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Indigo Grill Website
1536 India Street, San Diego CA 92101. 619-234-6802.

My friends and I went to Indigo Grill last night for their $20 three course menu special. It is a current anniversary special by the Cohn Restaurant Group for their participating restaurants until January 10th. More information can be found at the Cohn promotion page.

Pipian Crusted Brie. Jalepeno jelly, honey roasted garlic, grilled nopales, mole negro and scallion flatbread.

This brie was fantastic! I had never eaten brie before and the rest of the group hadn’t eaten it with this kind of crust! Warm brie oozed out when we sliced it and it went well with the flatbread, which was the perfect blend of soft bread and subtle sweet flavor.
Christina and Lynn loved the honey roasted garlic, which surprisingly had little of the expected strong garlic taste! The insides melted in your mouth and the crunchy skin could either be eaten or removed beforehand. The brown sauce at the edge of the plate was boring. It had a flat taste that just seemed to disappear the moment you tasted it.

Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche. Cured in lemon juice with cucumber pico de gallo.

The presentation looked great for this ceviche and chips. The taste was within expectations too. But the portion was lacking. Is this your money’s worth? NOooo.

Alderwood Plank Salmon. Cucumber dill moleto, squid-ink pasta and smoked aged farmer’s cheese.

The first crispier bite of the Salmon had Lynn thinking that the fish was overcooked, but once past that corner, the juicy and tender salmon had her feeling quite happy with the meal. This salmon also had quite a bit of sweet flavor in it, which reminded us of the roasted garlic. A nice change in overall flavor was the interesting ink squid pasta mixed with a complimenting cheese. We’ve definitely never had cheesy pasta that tasted like that before! The only part Lynn didn’t like were the vegetables in the middle but pickled food hardly ever receives her praise.

Wild Mushroom Fettecini. Roasted bell pepper pasta, leek and fennel cream sauce, sauteed spinach, hazelnuts, and cotija cheese.

For a vegetarian meal, this was absolutely scrumptious! Christina and Lynn really loved the mushrooms and hazelnuts that were buried in the dish. The vegetables and pasta created a unique blend that was fun to eat. The only thing Lynn didn’t like about it were that the spinach pieces were in large lumps and not as spread out as she would have preferred. Who said you have to have meat for a good meal?

Hickory and Apple Smoked Pork Ribs. Morita-kahlua glaze, indian corn pudding, shaved pear and walnut salad with cilantro viniagrette.

Eugene and I both ordered the Pork Ribs entree. It was served in a unique rectangular plate that was somewhat difficult to eat off of. Every time I stabbed my fork into the mountain of salad, some other parts of salad would fall off the edges of the plate.

The Indian corn pudding had a fantastic and very familiar taste. I especially liked the outer parts near the rim. It had a nice texture that counterbalanced the warm and gooey center. I wish they had served this during the Taste of Downtown event last year. This is definitely a new favorite for me.

As for the ribs themselves, they were delicious and tender. The flavor was interesting and portion was just right. I was quite full by the end of this entree but eagerly awaited my dessert!

Roasted Plantain Cheesecake Flautas. With firewater dipping sauce.

The outside of the flautas were crispy and tasty. The inside had a subtle cheesecake flavor to it. Everyone really liked the dipping sauce. It had an Asian kind of flavor to it. Alcohol flavored figs? I’ll pass!

Chocolate Pistachio Torte. With rasberry Sorbet.

Nothing out of the ordinary for this dessert but it was still tasty. The dark chocolate was surprisingly not as strong as I thought it would be. The girls really loved the chocolate. The sorbet reminded of me of the Razzmatazz flavor at Jamba Juice, just without the seeds.

We came in to this restaurant hungry. We left full (and with to-go boxes!). If anybody is interested, I would highly suggest trying out the $20 three course special. If not at this restaurant, then at least at another one of the participating Cohn Restaurant Group restaurants. Its such a great deal! BTW, I believe there is some San Diego restaurant gift card at Costco where you can buy two $50 gift cards for the price of $79.99. Please correct me if I am wrong but I believe this restaurant is on that list of restaurants. Good Eating!
Taste: 9/10
Presentation: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (crowded)
Total: 18/20

The first San Diego Restaurant Week is coming soon. So make your reservations! Meals cost $30 or $40 per person depending on the restaurant and includes choices of appetizer, main course, and dessert.

It’s late notice, but the Cohn Restaurant Group is having a 2008 anniversary promotion at their selected restaurants. Three courses for $20 until January 10.

Dick’s Last Resort. Pasta

I remember sampling this dish and asking Dennis “Is this only pasta?” His reply was that he had eaten the one tiny piece of meat that they had served on our sampling tray. As for the part that I did taste, the pasta was not that special.

The Wild Thyme Co. Miso Honey Martinis, H20 melon gazpacho shots and poke bites.

This was one of the restaurants entered under the “raw food” category. We weren’t particularly fond of any of these dishes. I couldn’t stomach the strange pink gazpacho shot and thought the sauce surrounding the ahi was quite salty!

Baleen Restaurant (left). Pineapple and Thai chile glazed pork with buckwheat, bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, pineapple and mushrooms. Atoll Restaurant (right). Hawaiian braised beef short ribs.

For a dish that was served in asian take-out boxes, this one was surprisingly quite delicious! This made our favorites list instantly as we dug into the tender pork, pulled out long strands of noodles, and nibbled the complimenting vegetables! As for the short ribs, there wasn’t as much flavor in the meat as I would have preferred.

Brandt Beef (left). Indian spice rubbed beef carpaccio. Molly’s Restaurant (right). House dry aged leg of lamb loin carpaccio, pine nut, sultanas, preserved lemon, local organic spinach.

Neither Dennis nor I have really eaten carpaccio before but it definitely wasn’t to our taste. What we did notice was that the beef from Brandt Beef was a bit icy, as if they forgot to let it thaw a little more before serving. We can’t really comment on the food anymore with our unfamiliarity of this type of food.

Morton’s The Steakhouse. BBQ beef burger with mayo…?

Are you kidding me?! With all the fancier dishes out there, this one did not seem to be a good representation of a STEAKHOUSE. We took one bite of the sandwich and well… it just tasted like some kind of boring meat wrapped in bread, with only mayo to season it!

Jake’s Del Mar (left). braised short ribs on a tiger shrimp couscous with a pomegranate reduction. Oceanaire (right). Seafood sausage. (three types of seafood)

I’ve eaten at Jake’s before and the food is generally tasty but the sample didn’t turn out as well for me. Dennis and I, as well as many other guests we spoke to, loved the seafood sausage from Oceanaire though! It felt like a healthier yet still yummy version of sausage to me! Not to mention, it was wonderful that the chef and the servers were dressed from the 40’s era!

Flemming’s (left). Sirloin carpaccio fillet tenderloin with pickled sweet onion, mixed greens, striped beets, pumpkin oil and arugula oil. Esquire’s (right). Chicken gumbo.

I don’t remember this one too much but now that I know what carpaccio is, I’m guessing that we didn’t like it too much either. As for the gumbo-like soup, I felt like I would have rather had the jambalaya from the Taste of San Diego. This one was a bit lacking and I hardly wanted to eat it.

Gringos Cantina (left). Fillet mignon with a chipotle glaze. Clay’s La Jolla (right). Tiger Prawn skewers with bok choy pine nuts red cabbage onions and a honey creole mustard.

The beef from Gringos tasted tough and did not have much flavor in it, other than the sauce around it. In fact, the picture looks similar to a brownie or something! The tiger prawn skewers were definitely one of our favorites of the day. We absolutely loved the robust flavor of the bacon penetrating into the shrimp. The shrimp sauce was a little too sweet for my taste though.

California Cuisine (left). Tea sandwich with a sweet potato brios fougra taurine apple compote arugula candy kumquats. Sally’s Restaurant (right). Something with Salmon.

The tea sandwich was definitely something new that we had never tasted before and was quite on our ‘dislike’ side of foods. It tasted too sweet and fell all over the place as we ate it. As for the salmon dish, this one must have been decent because I remember helping to clean off the plate.

Chive (left). Szechwan peppercorn dusted duroc pork tenderloin with Japanese cabbage cake fuji apple compote black bean preserve. Moondoggies (right). Shrimp ceviche and chips.

We were thrilled with the shrimp ceviche here! It were fantastic!

Bondi. Australian lamb cutlet with apple mandate chutney and rose beet and green bean salad with goat cheese dressing.

This one was easily among our favorites. Lamb, in our experience, seems easy to mess up but this one turned out splendid! We nibbled every tasty morsel off the bone.

Beach City Market. Backed mussels with cavier and crab meat.

I don’t eat mussels too often but the overall taste was decent to me.

Beach City Market (left). Smoked mussel with salsa fresca and Maui onion. Mediterranean Bar and Grill (right). Salmon roulade, has goat cheese smoked salmon capers mayer lemon and micro arugula.

I wasn’t as much of a fan for the smoked mussel dish. We also ate food from Buster’s Beach House, but forgot to take a photo of it. It looks like the food from last year’s festival. Dennis remembers the coconut rice the most.

Quarter Kitchen. Caviar taco.

We somehow missed the caviar taco booth the first time around but when we arrived a bit after 3pm, the food was already out! The chef did pull out a hidden sample in an ornate holder from under some napkins but he didn’t let us have a taste! We’ll just have to imagine that it was wonderful and that we would be able to sample them next year.

Another exciting year at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival!
http://www.worldofwineevents.com/

Lynn and I attempted to cover over 50 restaurants in 4 hours this year!

Concept Catering by CK (left). Smoked Salmon Potstickers with Mango Relish infused with truffles. Arterra Restaurant & Bar (right). Duck confit with marinated cucumber and tangerine chile glaze.
We really liked the salmon potstickers with their unique fishy filling, but unfortunately the skin was soggier than normal due to the portable stove and a rush to quickly serve the growing crowd. The relish added a bit of sweet yet healthy touch to the dumpling but we thought it was a slight out of place for this appetizer. -L
The duck confit immediately became one of our favorites after we popped the succulent sandwich-like sample into our mouths. The flavor of the duck had the perfect sweetness and the fresh cucumbers around it balanced it out by working as a compliment. -L

Two Peas in a Pod. A sweat pea hummus with a little bit of yogurt pancetta and fresh mint on a crostini.

The hummus definitely had a nice slightly creamy feel in the mouth with a decent sprinkle of the pancetta bits and green. All in all, it wasn’t too bad of an appetizer but the ratio of bread to topping led to a slightly drier mouth after consuming the samples. -L
Sage Cafe. Butterscotch creme brulee.

This was a fabulous dessert! After piercing the crystalized sugar top layer, we dug out the creamy sweet insides and it melted in our mouths! -L

Rice Restaurant (left). Butternut squash lobster crepe with amaretto cherry and grand marnier orange reduction sauce. Romesco Baja Med Bistro (right). Taco.

The crepe sounded interesting enough and it tasted pretty good too. The Romesco taco was surprisingly good. The meat was extra tender and the sauce had just the right amount of spice to it. -D

ChileCo. Moroccan “scotch” quail egg, quail consomme-cider sip. Wild sage n’ elderberry smoked quail breast, quail confit n’ coconut shu-mai.

These items were presented on flat bamboo stalk with a slight concave dip in center. The shu-mai and smoked quail breast had some great flavor to it. Thats all I remember about it. -D

Jade Theater (left). Spicy tuna crab, stuffed shiitaki tempura style with a sugar spice with a thai vinaigrette and a sate sauce with a daikon salad. Harbor’s Edge (right) at Sheridan Hotel in Marina. Asian braised short ribs.

Jade’s spicy tuna crab was one of my favorites at the festival. I had to go back for seconds later in the day! The braised ribs were just so-so. -D

Terra Restaurant and Catering. Kabocha squash and dungeness crab flan with chai tea smoked arctic char.

I didn’t like this one at all. Besides smelling like it just came out of the sea, it even tasted like it too! There was this strong saltiness to it and a strange tangy flavor that reminded me of ham… -D

The Guild Restaurant and Lounge (left). Thai inspired ceviche with seared hamachi carpachio. The Shores Restaurant (right). Braised kobe beef short ribs. Maple sweet potatoes. Micro chive sprouts and old vine Zinfandel sauce, chile oil.

I can’t remember how the ceviche tasted. Instead of chewing and savoring the flavor, I downed the whole thing like a shot. Probably not the correct method of eating it… but it was fun! As for the braised kobe beef, it was tender enough but was lacking flavor. -D

Sammy’s Woodfire Pizza. Beets and lettuce?

I wish they had served pizza instead! -D

Roppongi (left). Maine diver’s sea scallop. Daikon dashi tempura green beans. Dynamite aioli, green tea salt. Pacific Del Mar (right). Maine lobster cocktail. Layers of napa cabbage poached maine lobster meat topped with kimchi foam garnished with micro cilantro sprouts and sesame cracker.

Roppongi’s sea scallop was super tiny. That photo above is about the actual size of it! Luckily the tempura was good enough to make up for it. It wasn’t soggy as we expected it to be. Pacific Del Mar had a tasty lobster but that was it. The cabbage tasted plain and the cracker was average. -D

Oasis Bar & Grill. Grilled stripe bass with grilled finnel. Tomatoes and picholine olives with aged cherry vinaigrette.

Lynn and I couldn’t agree on this one. I liked it because of the vinaigrette flavor but Lynn didn’t like it because of it. But the one thing we did agree on was the awesome little trays the stripe bass was presented on! -D

Sweet Cheeks. Carrot Cake.

The carrot cake was a good snack between tasting the other foods. -L

Blanca Restaurant (left). Day boat diver scallop with vidalia onion-potato rosti, butter braised smoked onions nueske’s bacon beurre blanc. Bernard’s Restaurant (right). Orange zest sea ursin flan, center cut ahi tuna, lobster consomme, califlower mousse and orange tuile.

The scallop was good but we didn’t care much for the potato underneath. The bacon flavor was an interesting element. I just wish it was a bit more subtle in flavor. The orange zest sea ursin flan was weird. Weird bad. I thought it was supposed to be traditional flan but it was some kind of soup with ahi bits in it. -D

Horn Blower’s. Sweet Potato carrot confection.

JRDN Restaurant (left). Braised lamb with eggplant caponata plus shaved manchego cheese. Dussini Mediterranean Bistro (right). Grillle and marinated red deer with swiss charred and roasted Montreal mushrooms.

Braised lamb was somewhat boring. The shaved manchego cheese didn’t help. I thought the marinated red deer was interesting though. I can’t really judge the quality of it because I’ve never had red deer before but I liked it. -D