Salt & Cleaver San Diego

Restaurants are the new bait of the retail herd these days. For its impressive overhaul, Flower Hill Promenade pulled in Urban Solace chef/owner Matt Gordon with his third restaurant, Sea & Smoke. Blowing out a wall of the former Paradise Grill, the subterranean den (with a painting of Johnny Cash giving the world the bird) spills out into a patio that’d charm the most precious among us. The share-plate menu keeps local Pilates bodies in mind with salads (vanilla-scented beet) and vegetarian options (achiote-marinated cauliflower). But go predator and try Gordon’s excellent wood-roasted Maine lobster with jicama-corn chili and drawn butter. A dish for Del Mar, and Puerto Nuevo. 2690 Via de la Valle, Del Mar

Sea & Smoke

Gang Kitchen

Gang Kitchen

A pizza guy does Asian fusion and it’s nowhere near as bad as that sounds

The only thing alive in here is the people.

No Flowers. No plants. Just concrete walls and black beams and menacing industrial fans that spin at a morbidly slow pace. Then there’s a 20-foot graffiti art of an Asian woman who looks like maybe she knows where the dead bodies are because she put them there.

Gang Kitchen is severe. The aesthetic of owner Jon Magnini (who’s  also behind BASIC and URBN) seems to be: Find an industrial building, gut it, put in chairs.

It’s real sexy, though-one of the last creations from modernist local architect Graham Downes, who tragically died this year. Chains dangle 20-plus feet from the ceiling, holding the hostess stand like a biker wallet. The stair banisters leading to the second level are semi- rusted slabs of metal. Blacksmith- chic. There is zero to no reclaimed wood, thanks be to the gods.

Gang also represents Mangini’s most ambitious culinary effort. BASIC and URBN are mostly pizza-and-drinks joints (highly suc- cessful ones). For Gang, he pulled in longtime chef pal Jo Ann Plympton, whose long career includes two of her own restaurants (one of which, Bridge Café, got kudos from the New York Times) and a bit of training at three-star Michelin Le Gavroche. During the last 12 years she’s been a chef at CB5 Restaurant Group, creating high-end concepts (Asian, Italian, American) for fancy hotels.

CB5 is where she met Mangini, who pulled her back into the restaurant kitchen full-time for this Asian fusion concept.

Asian fusion. It makes food snobs break out in blotches. Under- standable. Americans don’t have centuries of culinary bedrock to an- chor our identity. When we see an American chef do Asian food, it not only feels like artifice, but also like we’re dismissing our own uniquely national cuisine. It also seems like a cheap way to add cultural cachet to a concept.

The solution is to not give a damn. Authenticity has its place, which is not in a fusion restaurant. Joël Robuchon and David Chang both fuse. And Plympton brings a little cream, butter, and Culinary Institute of America-grad saucing skills to Asian dishes at Gang. The white woman also makes one hell of a scallion pancake.

Her menu starts with a bevy of Eastern gluten. The edamame wontons are excellent, puréed with butter, cream, and white truffle oil and finished with mushroom broth and nori. Truf- fle oil—a potent, crude chemical imitation of the real thing—can destroy dishes, but Plympton uses the right amount of restraint. It also shows up in her mushroom potstickers, filled with diced por- tobello, white, shiitake, and por- cinis, plus cream and panko and finished with ponzu sauce. This is excellent, just different enough from the truffle-edamame. The steamed shrimp dumplings were pretty uninspiring by comparison.

Like kale chips? Then you gotta try Plympton’s crispy spinach. Dried, crispy, lightly fried with oil, it’s basically a really healthy green disguised as fair food. Kindly resist shoving your face into the bowl.

Lobster crêpes are unsurpris- ingly good. Maine lobster is tossed with shiitakes, shallots, chiles, ginger, and garlic in a lobster- coconut sauce, then tucked into housemade scallion crêpes. Her barbecued pork spare ribs are fine, daintily messy with a citrus- sweet glaze. The only misstep we found at Gang was noodles. A buckwheat noodle salad in roasted peanut sauce is mistakenly served hot and a little dried out. The pork belly pad Thai is also a little dry. Too bad, because the fatty pork cubes are perfectly cooked and the dish otherwise pops with flavor, with veggies, sunflower sprouts, fish sauce, and peanuts. Crispy calamari salad, though not terribly crispy mixed in with the miso vinaigrette, has excellent flavor, and it’s not shy with the heat index.

For entrees, the barbecued salmon couldn’t have been cooked better, with a blowtorched honey-soy-miso skin that lifts easily off to barely pink-centered meat (even if the accompanying greens in Chinese mustard sauce were fairly bland). The roasted Peking duck with black vinegar sauce (black and balsamic vin- egar, cream, stock, cream, pepper) is served with sake and spiced pineapple, plums, grapefruit, and orange. It’s a chippier riff on the traditional sweet-fruit accompani- ment for duck. And again with the scallion cakes, good enough to eat out of hand by themselves. The whole fried fish was just so- so—a striped sea bass deep-fried in tempura and served with a red chile sauce that was a little too tart (sugar, fermented black beans, fish sauce, rice vinegar).

But that Shanghai beef—a dish so stereotypically gringo- Asian that Minute Rice has an official version—is a real swooner. Seven ounces of aged beef in its whoa-Jesus sauce (shallot, ginger, garlic, red chile, mirin, soy, good ol’ butter). A heap of fried potato strings under Chinese mustard vinaigrette make it one hell of a meat-and-potatoes offering.

Don’t skip desserts here. The housemade spicy gingerbread ice cream sandwich (actually crème fraîche gelato) with a side of pineapple-mango-habañero salsa, yuzu curd, and cilantro is excellent. Sip your tea and wait for it to soften just right, because it’s served rock hard. If you’re more of a churro/baked goods type, try the banana spring rolls with a walnut frangipane, fried and dusted with cinnamon and sugar—served with ginger gelato and miso caramel.

Plympton doesn’t shy away from a few restaurant kitchen shortcuts—namely truffle oil and butter—but it doesn’t matter when it tastes this good. Combine that with the Blade Runner-meets- Japanese horror flick décor and creative cocktails from URBN bartender Jason O’Bryan (try the Broken Oath, with chamomile-in- fused bourbon, lemon, and apricot liqueur)… and, well, I couldn’t find much of anything to complain about at Gang.

Oh, the chairs are shorter than the banquettes, so whoever sits on the banquette is taller than their dining companion (good for the Tom Cruises of the world, I guess). There, that’s persnickety. Otherwise, just go.

Abe Froman’s is still bringing sausage to Hillcrest. The 5th Ave spot will focus on gourmet sausage and craft beer behind chef Carlos Sanmartano, but they’re going through a few pre-open makeovers. Most notably, the name. Abe Froman’s will change their name to Salt & Cleaver after a snafu. Mama didn’t raise no rocket scientists, but we’re guessing it has something to do with the fact that Froman was a cult-loved figure in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and that Paramount has more lawyers than Octomom’s got babies. They’ve also moved the storefront back several feet and will include a small patio; they’re planning on opening doors in a month. They recently did a segment with KUSI News outlining a few of their sausages and side dishes. Two not-so-sausage highlights: the faceless vegetarian sausage with quinoa, cauliflower, eggplant and peppers rolled in a cauliflower leaf topped with fennel slaw, and a quinoa, red pepper and sausage salad. “Sausage doesn’t always have to hit you in the face,” says Sanmartano.

INCOMING: Salt & Cleaver

Not all monsters have to be scary. In fact, entrepreneur Pinyada “Ada” Primpray’s is delightful.  Sea Monster, a small cafe that will serve poke bowls, fresh spring rolls, and matcha, will open in Mission Valley by the end of the year. 

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“The concept is a Hawaiian- and Japanese-style cafe,” Primpray  explains. She calls it Sea Monster in homage to her friend’s popular restaurant Big Monster Sushi & Thai in Hawaii, but “the idea really started to take shape after I came back from a solo trip to Italy,” she says. The experience inspired her to start her own concept that mixed her culture, experience, and passion for food.

Sea Monster will be her first restaurant as an owner, but Primpray has worked in restaurants for 15 years in places like Kauai, Chicago, New York, and San Diego. She realized a similar health-conscious, seafood-forward, quick-service restaurant could work here, especially in that corner of Mission Valley where pizza and burgers reign. Plus, she points to the massive development plans for the area—between Riverwalk bringing thousands of new homes to the area and even more coming from San Diego State University, there are lots of new locals looming on the horizon.

She brought on Head Chef Wasu Gibb Palipote from Sushisamba in Los Angeles to develop the menu and signature sauces, like ink wasabi and a larb sauce. “Every couple of months, we plan to introduce a new signature sauce created exclusively for Sea Monster by [Chef Palipote],” she says. All the sauces will be homemade, including a basil creamy sauce and sesame vinegar.

Sea Monster’s menu centers around fresh poke bowls—mostly locally-caught bluefin tuna and hamachi as well as salmon, served California-style rather than Hawaiian-style (the sauces are added to order rather than marinating on the fish, which can overpower its flavor). Toppings will range from the usual, like edamame and green onion, to upscale, like uni (sea urchin). She’ll also serve fresh salad rolls, a popular light snack in Vietnam and her native Thailand, with vegetables and seafood like salmon, shrimp, and imitation crab. Everything will be served to-go, although there will be very limited seating for people who want to dive in right away. 

The matcha program will start small, with six iterations planned for opening and potentially more in the future. “I really want to have mango sticky rice,” she adds. Beyond adding items to the menu, Primpray says she hopes Sea Monster will be more than a restaurant. “I want it to grow into a lifestyle brand with its own little world,” she says, pointing to the restaurant’s mascot, Smoo. A monster with aspirations of growing bigger and bigger until it takes over? Yeah, sounds about right. 

Sea Monster will open daily for lunch and dinner in late 2026 at 6110 Friars Road in Mission Valley.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• Oktoberfest season is closing in fast, and one of the first dirndl-laced events of the year kicks off at AleSmith Brewing Company this weekend. AleSchmidt Oktoberfest runs every Saturday from September 12 through 26, and the family-friendly event is chock-a-block with German food vendors, live oom-pah bands, stein holding, and a whole lot more. The free event starts at 11 a.m. each Saturday, and from personal experience, I recommend posting up on the early side to snag a seat.
• Japanese fine dining restaurant Shio soft opened in August, bringing elegant plates and sunset views to La Jolla. (The area was hardly hurting for either, but I think we could always use some more sushi in our lives.) Has anyone checked it out yet? Let me know what I should order by dropping me a line at [email protected].
• Restaurateur brothers Danny and Dante Romero have been on a tear the past few years, consulting at places like Una Mas and taking over The Lion’s Share last summer. It’s understandable to see they recently decided to pause their recurring pop-up concept Two Ducks to recalibrate and figure out its future in a permanent location, but it’s still a bit bittersweet. If it’s “see you later” and not “goodbye,” I can live with that (for now).

Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene

Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].

“A sharp knife is a safe knife,” says Joshua “Jhun” de Andres, owner of Kuya Sharpens. It only takes a light touch to guide a properly-sharpened knife, while dull knives require much more force to cut through an object, increasing the likelihood and severity of an injury. “If you slip, that’s a lot of force that is now going into your finger, your hand, and that’s where it becomes extremely dangerous.” 

De Andres started sharpening knives as a meditative practice during a time of personal grief, a way to zone in on a task with a useful and satisfying outcome. “[It was a] reminder to myself that you can fix something that’s broken and give it purpose again.” Once he ran through his own collection of knives, he started asking friends and family if he could sharpen theirs. When he’d sharpened everyone’s knives he could think of, he started posting videos on TikTok, where his first professional chef customer found him: Chef Tanner Stanich, chef de cuisine at Michelin-recognized Bib Gourmand Mabel’s Gone Fishing.

“That’s when things really started to take off,” he laughs. He uses whetstones rather than motorized belt sanders to sharpen, which gives him the ability to make microadjustments during the process for a more customized and controlled result. Whetstones also preserve steel more efficiently than other mechanical processes, which are faster, but take off more of the knife’s edge in exchange, reducing the lifespan of the knife. 

Learning how to master whetstones takes a lot of time and practice, and while de Andres specializes in sharpening Japanese knives, he’ll sharpen a knife from anywhere. “Every knife deserves to be sharp,” he says. 

Japanese kitchen knives are designed for extremely specific purposes: there’s a knife to break down a fish (deba), cut through boneless raw fish for sushi and sashimi (yanagiba), slice vegetables (nakiri), carve meat (sujihiki), debone poultry (honesuki), and even knives only the executive chef can use (kiritsuke). Few other culinary cultures utilize such ultra-specialized tools, and Japanese steel is prized for its extreme hardness and ability to maintain a razor-thin edge for decades when properly cared for. 

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De Andres is still figuring out different ways to expand his business: hosting workshops at Home Ec on Adams Avenue, creating knife restoration tutorials, and launching private lessons, all while continuing to sharpen knives people bring to him or even send from across the country. And he knows that for both home cooks and professional chefs, sharpening a knife that may have cost hundreds of dollars on a whetstone can feel overwhelming. Will I ruin it? Will I break it?

“You’re most likely not going to break it,” he promises. “But you are going to make it yours, and you have to kind of be okay with that.” Knives age and change just like humans do. Sharpening is an essential part of maintenance, and shaving away the dull edges to restore a shine takes care. And de Andres cares a lot.

“It’s just been really life-giving to me,” he says. “I know it seems really silly that taking a knife and putting it on a whetstone can change your perspective on how you view the world, but for me, it came to me at a time when I needed it most.”

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• Mesa Agricola, a tiny taqueria in Escondido, made this year’s New York Times 50 best restaurants in the US list. If you’ve had the privilege of eating the guisado delicacies from chef Juan González and Megan Strom, you’ll understand why. Congrats on the recognition—and happy first birthday!
• Kids Free San Diego is about to kick off, and if you haven’t already taken a look at all the month-long deals on food, activities, and hotels, you have two more weeks to make a game plan. Between kids eating free at places like Crab Hut and the Waffle Spot, staycation deals at places like San Diego Mission Bay Resort, Belmont Park discounts, free fishing, whale watching, and more, I know that my dance card for the month is pretty much full. 
• Ranchito Milkyway, a farmstand in Bonita, also has plenty of events to pencil into your calendar, starting with an Indian cuisine-inspired farm-to-table dinner on September 19 with chef Kanta from Sattvik to an Italian cooking class on October 17 with chef Elisa from Balsamico Italian Kitchen. If you’re chock-full of things to do over the next few weeks, there’s always the option to snag one of their CSA boxes for an abundance of winter greens, vegetables, and herbs for home cooking.

Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene

Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].