A big waterfront kitchen emerges

Frank Sabatini Jr. | Downtown News

333 W. Harbor Drive (Embarcadero Marina)

619-699-8222

Dinner prices: Appetizers, soups and salads, $7 to $15; entrees, $19 to $39, or three-course tasting menu, $40.

Despite its sprawling dimensions and captivating cuisine, the new Marina Kitchen still remains in the whisper phase among locals, although visitors staying at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina have likely begun logging the restaurant into their travel journals under “best meals.”

Concealed within the elliptically shaped hotel on West Harbor Drive, guests are greeted by an expansive bar lounge that flows into airy dining sections recently transformed from underused banquet space.

The redesign is marked by light earth tones, with a middle seating area that keeps you in eyeshot of marina views and a handsome wine room housing a connoisseur’s inventory cultivated by Advanced Sommelier Joshua Orr. The temperature-controlled room also sets the stage for regularly scheduled wine tastings, conducted with cured meats shaved from a prominently displayed push-handle slicer.

The supper menu provides a stylish solution for diners who are undecided between Jidori chicken sauced with maple vinaigrette and Betty Crocker-style turkey pot pies. Executive Sous Chef Aron Schwartz expertly closes the gap between contemporary and homespun dishes in ways that appeal to urbanites and rural folk alike, drawing upon the training he received before graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.

In our initial courses, a friend and I swung from medallions of vanilla-poached spiny lobster to chicken noodle soup that was so clean and nurturing; it will prompt me to call Schwartz if I get slammed with the flu this winter.

The lobster was trawled from local waters the day of our visit, offering a quintessential oceanic flavor complimented by fleshy seeds from locally sourced pomegranates.

“We want to show off San Diego’s bounty of seafood and produce,” says Schwartz, who worked previously at the French-inspired Bernard’O Restaurant in North County. Now, he is waving his culinary standard for downtown denizens to discover.

Another appetizer, caponata, involved chunky albacore confit tossed into this classic Italian medley of roasted eggplant, tomatoes, onions, pine nuts and raisins. Made normally without animal proteins, the tuna tasted right at home in the generously portioned dish.

We progressed afterwards to Carlsbad oysters that were grilled casino-style with minced bell peppers and bacon, although the traditional surge of lemon went missing.

Schwartz offers a three-course tasting menu for $40 per person ($60 with wine pairings), from which any item can be ordered ala carte or in addition to dishes from his regular menu.

A “daily roast” is also available: herbed prime beef on Fridays and Saturdays; sage-orange turkey breast on Sundays; and leg of lamb on Mondays, to name a few.

We ordered two entrees from the everyday category, where you’ll find the aforementioned turkey pot pie, a pure execution of the recipe before it became cheapened by commercial, pre-manufactured renditions.

Here, the marvelously flakey pastry crust embodies cubed breast meat from whole turkeys that Schwartz roasts weekly. Combined with fresh peas and carrots, the ingredients are cloaked in chicken veloute, a French “mother sauce” of roux and rich stock.

Rib eye steak is described accurately on the menu as “lightly smoked.” Indeed, the process imparted a woodsy essence to the meat without annihilating its core flavor. A split, roasted bone containing the marrow was placed on top, while non-gluey scalloped potatoes sat alongside.

We especially loved the wine-enriched bordelaise sauce, which Schwartz spikes robustly with tarragon, chives, chervil and parsley.

While on the subject of sauces, Schwartz’s blackberry gastrique served under tender, sliced duck breast was also magnificent, proving a more seductive match to the fowl than common orange and cherry reductions.

Ordered from the tasting menu, it married well to pinot noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley as well as a warm salad of sautéed chard and nutty wheat grains that came with the dish.

Our meal ended in sheer comfort, with blueberries and cranberries joining forces in a slice of pie that wasn’t flooded by sugar, but rather tasting as though the fruit was picked and smashed minutes before going into its buttery crust.

Schwartz also bangs out a daily breakfast buffet that encompasses dim sum, plus a full lunch menu that includes handmade pizzas. As far as hotel restaurants go, Marina Kitchen is worth a walk down the long lobby.

Editor’s Note: The Marina Kitchen will be offering a three-course Thanksgiving Dinner menu on Nov. 22. The $30 meal includes an appetizer, the main dish and dessert. Multiple dish options are available and wine pairings personally selected by Orr are also available for $20 more.

Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of Secret San Diego (ECW Press), and began writing about food two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. He has since covered the culinary scene extensively for NBC; Pacific San Diego Magazine; San Diego Uptown News; Gay San Diego; Living in Style Magazine and The Gay & Lesbian Times. You can reach him at [email protected].