San Diego - Interiors + Good Eats

After a weekend getaway in San Diego for a friend's birthday, my tummy and desire for design inspiration are quite satisfied. I've been on a food overload ever since we got back, definitely in need of some kind of detox.

Cucina Urbana.

I've been wanting to try Cucina Urbana ever since I discovered it while going through design magazines for project research. If you follow my tumblr, designvibe, then you probably already have seen some photos of the interior. Although the photos I've posted on my tumblr are pretty accurate of the interior, they don't totally capture the beauty of physically experiencing the space. For one thing the space was way bigger than I imagined, as you will see in my own photographs of the interior. Cucina Urbana is a modern day Italian restaurant with lots and lots of great textures and details. Details + Details + Details !!!! 

What makes this place even more attractive is the food is just as inspirational as the interior. The interior is modern mixed with traditional elements and so is the cuisine!! They describe Cucina Urbana's food as Italian Classics with a modern twist.  

I ordered the Short Rib Pappardelle Pasta with mushroom + parmigiano and the boyfriend got the Meatball Mozzarella di Bufala with spinach + fontina + parm. The Short Rib was so tender and the pasta was cooked to perfected al dente. This was my first time having pappardelle pasta and I loved it, I love thick flat noodles of any kind. Overall, the short rib was a tad bit too salty for my taste and I consider my self a salty eater, but the pappardelle's heaviness balanced the dish well.

Short Rib Pappardelle Pasta  / Meatball Mozzarella di Bufala Pizza

Searsucker.
I hear about this place all the time, especially since my boss knows the owners + chefs of this restaurant, since they are also our clients at Stingaree Nightclub & Guest House @ Stingaree. Searsucker's interior is modern + hip without being intimidating. It has an open floor plan with only columns as an architectural feature to create spaces within spaces. This restaurant definitely has some great design features, especially the lighting. I might be a little biased when saying that the interior as a whole didn't WOW me, but I've got loyalty to my boss and our design team!

Since I was there for a birthday dinner, we had a pretty big group and thankfully because of that, we got to sit at probably the coolest spot in the restaurant. The large country wooden table + various different traditional chairs + rope chandelier above our table was definitely one of their key design features.

The food was beyond my expectations. Me and the boyfriend shared a few dishes, I guess you can classify their dishes as "tapas" plates, big enough to share and small enough to get lots of different plates. We started with the Tuna +screaming rooster + ginger + tomato, marrow bone + sea salt + onion jam, and duck fat fries + tomato jam, all of which were amazing, I can't pick a favorite. The tuna was spicier than I had hoped for, hence the screaming rooster ingredient, but I loved it and I love raw tuna in any form. The marrow bone was, as usual, like butter in my mouth, but definitely could do with out the onion jam, it was too sweet for me. Duck fat fries had the perfect flavor + crunch to them and the tomato jam went very well with it. For our main entree, we got the Loin "filet mignon" with lobster butter + cognac, medium cooked. Oh my lord was this piece of meat so tender and juicy! It was cooked more on the medium rare side, but I didn't mind that at all.

Tuna / Marrow Bone / Duck Fat Fries
(Unfortunately, I was unable to take a photo of our main entree since the boyfriend was so eager to dig into it)