In every
profession people tend to grow throughout their careers and develop their own
style and identity. Part of this development is often based more on a trial and
error approach but another part originates through the influence of
mentors/supervisors. These influences can originate by a teacher-scholar
relationship but more often they form unconsciously over time by just working
together and continuously observing. Cooking on a professional level is perhaps
one of the occupations where such influences are often particular distinct. At
the same time, since chefs early on in their careers often work or stage at a
number of well-known restaurants, these influences get mixed together so that at
the end each chef has his unique style but the different influences are often
noticeable even throughout single dishes.
San Diego
has a rather fast rotation of chefs especially on a fine dining level so that
very few of them stayed for a longer time and had a significant influence on
subsequent generations of chefs. Some of the notable exceptions are Trey Foshee
at George’s Modern, Jeff Jackson at AR Valentien and Paul McCabe formerly at
Kitchen 1540 and Delicias. The most recent, unexpected move from Chef McCabe to
Arizona was quite a blow to the fine dining scene in San Diego but during his
stint at Delicias he worked with Sous Chef Steve Molina who took over the
kitchen as Chef de Cuisine after McCabe’s departure. Chef Molina graduated in
2008 from the San Diego Culinary Institute and started working in the industry
under Chef Vignau at Savory in Encinitas. He then moved to L’Auberge Del Mar
were he started as a pantry cook before rising up the ranks to become Sous Chef
under McCabe at Kitchen 1540.
McCabe’s
move to Delicias generated quite some buzz around the restaurant and its future
plans which was throughout the years more known as a kind of neighborhood
restaurant for the wealthy in Rancho Santa Fe with good but not really ambitious
cuisine. The future direction of Delicias was quite uncertain after the recent
changes in the kitchen but we were for some time thinking about trying to set
up a tasting menu with Chef Molina when we heard about a 9-course tasting menu at Delicias as a pop-up with Chefs Zach Hunter
and Molina. Chef Hunter graduated in 2005 from the Arizona Culinary
Institute to start at Wildfish Seafood Grille in Scottsdale where he quickly
became Executive Chef. He decided afterwards to move to Mugaritz in
Errenteria/Spain, one of the most respected restaurants in the world. After
moving back to the US and working together with Molina under Chef McCabe at
Kitchen 1540 he moved to New York to work as Sous Chef at Atera. Most recently
he made the decision to move to Austin to work on an own restaurant concept in
the near future but had a stopover in San Diego with this pop-up restaurant
night which gave us the opportunity to experience two McCabe alumni with a
hopefully daring tasting menu.
Snack 1:
Albacore, pickled watermelon, pork fat, ice plant
The night
began with a number of snacks to wet one’s appetite. First we had a small piece
of slightly cured albacore, topped with a layer of pork fat and some pickled
watermelon – light, refreshing and well balanced.
Snack 2:
Chicken skin, romesco, dried corn
A play on
chicharrones with puffed chicken skin - the slightly smoky romesco with peppery
notes didn’t overwhelm the chicken skin too much and the dried corn not only
added some additional texture but was also well integrated in the playful
presentation with its chicken wire.
Snack 3:
Fermented corn, dried shrimp, panko, aioli
The
highlight of the four snacks – the corn was fermented for ten days and had a
slightly sour taste not unlike good sauerkraut, the dried shrimp added some
saltiness and panko gave texture to the dish. A wonderful combination of sour,
salty and Umami, of which one was really hoping to have a whole cob of corn.
Snack 4:
Chicken rillette, mole negro, peach butter
This dish
presented in a small cocotte had a nice interplay of the crostini, smoked
chicken rillette and mole negro but what brought this dish together was the
slight fruitiness of the peach butter.
1st
Course: Uni, crispy grains, dashi gelee, powdered yogurt
The first
course as the start of the dinner reminded us on breakfast at the start of the
day. Not unlike cereals with milk in the morning we had in this dish a variety
of different grains and seeds with powdered yogurt but what deviated it from
your standard sweet morning dish was the inclusion of some pieces of uni and
dashi gelee which gave the dish a wonderful salty, maritime flavor. Interestingly
this strong dish vaguely reminded us of a course we recently had at Atelier
Crenn
2nd
Course: Tuna tartare, smoked trout roe, lettuce, smoked chicken gelee,
breadcrumbs
The
presentation of this course was unexpected with a larger piece of lettuce as
the centerpiece and the other ingredient coating or surrounding it. At first
the combination of the crunchy lettuce with the tuna and smoked roe tartare
seemed not really to work but after a few bites the dishes started to grow on
us and ended up as a surprisingly balanced dish.
3rd
Course: Salt roasted potatoes, dried squid, egg yolk vinaigrette
Sometimes
good dishes don’t have to rely on unusual ingredients or complex preparations
but live through their simplicity – here we had simple salt roasted potatoes
with a matching vinaigrette – simple and homey yet somehow elegant. The dried
squid chip didn’t add much to the dish and was more of a distraction.
4th
Course: Lobster, shaved Chinese sausage, Meyer lemon – ginger emulsion
The
presentation reminded us on some fish’n’chips we got when we lived in England
and the pork-fat poached lobster with its “coating” of shaved Chinese sausage
worked also along this lines. As good as the surprisingly large piece of
lobster was, not unlike fish’n’chips, some kind of starch component was missing
in this dish which was a bit too one-dimensional.
5th
Course: Spot prawns, bone marrow, roasted summer squash, wheatgrass emulsion
This course
was one of the highlights of the dinner with its perfectly cooked prawns and
the roasted summer squash. The wheatgrass emulsion mixed with the liquid bone
marrow gave the dish an earthy foundation.
6th
Course: Fermented long beans, aged lamb, Meyer lemon emulsion, lamb fat aioli
This was one
of the dishes where it is necessary to get a little bit of everything at each
bite to get a balanced flavor. The fermented long beans had a surprisingly sour
taste which was tamed by the lamb fat aioli whereas the aged lamb brought some
gaminess and minerality.
7th
Course: Venison loin, roasted tomato confit, charred onion
It was
interesting and refreshing to see that throughout the night both chefs used
some unusual successions and presentations of the dishes not always seen with
tasting menus but it appeared with this course they seemed to step back to the
default path of ending the savory part with a meat-heavy course. Even though
technically very well made with tender sous-vide venison and strong tasting
tomato confit the dish seemed to be out of line with the progression of the
tasting menu so far and felt too monotonous with its focus on one large piece
of meat.
8th
Course: Tartare of beet and sour cherry, coconut tapioca
The use of
vegetables as part of desserts is becoming increasingly popular and this dish
had a very unusual combination of beets and sour cherry which was mainly overshadowed
by the earthiness of the beets with some hardly noticeable sweet undertones
from the cherry and coconut tapioca. This dish was paired with an unusual
cocktail based on champagne and vinegar which actually helped to lighten up the
dish with its acidity but it was still a rather challenging course.
9th
Course: Candied carrots, chocolate-stout gelato, fermented carrot chocolate
ganache
The last
course was another, but much more successful, take on vegetables as dessert –
the natural sweetness of the carrots paired perfectly with the maltiness of the
chocolate stout and the fermented carrot ganache acted as an overarching theme
to bring both together with the unexpected funkiness of the fermented carrots –
a perfect ending to the tasting menu on a high note.
A pop-up
restaurant event has always a unique character as the chef doesn’t really have
to rely on return customers and so has the chance to take some culinary risks
and try out some unusual flavor and ingredient pairings. It was good to see
that Chefs Hunter and Molina were willing to take this road and served interesting
courses with some highlights like the uni, spot prawns or the carrot dessert. And
even courses which didn’t really work for us like the beet dessert are laudable
as it shows their willingness to try to express their own culinary vision
without much compromise. Hopefully Delicias will be encouraged by the good
attendance of this pop-up, and GM Alex Campbell mentioned that they are
thinking of having such events as a seasonal occurrence.
When two chefs cook together it is of course hard to determine who had which influence on which course but overall it was interesting to see how far the cooking style of these both chefs has evolved from that of their mentor Paul McCabe. It will be interesting to track how Chef Hunter’s first attempt at an own restaurant in Austin will turn out to be (and hopefully it won’t be the last time he cooked in San Diego) but the night also really reminded us that it is time for us to set up a tasting menu with Chef Molina at Delicias and experience his cooking first-hand.
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