A while back, I popped into the Spot for a late-night bite. My eyes lit on the page of options available for customizing burgers, and once hooked, I strayed no further. Recently I returned to do a full-scale review and was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only were the options virtually endless but, under the direction of Chef Marc Liautard, who has been running this and the Rancho Bernard O for three years ” both of them under the ownership of Ryan Tondro ” he is changing food preparation to a more healthful version; baking instead of deep frying and using zero trans-fat, for example.
Chef Liautard’s training was at the Culinary Academy in France, followed by stints on the Riviera and, when he moved to San Diego, at the Bagatelle and then at Excelsior, where he prepared fine Belgian food. Shortly after word got out that Excelsior was closing, he spotted an ad seeking a chef for a busy La Jolla restaurant and immediately faxed his resume. The following day he trotted downstairs to the Spot and the job was his. Neither he nor Tondro had to look very far or very hard for the perfect match.
Let’s return to the burgers for a moment; there are two sizes of beef patty and then a choice of garden, black bean, turkey, chicken breast or salmon. Breads run the gamut from the traditional to whole wheat, jalapeão, focaccia and sun-dried tomato. Toppings include the usual plus caramelized onions, sliced jalapeãos, sautéed bell peppers and pepperoncini, as well as every cheese you’ve ever heard of and sauces that run the gamut from remoulade through cusabe, whatever that is (I suspect a misspelling of “wasabe”), in all a total of 14 ” you get the idea.
I didn’t bother to order a burger this time; instead I chose from the other offerings and was absolutely flabbergasted by the flavor of the pulled pork and avocado wrap, which was enhanced by mayo and Pico de Gallo. And did I mention that all the dressings and sauces are made from scratch?
That was only the beginning. A sample of several other menu items was definitely indicated. A juicy bacon-wrapped scallop with a dollop of mango red-pepper relish was a great start, followed by La Jolla winter salad with a luscious pomegranate cranberry vinaigrette dressing, both awakening my appetite for Cajun lamb chops, done to order. Because beef stew is a natural for chilly evenings, that was my next foray, served with garlic mashed potatoes, but I found that although it was rich and satisfying, it was a tad on the salty side for my taste. Next, the meat loaf, topped with what seemed to be the same sauce as the barbecue rib I sampled later, could have been a little more moist, easily accomplished by adding liquid to the binder (pieces of bread, I assume). But the flavor from the other ingredients (sausage, onions and bacon) gave it an edge.
I skipped the seafood selections (sea bass, swordfish, salmon and mahi mahi among them) and moved on to the chicken and shrimp jambalaya, made with Andouille sausage, which Chef Liautard got just right. It tasted as if it came directly from New Orleans, right down to the spicy sauce.
Just about anything you can name is available seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., 365 days a year, and on Saturday and Sunday breakfast is served as well. Happy hour happens on Wednesdays, from 4:30 to 8 p.m., and there is a page devoted to specialty drinks and another with a respectable wine list. Wine tastings happen every other Monday, by reservation only.
For more information call (858) 459-0800. The Spot is located at 1005 Prospect St.