Best Things I Ate This Month: August 2016

Softshell Crab Lettuce Wraps @ Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant

Best Things I Ate This Month: August 2016

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Bankers Hill continues to shine. At a recent tasting of their new menu, this dish blew me away—a riff on the classic Thai dish, som tum. Softshell crab—one of the tastiest crustaceans you can get from the water—is lightly fried, then paired with green papaya and bok choy slaw (a near cousin of som tum), lemongrass vinaigrette and chili glaze. It’s phenomenal.

2202 Fourth Avenue, Bankers Hill, 619.231.0222

Lamb @ Veladora/Pony Room

Best Things I Ate This Month: August 2016

Made it all the way up to Rancho Santa Fe without getting lost, which is always a feat. For this dish, executive chef Jarrod Moiles and chef de cuisine Josh Holt create a phenomenal sauce that makes the Elysian lamb loin sing. Next to it? A bone marrow pain perdu (yes, bone marrow French toast). The richness of the dish is offset perfectly with bitter, braised endive and a sweet charred peach.

Rancho Valencia, 5921 Valencia Cir, Rancho Santa Fe, 858.759.6216

Buffalo Octopus @ Herringbone

Best Things I Ate This Month: August 2016

Still one of my favorite rooms in San Diego, Herringbone floored with this riff on buffalo chicken wings. They braise and then char octopus, dip it in a Buffalo-style hot sauce, and serve it over a cold salad of black eyed peas in housemade ranch dressing. Being on the coast, there aren’t a shortage of octopus dishes in San Diego. But this is one of the best I’ve been able to find. Hot, cool, spicy, crunchy, creamy. It’s got it all.

7837 Herschel Ave, La Jolla, 858.459.0221