Flavor Del Mar With Brian Redzikowski (Del Mar, CA)

I first encountered Chef Brian Redzikowski's talent at BondSt in the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills (the hotel has now relaunched the space as Caulfield's Bar and Dining Room). Redzikowski didn't have full freedom to serve the food that he wanted as there were "signature" dishes that had to be kept on the menu but he certainly had fun, creative takes on sushi and sashimi. After leaving BondSt, Redzikowski now joins Flavor Del Mar just north of San Diego. I hadn't realized that's where he had gone to until I saw his name and the restaurant recommended in a magazine article by a San Diego chef as the place to go.

At the entrance of Flavor Del Mar is the bar and lounge area, but thankfully we were then led to the spacious, quiet dining room in the back.

As we sat, they brought out an amuse bouche of Cherry tomato, pistachio, fried shallots and pickled radish

For the most part his menu caters to his new audience. Seafood is well prepared without the molecular bells and whistles that I've seen at BondSt. There are plenty of Asian flavors like the Sesame seared salmon sashimi, lemon soy, ginger, chive, hon shimeji mushrooms ($15) or the Thai coconut soup.

Every now and then you find some surprising and exciting flavor profiles, like in this Scrambled farm egg, charred broccolini, pine nuts, tomato confit, Humboldt Fog goat cheese ($12)

If you love the strong flavor of goat cheese, try this. The runny scrambled egg is a great vehicle for the bolder flavors of the tomato and goat cheese.

After the appetizers, Chef Redzikowski sent out a special dish! Locally caught California spiny lobster with green curry foam and kaffir lime.

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Brunch and Sherry "Mimosa" at Bow and Truss (North Hollywood)

Bow and Truss is a new Spanish restaurant in North Hollywood featuring a sherry focused bar program by Aidan Demarest and Marcos Tello. They recently started doing brunch with a Latin slant and sherry brunch cocktails. I don't know how busy it gets at night, but it's a quiet and spacious place for brunch, with a beautiful bar at the center.

I did say the brunch menu leaned towards Latin flavors, but you may want to also get the Crepes with Almond Butter and house made caramel ($6)

Loved the texture of these crepes! With almond butter like this, you don't need syrup or toppings.

Since this is a sherry-centric bar, and since Aidan and Marcos doesn't mess around, even their brunch cocktails are special. The Mimosa de Manzana is no regular mimosa. They call it a "Spanish Style” mimosa and it's made with Pedro Ximenez sherry, organic apple juice, rosado, apple slice

It's still a "mimosa" so it's topped with some sparkly, but it's much better and much more interesting than your regular mimosa and bellinis! They also have Bloody Mary's here and I tried a sip of one which was quite good.

For the brunch entree I recommend the "I’m Creamy" with polenta, asparagus, charred corn, peppers, cotija, quail yolk, piquillo pepper sauce ($10)

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