Last summer I was fortunate to dine at Bertrand at Mister A's while we were visiting San Diego. The restaurant was chosen based on a recommendation from a friend who lived in the city. Bertrand at Mister A's describes themselves as "Best Dining with a View", sitting on the the 12th floor of a commercial building on 2550 Fifth Avenue, they do have some of the best views of San Diego city. The dining area of the restaurant is surrounded by a 180 degrees view of the city and guests have the option to sit out on the balcony terrace that extends all the way around the restaurant, although it seems like these tables are usually reserved well ahead of time.
We started with two appetizers. Unfortunately, their menu has changed since we were there months ago so I will have to go entirely by memory with it comes to the ingredients.
A deconstructed salad with red and yellow peppers, goat cheese, olives, some sort of fried fish, and a herb emulsion dressing on the side. This dish did not stand out for me as I wasn't particularly interested in any ingredient. However, all the ingredients were fresh and prepared with care. It's a light salad that wets the palate with sweet tasting peppers, strong creamy taste from the goat cheese, and the tanginess of the olives.
I honestly could not recall what oysters these were. You can see they are smaller in size and of course, very fresh and creamy-tasting. What made us wanted to try the oysters was the champagne mignonette that came with it. The champagne mignonette had champagne, shallots, garlic, and fresh parsley. I've never tried a champagne mignonette before so in terms of the quality of its taste, I can't fairly compare anything to it. I did enjoy the mixture of the champagne with shallots and parsely. The taste was sweet, tangy, and bitter at the same time, but unfortunately, it didn't conceal enough of the oysters raw's taste for me to enjoy this appetitizer. I like oysters where you can taste how fresh and creamy they are, but with the raw taste concealed. So, I've found that pairing oysters to the more common chili cocktail sauce is still my preferred combo.
Beef filet with bone marrow, au gratin potatoes, and I believe chanterelles mushrooms. I don't recall the sauces however. Steak and potatoes are staples at any restaurant serving western cuisine and it makes comparing offerings from one place to another much easier, because you've had it so many times. Let's start with the au gratin potatoes. They were excellent. The top layer was crispy and tasted a bit cheesey. The rest was definitely very buttery and creamy with the right kind of firmness to them. Each layer was visible and did not collapse into each other when you put your fork into it. The chanterelles mushrooms (on a bed of greens) has soaked in the juices they used to prepare them and they were so tasty when all this juices poured into my mouth when I took my first bite.
The marrow was also very delightful. It was sweet and had all the flavors that beef-lovers like so much without the raw taste. I asked for a medium rare filet and it looked a bit too cooked for mediume rare, but it didn't affect the tenderness of the meat which was half melting in my mouth as I was chewing it. *.* The only thing I would change in the entree is to have less sauce. Everything was already so tasty and juicy that I didn't feel it was necessary to have all that cream sauce.
Contrary to the heavy steak entree, this one was much lighter in taste and calories! Copper River salmon, lentil beans, cremimi mushrooms, and potato. The salmon was excellent. Cooked to perfection and had just the right portion of sides to make this a filling dinner for most. I really enjoyed the sauce drizzled on the salmon. The sides were simply prepared and rounds off the entree as a healthy, very tasty part of dinner.
Mr A's famous Macaroni and Cheese with comte cheese and black truffle. It is as rich in taste as it sounds. Black truffle is one of my favorite ingredients so I was really excited to try this. It didn't disappoint and every bite made me feel guilty and happily so.
A classic dessert. Their creme brulee is delicious. Nothing extraordinary, but if you crave for some creme brulee, you're going to get exactly what you'd expect from an award winning restaurant!
The service was excellent as well. Our server was very attentive. They must be so used to people going out on the balcony terrace for the view and to take some photos. Despite how busy the area is around the entrance to the balony, they never made us feel like we were in the way. You wouldn't expect anything less from a restaurant like Mister A's and we were treated like the best guests in the house while we were there.
I will make certain to visit Bertrand at Mister A's if I'm ever in town. The views are beautiful and the service is as attentive as they lead you to believe on their website! I would try some different appetizers as neither of what we ordered on this trip was particularly impressive. The rest of the dinner was excellent though!
Where: 2550 5th Avenue #12 San Diego, CA
http://www.bertrandatmisteras.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment