We really enjoyed our meal at Flavor Del Mar last year and vowed to be back. Of course our plans to return kept getting delayed. We finally made our way back recently, and just in time for Restaurant Week.
We actually hadn’t been planning on attending Flavor for restaurant week, but Flavor was one of the many restaurants that opted to extend restaurant week one more week. And unlike most restaurants, they actually were only offering the RW menu and some limited a la carte options rather than offering the RW menu in addition to their regular menu (which they did inform us of when we made our reservation).
We were again seated in the terrace section which would have provided a beautiful skyline view if it weren’t for the fact that the sun sets so early these days. Nevertheless, I still prefer the seating in this section. It’s much more open and spacious and the ceiling heaters keep the area nice and warm.
For RW, Flavor was offering three courses for the set price of $40.
Amuse Bouche
One of the things I love about this place is that it always starts with an amuse bouche. Both times we’ve dined here that amuse bouche has come in the cutest glasses displayed on a wooden plank. I don’t know why but I love the presentation.
On this night the amuse bouche consisted of a Thai papaya salad, topped with fresh edible flowers, pistachio and some other things I couldn’t remember. Love the cute little flowers.
Scallop Ceviche
goose berries, cucumber, onion, peruvian chile, cilantro
This was DH’s appetizer choice. We both enjoyed the raw scallops and accompaniments. I also love the bright spring colors.
Warm Sauteed Greens
63 degree egg, broccolini, purple kale, manchego cheese, chili oil
This was my favorite dish here last time so I had to get it again. This is by far one of the best vegetable dishes I’ve ever eaten. The chili sauce was a little strong this time around, but I still really enjoyed the dish. The egg also wasn’t right. Last time I had a custardy yolk, but this time the egg yolk hadn’t yet reached that stage, so when I broke it open, it promptly just poured onto my greens. It actually tasted great –runny yolk on greens, but I did miss the custard texture I had fallen in love with on my previous visit and which is characteristic of a 63 degree egg.
Aged Prime New York Strip Steak
shallot jam, potato purée, wasabi mustard, baby brussels sprouts, sunchoke chips
Having heard such great things about how they age their steaks, I opted to try their steak, cooked to a medium. The server had recommended I choose medium rather than medium rare because he said that the kitchen cooks the medium closer to a medium rare. However, my steak ended up being more towards a medium plus. That being said, each pre-sliced piece was still extremely tender and flavorful. It actually wasn’t my favorite steak dish but I think that had more to do with the cut of meat rather than the preparation. I really enjoyed the crisp sunchoke chips.
Tuna Tataki daikon, avocado, ginger dressing
DH really loved his tuna tataki last time, so he opted to get it again. I like the seared tuna but I’m personally not a fan of the ginger sauce or the raw daikon rolls.
Butterscotch Budino
italian pudding, crème fraiche, caramel, maldon sea salt
Flavor’s Budino remains my favorite rendition of butterscotch budino. I’ve had quite a few and they never live up. I’m not usually much of a fan of caramel dishes but I feel like Flavor does a really good job. There is a thin layer of pure rich caramel, a pudding underneath, and its finished with some sea salt.
Half Baked Chocolate Cake
banana froth, strawberry, nutella, vanilla bean ice cream
It seems every restaurant has a half baked molten lava cake. Sometimes it can get old, but Flavor did manage to put a few spins on it to make it a little more unique. They added a Nutella powder, which I honestly couldn’t really taste, and a banana foam which I could taste and really enjoyed.
Overall, we still had a good meal here, though it wasn’t as great as our meal in 2012. One of these days, we’ll actually dine on their regular menu.
Flavor Del Mar
1555 Camino Del Mar
Del Mar, CA 92014
Their plating is very pretty! And the scallops and tuna tataki dishes look right up my alley.
Haha, those were both DH’s choices. Yeah I like the plating too.
Yay you got to visit again! 🙂 Btw – I just checked their online menus, and they actually don’t offer those items on the regular dinner menu. Sad that they don’t normally offer the 63-degree egg dish.. or maybe their online menus are outdated.
I know their regular menu changes a lot. I could have sworn the 63 degree egg is a regular item on their menu, but maybe they took it of.
The presentation looks pretty, lots of greens!
I like how the green salad has the purple in it too. so pretty