Jack's La Jolla - Dining Room

The Dining Room at Jack’s is the most recent enhancement to what has become the city’s finest assemblage of outstanding dining establishments to ever be found under a single roof.   With three distinctive restaurants that range in style from casual to fine dining along with its four unique cocktail bars, the swank multilevel complex at Jack’s La Jolla has redefined San Diego’s culinary image.

With apologies to Mother Goose, “This is a tale of the great wines and food that are served in the house that Jack built.”  Well, actually, his son, Bill Berkley, built Jack’s in La Jolla.  Not the structure itself, but rather what promises to be a gastronomic dynasty dedicated to all levels of fine dining.  And I mean that both literally and figuratively.

Jack's La Jolla has changed the culinary face of San Diego. With its three distinctive restaurants ranging from casual to fine dining and its four unique bars, the three level complex overlooks a center courtyard featuring a fire pit and fountain.

While the casual menu at Jack’s Grille is innovative and features extremely tasty bistro-style fare, The Dining Room at Jack’s is located upstairs and was recently voted one of San Diego's top seven restaurants.  The Dining Room offers a stylish setting that focuses on fine wines, impeccable service and gourmet cuisine, which is artfully delivered by Executive Chef and partner Tony DiSalvo, who manages to appeal to an even higher level of Epicurean discrimination. 

This formidable development continues to be a work in progress, which will later expand to a 3rd floor steak & seafood restaurant with an oyster bar. There is also an open-air lounge on the mezzanine that overlooks downtown La Jolla and the cove beyond. The Ocean View Room and Bar offers diners a sushi bar as well as grilled seafood and steaks.

The Dining Room at Jack’s features high ceilings in the entrada that are complimented by elegant drapery. The restaurant itself is segmented into several semi-private rooms that can accommodate anything from a festive banquet of more than a dozen guests to an intimate dinner for two.

Another positive highlight of the dining room is the staff on duty. Despite the fact that the new upstairs restaurant had been open barely two months when we paid them a visit, the entire team was still able to function like a well-oiled machine.  Outstanding service was one of the hallmarks of our evening.  From our servers, Ken, Alexis and the artful wine pairings of their talented Sommelier, Jerome Astolfi, all the way down the line to the bus staff; every element of their cumulative performance was executed as if it had been done a thousand times before.  

Then there is the food.  Ah, yes, the food.  Executive Chef Tony DiSalvo is deceptively young looking for the amount of expertise he has accumulated over the years.  DiSalvo has worked under a number of New York’s finest master chefs for so long that he eventually gained a reputation for having become one himself.  Luckily for southern California diners, he relocated to San Diego shortly thereafter.

Wisely, the dining room’s menu features a compact selection of appetizers and entrées covering a wide variety of preferences so that each dish benefits from intense attention to detail before it is brought out to the table.  Conversely, the wine list is so thick that it resembles a short novel.  This insures that no matter what your tastes, there will always be an appropriate wine pairing to accompany the food that you order.               

My guest and I started out with what was perhaps one of the very best ‘house Martini’ creations that I have ever sampled.  These days, almost every restaurant has one; some are good, some are not.  The ‘JACK’, however, is a little slice of Polynesia that is certain to please if you enjoy tropical cocktails.  It is made from a secret, homemade recipe of premium lychee-infused vodka, Soho lychee liqueur, sake and a squeeze of lime.  Teamed up with the beautiful purple orchid that was floating on top, it was truly a drink that helped inspire a ‘get-away’ frame of mind.

My guest greatly enjoyed her appetizer, which the menu humbly refers to as ‘celery root soup’.  It is one of Chef DiSalvo’s signature dishes, and is actually a Celery Root Veloute with Black Truffle Agnolotti, Butterscotch Froth and Sage.  This upscale puree is thick, rich, creamy and deftly complex, and was paired with a crisp 2004 Reverdy, Sancerre from France’s Loire Valley that added just enough contrast and acidity to create a perfect balance of flavors.

When my Poached Maine Lobster appetizer arrived, I was impressed by the striking presentation but even more overwhelmed by its wonderful blend of tastes and textures.  The tender, succulent Maine lobster claw and tail meat over the delicate fennel-laced risotto offset by tart slivers of julienned Fuji apple and a Kaffir lime broth was absolutely fantastic.  When combined with a smooth, slightly fruity 2004 Navarro Gewurztraminer from Mendocino County, it was exquisite!

We were already quite impressed with the food and wine prior to the serving of our entrées, but when Alexis placed them before us we realized that the best was yet to come.  My guest had the Colorado Lamb Loin with spice crumbs, sour cherries and endive, and was in heaven with the very first bite.  This generously thick portion of juicy, tender lamb from the Rocky Mountain state is specially bred to be tastier and leaner than its counterparts from the Southern Hemisphere.  She ended up savoring every mouthful in between sips of a velvety 2002 Arnoux, Cotes de Beaunes from the French Province of Burgundy.      

On the other hand, I continued with my seafood theme and ordered the New Zealand Red Snapper with polenta and Cerignola olives.  Flakey, delicate and mild, snapper is one of the most ‘gourmet-friendly’ fishes on our planet, and these small succulent fillets were no exception to the rule.  The polenta and rich, juicy Swiss chard provided a delightful textural contrast to the snapper that was also packed with flavor and nutrition.
Jerome saw to it that it was paired with an apposite partner; a 2004 Lucien Albrecht Riesling from Alsace.  

Another great feature at The Dining Room at Jack’s is the fact that, in addition to separate food kitchens for both upstairs and downstairs restaurants, they also have their own Pastry Chef who runs his own kitchen as well.  This was of great interest to us when it came time to order dessert.  The Estate Hawaiian Chocolate Soufflé with passion fruit sherbet and warm milk chocolate was prepared to order for us and was unscrupulously decadent, dense and delicious. 

This masterful conclusion to our fine meal was enhanced further by one of the most enchanting red wines that has ever crossed my palate, a 2002 A.S Kiken, Diamond Mountain from California’s Napa Valley.  Dry, rich and as smooth as brushed velvet, it was the perfect foil to the sweet chocolaty cake and the perfect topper to our evening.

One thing is a given: if you are looking for a great new restaurant to delight your palate in the peaceful twilight of a La Jolla evening, The Dining Room at Jack’s is the place!