Born and Raised is an upscale steakhouse that opened in San Diego a few months ago. Located in Little Italy, this multi-million dollar project was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings of last year.
The glitzy restaurant offers dry-aged steaks, tableside cocktails, and steakhouse classics.
The decor is quite impressive, a throwback to The Great Gatsby era mixed with some contemporary touches.
It was very dark inside the restaurant making it difficult to take good photos. I was tempted to take out my camera light but I didn’t want to disturb the parties next to us.
Seared Foie Gras
We started with the foie gras, served with pickled grapes, olives and cream. I personally would have preferred the foie gras to be cooked slightly longer as it was a little softer than I like, but overall we still enjoyed it. The pickled grapes were crisp and lightly sweet, which helped to balance the richness of the liver.
Wet-Aged versus Dry-Aged
The restaurant offers both wet-aged and dry-aged steaks. Wet-aged is the more common way of aging steak. Unless it has been specified that it has been dry-aged, the steak is most likely wet-aged. Wet-aged steaks are aged in the refrigerator and the process is usually only a few days. For dry-aging, the beef is hung in the open air at a temperature just above freezing and left to age for several weeks.
While we’ve eaten dry-aged steaks before, we wanted to see how well Born and Raised’s version was, so we decided to both to compare.
Wet Aged 18 oz Ribeye
This is their wet-aged ribeye. As you can see, it looks more like your standard ribeye. The steaks came out on extra hot plates. It had a good crusty sear and was cooked to a perfect medium rare.
Dry Aged 22 oz Bone-in Ribeye
The difference between the wet-aged and dry-aged was immediately noticeable from the first bite. It is hard to describe the dry-aged flavor, but it’s a bit like eating aged cheese. The flavor was more earthy, rich and beefy. The meat was also more tender.
Robuchon Potato
Robuchon potatoes was one of the most famous dishes of renowned Chef Joel Robuchon. We have been fortunate enough to try it at one of his restaurants and always feel compelled to order it when we see it on the menu.
The potato dish is made with a lot of butter, but I felt this version had too much butter flavor. The texture also wasn’t as thick as the original.
Bananas Foster
We had been hoping to experience one of the tableside carts, so when the server mentioned they had recently begun serving Bananas Foster, we couldn’t resist trying it.
It was fun to watch the dessert being made tableside. Surprisingly, we didn’t taste much alcohol in the bananas or ice cream. It wasn’t quite as good as the original, but it was still enjoyable and fun.
Overall, we had a nice dinner here. It’s a good option for celebrating a special occassion. We enjoyed most of the food we had and the service was excellent.
Menu:
Born and Raised
1909 India St, San Diego, CA 92101
https://bornandraisedsteak.com/
Given the low light, you got great pics. I agree with your description of the decor and ambiance,. The prices go along with the extravagance. I’ve eaten there once and have no desire to go back. The decor is amazing but the noise level was so high, I could hardly hear my husband across a 2-top. With so many other steak houses in San Diego, I didn’t think the overall experience merited a return visit.
The noise level was definitely high! I didn’t really realize how high it was until after we left and my ears were ringing like I had just come out of a concert.