ed, and starred apex of fine dining in San Diego. The original Amaya is in the $400 million resort, Grand Del Mar. Designer Warren Sheets quite artfully decorated this restaurant with the best Italian Renaissance ornatery money could buy. The lack of crowd is not for lack of investment. Or many people of any kind, for that matter. Which explains why there are very few modern, trendy, or hip people here on a Friday night. This is no cheap curtsy to the modern, the trendy, nor the hip. There is no reclaimed wood, no wall hung with rusty farm tools or animal heads. Every inch of the restaurant is sturdy, costly, and perfectly attended to. If there is a shortage of expensive rock in the near future, blame Amaya La Jolla. Got enough marble?” asks my dining companion. There’s no shortage of wines, as Fairmont Grand Del Mar has one of the most extensive collections in Southern California.Short rib & scallop Farfalle with Angus tips Mini cheesecake trio Try the Key lime cheesecake with coconut sauce as a sweet end. Seared sea bass nestles in parsley root purée, while tender red snapper is baked in a clay pot and served with piquillo peppers. Pan-seared scallops come with goat cheese spätzle Catalan shrimp is bathed in chile and lime. Chef Matthew Sramek deftly elevates his American cuisine with European flair and Mediterranean style. Lighter fare includes a garlic shrimp and artichoke salad, or black mussels in tomato-saffron broth. For lunch, nibble on truffle fries and the prime rib sandwich. The Dungeness crab Benedict with chipotle hollandaise is another intriguing dish. Start the day off with an egg white frittata with spinach, tomatoes and goat cheese, or prosciutto di Parma with fresh melon. Opt for a seat in the attractive bar area, a large booth in the dining room or an al fresco spot under the striped awning on the terrace. Set in the elegant old-world Mediterranean resort Fairmont Grand Del Mar, Amaya may be the more casual restaurant at the hotel, but it's still a study in opulence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |