Pardon My French Bar & Kitchen

Pardon My French Bar & Kitchen opened a few months ago, replacing Heat Bar & Kitchen in Hillcrest. The new restaurant offers a California-French menu and last month we were invited to a private media event for a tasting menu of some of their offerings.

We started the evening with warm crusty French bread– one of my favorite things to eat. Honestly, I think I would have perfectly content eating just baskets of this bread all night.

Cucumber Granita, Lime, Mint Foam

For our amuse bouche, this small bite was cool, refreshing, and a nice palate cleanser to begin our meal.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

The top of this salad was topped with balsamic spheres made to resemble caviar. These were clever and fun, and I only wish we had more. The rest of the salad was creamy and fresh, a mix of tomatoes, basil and burrata cheese. I did feel like the dish overall needed a touch of salt or perhaps more of those fun little balsamic caviar.

Citrus Cured Salmon

This was such a colorful dish. The salmon’s vibrant red edges were produced naturally with beet juice. I found this dish to be perfectly balanced, with just the right amount of acidity, salt, and savoriness.

Pan Roasted Cod

The spring green color of this dish really appealed to me. And I know this may be a little weird, but I was very enchanted with the perfectly curled pea tendril on my plate. I found this dish surprisingly light. Cod is such a rich fish, but I felt it needed a touch more seasoning to bring out its flavors.

Grilled Pork Belly

It’s hard to go wrong with pork belly, as it’s such a naturally moist and flavorful cut of meat. I enjoyed this dish, but I liked the next meat course even more.

Aged Ribeye Steak

The steak was perfectly cooked and served with the most delicious roasted carrots. They had such a sweet tenderness to them that they actually tasted like roasted sweet potatoes.

Chocolate Cremeaux

I completely devoured the bittersweet chocolate pudding.

We had a nice meal here. We did find that overall, the dishes were lighter and not as heavily seasoned as traditional French cuisine, showing the healthier California influence. We do plan on coming back for a regular dinner meal and we’ve also heard really great things about their brunch. You might like to read my review of Jeune et Jolie, too.

Pardon My French Bar & Kitchen
3797 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92103

Please note, as indicated above, this was a private complimentary dinner event hosted by the owners of the restaurant. All opinions expressed remain my own.