By Frank Sabatini Jr.
Aside from its priceless perch on San Diego Bay, everything at the 27-year-old Top of the Market is fresher than a fish out of water.
A roof fire in May closed down the iconic seafood restaurant as well as its casual ground-floor sibling, The Fish Market, which sustained less damage and reopened in August. The upstairs, however, didn’t spring back to life until December. It was given a costly facelift that coincided with the arrival of accomplished chef Stafford Mather, who revised 90 percent of the menu with specialty entrees that change daily.
Gone are the dark colors and excessive teak that held Top of the Market hostage to the past. Some of the wood, however, was retained in the redo as elegant accents to cream-colored walls and ceiling panels. New light fixtures strike an Art Deco feel, and cushy, raised booths now allow additional customers unobstructed views of the surrounding harbor through enlarged windows.
Mather’s food stacks up to the waterfront élan. He has helmed the kitchens at premier restaurants in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and for some of Brian Malarkey’s local fabric-named ventures. He was also executive chef at Top of the Market’s San Mateo location.
If there’s anyone who can take the cliché out of crab cakes, it’s Mather. Think blue lump crab compacted into a disc without mushy fillers and with wisps of Old Bay Seasoning. Crowned with a sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs, the creative component that gave this cake its mojo was grapefruit buerre blanc speckled with pickled mustard seeds that practically popped on the palate.
My companion, who normally eschews crab cakes because she’s had too many that taste fishy, gave this a superior rating for freshness and originality. I fully agreed.
Citrus prevailed also in a dish of seared prawns cloaked in blood orange reduction. The surprise elements, though subtle, were cardamom and Fresno chilies, both of which played smartly into the sweetness of the sauce.
My love of the fruit had me washing down the dish with an outrageously quenching blood orange spritzer before joining my companion in a buttery Chardonnay by Fritz, which our waiter allowed us to sample with a few other whites at the start of the meal. Given the lengthy wine list, we appreciated the gesture.
We started also with the jasmine roll constructed at the small sushi bar downstairs. The offerings aren’t listed on Top of the Market’s menu, but we learned it’s permissible to order them from your table. The roll was simple and lush: spicy scallops layered with fresh salmon, a little rice, and topped with paper-thin lemon slices.
We followed up with a medley of pan-seared Brussels sprouts and artichokes. The dish rose above the norm with the additions of pomegranate, sumac and Meyer lemon yogurt sauce, which aided some of the overcooked sprouts within the medley. The menu describes them as “crispy,” but several suffered in the process.
Clam chowder is one of the few untouchables on the menu. It’s been around since the restaurant opened and remains hearty and balanced in its roux-to-broth ratio. But why the lobster bisque was indelibly salty remained a mystery, even after bringing it to the attention of the chef.
We each ordered entrees from the “mesquite grilled” section. Both were winners.
Firm and meaty Pacific swordfish arrived in a pond of sauce vierge, a lovely French complement combining olive oil, tomatoes, lemon juice, and herbs. Supported also with braised fennel and haricot vert, the fish featured flavorful grill marks and hit the taste buds like a fine steak.
The Scottish salmon was equally striking with its crispy skin and bedding of winter squash, balsamic onions and Brussels sprout leaves. Pomegranate seeds appeared randomly throughout the dish, imparting just the right tinge of fruitiness to the earthy vegetables.
Filet mignon and braised lamb shank were the only red-meat options on the evening’s menu. They’re geared obviously to non-fish eaters coerced in to coming here by their seafood-crazed dinner mates, who may find themselves deciding between such other catches as Fijian yellowfin tuna, Bedford Sea scallops, South American lobsters and whatever bounties the oceans yield at the time.
Our all-seafood supper concluded with a tall-standing slice of moist tiramisu and a chocolate peanut butter bar split artfully into two wedges. Both house-made, they were final testimonies to Top of the Market’s longstanding adherence to quality and presentation, which has seemingly grown stronger in its stylish resurrection.
—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].
