By Frank Sabatini Jr.
Chef and restaurateur Deborah Scott is on a roll.
Earlier this year she struck a deal with Costco, which began selling her famous pepita-sesame crusted brie at 10 local stores. Then the announcement came of a new restaurant and bar (Coastera) to replace the sunken Reuben E. Lee boat restaurant on Harbor Island, a project she is overseeing in conjunction with Cohn Restaurant Group.
More recently, she bestowed a big dose of love to her well-established Indigo Grill with a dramatic remodel that plays into new, captivating dishes spanning the Americas and beyond. All this while maintaining with the Cohn Group three other restaurants (Island Prime, C Level and Vintana Wine + Dine) plus two food trucks (Chop Soo-ey and Ms. Patty Melt).
Detail-oriented and globally in tune, she effortlessly escapes the pitfalls of mediocrity.
Indigo Grill’s aesthetic makeover resembles something of an avant-garde movie set for Spanish cinema. With the help of local designer Philippe Beltran, bold colors and diverse textures combine with whimsical chandeliers, oversized Argentinean doors and stonework inspired by the ruins of Machu Picchu. At night, the sidewalk patio is aglow with fire features while jacketed fire hoses swag overhead with droplights in a patio that is enclosed.
We landed a table near the copper-clad open kitchen and based some of our food choices on the loaded plates we saw coming out of it. Trios of crispy-shell tacos filled with uncommon ingredients, for instance, had us gawking for the get-go.
Diners choose from four different proteins that are assigned to crafty sauces. The tofu and crimini mushroom taco was drizzled with spicy honey aioli. Briquettes from the kitchen’s Chitwood Grill infused the fillings with an enticing, charred flavor resembling flame-broiled steak.
Crispy jalapeno chicken dressed in chili and hoisin sauces tasted as equally original as the third taco on our plate brimming with carnitas. Scott ramps up the pork with copious lime and then finishes it with burnt orange sauce. In the current wave of gourmet tacos, which can perplex the palate to no end, these are the best I’ve come across.
The menu is structured with several additional categories, ranging from ceviches and soups and salads to flatbreads, medium-size plates and “grande” entrees. The latter reveals dishes such as seared opah with corn puree, braised pork shank with chorizo mac and cheese and Scott’s legendary “skirts on fire,” a marinated steak dish that her fans have continued demanding ever since she introduced it two decades ago at the former Kemo Sabe in Hillcrest.
Scott also presents new must-try antichucho boards stocked with an array of noshes that include a choice of two well-endowed meat skewers resembling the kind sold from street carts in Peru.
Between the slow-cooked pork belly accented with orange zest and fried ginger, and the beef filet earning its zing from vinegar and dark-red aji panca peppers, it was impossible to decide on a favorite. The skewers rested in a trio of flavored hummus and were flanked by house-picked cucumbers and freshly grilled flatbread — the perfect option for twosomes with mild appetites sharing a bottle of wine.
The popular Korean dish, bibimbap, also appears on Indigo’s revised menu. Scott put it there because she’s a diehard fan of Asian cuisine and says that it’s widely available in Peru. We couldn’t resist.
Here, the servers partially construct the rice-filled hotpots tableside, adding in sesame oil, kimchi, soy sauce and a raw egg as the rice crackles and pops within the 500-degree stone bowl. A ramekin of chicken stock is left behind for deglazing any ingredients that stick to the sides. Scott’s luxurious spins for the dish come in the form of duck fat and Chinese sausage strewn throughout.
Another newcomer with Asian flair is salt & pepper shrimp served with their heads and tails. The shells are dusted in seasoned cornstarch and fried to a pliable thinness so that you can eat them whole; much like you’d consume soft shell crab.
The booze list features everything from fruity, herby cocktails and obscure craft beers to wines boasting Latin roots. Depending where you sit, Indigo Grill’s new design can feel like either a restaurant or lounge.
For dessert, we turned to one of Scott’s longtime standbys, the potted brownie that receives a delicious soaking of peanut butter ice cream as it melts down.
As with her nut-crusted brie, Indian pudding and butternut squash soup that have also carried over, Scott quips, “I would have gotten shot if I took those things off the menu.”
—Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of “Secret San Diego” (ECW Press), and began his local writing career more than two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. You can reach him at [email protected].
1536 India St. (Little Italy)
619-234-6802
Prices: Salads, soups, appetizers, tacos and boards, $9 to $16; entrees, $22 to $32
