Best Things I Ate This Month: December 2015
Chicken Oysters @ The Crack Shack
The new chicken shack opened by the team behind Juniper & Ivy is exactly what the neighborhood needed—an outdoor hangout with some quality fried chicken featuring the industry’s best meats (Jidori, etc.). During a recent tasting, it was hits almost across the board, but the simple dish that stood out was the chicken oysters—that magical little cut from the back of a full bird that very few people know about. It’s silky, beautiful dark meat, which The Crack Shack lightly fries in a clam style, then adds fried kale and lemon juice plus mustard seed tartar sauce. Automatically one of my favorite snacks in the San Diego dining scene. Simple, lovely.
2266 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy, crack-shack.com
Best Things I Ate This Month: December 2015
Lamb Neck Barbacoa @ Bracero Cocina de Raiz
This will probably be my last post about Bracero for a while. But I had to eat my way through the menu, since the new spot from top Baja chef Javier Plascencia is an exciting place. And I discovered another gem in the lamb neck barbacoa. Lamb barbacoa is one of my favorite foods in the city, which I usually find farther south at Aqui es Texcoco. But this taco, with tender stewed lamb neck meat in a kombucha pasilla salsa with cilantro is absolutely fantastic. Pasill (a dried chilaca chile) has a deep, rich flavor that works perfect here.
1490 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy, bracerococina.com
Burrata Bruschetta @ Little Italy Farmers Market
Look, ma—I made this all by myself. Proof here is that you can make one of the most excellent appetizers you’ve ever eaten using just a couple of ingredients found every Saturday at the Little Italy Farmers Market. First, get some fresh burrata from the The Cheese Store’s market stand. Second, get a baguette. Buy a bag of arugula from Suzie’s Farm stand. Finally, as you’re leaving the market, stop by Mona Lisa and buy a bottle of Frantoia olive oil (you will thank me for this later). At home, cut the bread into slices, brush with a generous amount of Frantoia, and toast until brown. Top with burrata, add a leaf of arugula or two, drizzle a touch more fresh olive oil, sprinkle with a touch of sea salt. It could not be simpler, and everyone who eats this at my house does all kinds of inappropriate food moaning.
