While I’ve never considered myself one to come running to a restaurant once I hear the name of the celebrity chef behind it dropped, I have to say I have thing about Top Chef contestants.  I’ve been to nearly all of their San Diego eateries (including one I covered on this here blog).  Coupled with the fact that word-of-mouth has been awesome on this place, I was pretty excited for this week’s challenge, as were my band of cohorts:

Aimee-Roommate since the 90’s, BFF, allergic to hot dogs and therefore labeled a commie by many

Amy B-Vegetarian Belle, Author, Event Planner

Amy J-Rocky Horror performer, Michigan football loyalist, a common floozy

Chris-Attorney, lifelong food snob, loves good Scotch and gay jeans

Harry-Wise guy, master of the grill, loves camping for some reason

Kelsey-Project manager, Advanced level foodie, Has been known to drop it like it’s hot after a few cocktails

Juniper and Ivy, from the imagination of one Chef Richard Blais, promises “Refined American food with a left coast edge”.  It’s located in the heart of downtown San Diego’s cooler older Sister, Little Italy on the block between Juniper and Ivy (an embarrassing amount of time passed before this connection occurred to me).  The bar menu at Juniper and Ivy is impressive.  Amy B, Harry & myself all ordered the Milly Vanilli (Gin,  Mint tea, Cherry anitdote & Vanilla Clove Foam) We were all big fans of this drink but it’s important to mention that the combination of vanilla and clove smells vaguely of dog breath but tastes delicious.  There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write but here we are.  Bottom line: the drink was awesome.

Chris decided to challenge the bartender by saying “Make me something with that rye I’ve never had”.  The result was Michtel Rye, Benedictine, peach bitters.  He loved it.  Harry and Kelsey both had the Devil in Disguise (Rye Whiskey, Creme de Mure,  Ginger, Soda & Bitters) Harry was a big fan and Kelsey applauded the lack of “Bourbonyness” in the drink.  Kelsey’s second (and third) drink was the Wells Bells (Vodka, Pineapple, Mint, Pena Honey & Citrus).  She called it good, mellow & not overly sweet.  Aimee ordered the “In The Ivy” (Orange blossom vodka, Summer berries & riesling).  Later with dinner, Amy B had a Hungarian wine, the 2011 Ribolla Gialla Erzetic Rebula Gorsika Brda SOLD AMERICAN!  She said the explosion of consonants was delicious.  Amy J had a 2012 Malbec (Bueyes Valle de Uco Mendoza), which she very much enjoyed.

For first round of apps, after much deliberation (you have no idea) we ordered as a table and shared the following: Our Buttermilk Biscuit with sea salt and smoked butter.  You guys, this was greatest biscuit of all time anywhere ever in life.  It’s served in a small cast iron skillet and it’s pretty amazing.  We even joked about ordering another one for dessert.  Less impressive for me were the Swedish Meatballs (with Red Kuri, McCart’s Preserves & Pumpkin Seed Pesto) but Aimee  said they were  juicy, delicious and sauce was so good.  Kelsey ordered the Ahi Tuna Tartare with Sunchoke Mayo, Blackberry & Easter Egg Radish.   She said the tartare had interesting flavor but she didn’t care for the floral notes.  Amy B had the Warren Pear Toast with walnut, pickled fennel & Pt Reyes Blue, which she thought was lovely.  I also ordered the Cherry Bomb Poppers filled with Pimento cream cheese.  They were nice enough with a pretty solid heat but nothing outstanding for me.  The other most impressive starter was the Corn Fritter with Avocado Crema.  Originally ordered by our vegetarians in the group, this dish was a hit with the entire table.  Crispy, fresh corn with a light batter and delicious cooling avocado crema.  Outstanding.

For our main dishes, we selected a variety of small plates.   Aimee ordered the Linguni (it’s how they spelled it!) and Clams with uni butter, brioche crouton & red Chili.  She said it was divine and not at all skimpy on the clams.  She & Chris also ordered the Berkshire Pork Porterhouse with white corn puree, peach, smoked almonds & dandelion chimichurri.  Aimee seemed to enjoy this one more than Chris, who was more focused on other dishes in his praise.  Harry got the House Charcuterie (Duck Ballantine, Head Cheese, Chicken liver & Pate de Campagne).  He dubbed the plate awesome but not for first timers, with such daring departures from a normal plate of its kind.

Kelsey ordered the off-menu option “Burger and Fries”, a take off on (wait for it) the Double Double from In-N-Out.  Since it models itself after In-N-Out I can only imagine it means a decent burger with reheated elementary school cafeteria fries.  She loved the sauce and said the burger was juicy and cooked really well.  She also said the fries were well executed.  Kelsey also ordered the Bahn Mi (cured pork, pickled daikon & fish sauce caramel).  She said it had really nice balance.  While the dish wasn’t as overwhelming as it sounds, it did get to be a bit much towards the end.  Amy B. ordered the Corn Agnolotti with foraged mushrooms & huitlacoche.  Amy also ordered the slow roasted beets with bartlett pear ricotta, marcona almonds, miso honey vinaigrette & living kale.  She loved this dish and applauded how balanced it was and how different an approach it was to beets.   The vegetarians also had the heirloom tomato with early girl, sweet 100, feta ice cream, pine nuts, celery & banyuls.  Amy J loved how this dish was unusual but super yummy.  Many of the vegetarian dishes were well thought out with great textures.  She found the whole place very accessible to vegetarians.

I ordered the Prawn and Pork (smoked rigatoni with prawns, pork belly & burrata).  The pasta was well cooked and the sauce was rich and tasty.  The smokiness brought a really unique element to what could otherwise be a pretty standard dish.  The prawns were cut up, which was nice and the real stand out was the pork.  Salty and bacon-y goodness.

I also had the Corn Cobb (indigo rose, Suzie’s greens, lamb bacon, soft boiled egg, Enrique’s cotija & buttermilk pablano dressing).  While this was nothing Earth-shattering, it was a damn fine piece of roasted corn, which I highly enjoy.  I can’t say that each individual flavor came through but the cotija was the real star of this plate.  Salty but mild, adding a creaminess to the corn.  Delish!

We were determined to go big on desserts, so we ordered the entire dessert menu, which consisted of the following:

Yodel (Devil’s cake, white chocolate, hazelnut brittle & hot chocolate which is poured over it at the table).  This was a feast of tastes and textures with crunchy and soft chocolate.  This was my second favorite dessert.

Macarons (3 flavors; coconut curry, cinnamon & lemon).  They were all excellent with unusual flavor choices.  A good macaron is an instant skill of any pastry chef and these were terrific.  Not a signature must-have, but very good.

A peanut butter and jelly of sorts (This one was harder to describe.  It’s just a mix of sorbets, cakes and fruit that taste like the sandwich)  We had something similar at Cowboy Star a few weeks ago but this was a less literal flavor interpretation.  It was pretty good.

Blueberry (Sherbert, corn cream, nitro yogurt).  This was Kelsey’s absolute favorite.  A zingy, zesty and sweet explosion of flavors and textures.  SUPER unique and very very good.

Caramel Chocolate Mousse (buttermilk, cocoa nib, meringue).  This was the business.  Aimee described it best as “Bowl-licking good”.  An amazing combination of salted caramel and chocolate in a light, fluffy mousse.  Stellar.

The wrap up on Juniper and Ivy is that it was well worth the hype.  It’s been profiled on a ton of must-do San Diego restaurants and it’s easy to see why.  The staff was also great and the whole vibe was cool.  Also, on a more surprising note, it was way more affordable than many of us were expecting, which means repeat visits will most certainly be a thing.  As the menu changes frequently, it will mean a new adventure every time, which even a creature of habit like me can appreciate.

 

Further reading: http://www.juniperandivy.com/

To see all of the pictures from this week’s restaurant, be sure to follow The Boy Who ate San Diego on Instagram!