Wormwood - A Quick Look

Over the years; I've made it a habit of visiting a place in San Diego multiple times before posting. I've always thought it only fair to try several items on the menu and that anyone can have an off day. On vacation or trips it's just not realistic to do that and really....when you're visiting a place you will probably only have one shot at it, right? And so, there have been many possible posts (Trust, Juniper & Ivy, Born and Raised come to mind) that have met the "recycle bin".......and there have been many reasons why we wouldn't return with food not to our taste, terrible service, and price, key among those reasons. There have been some posts like my "never made the cut" or "COMC" posts and more recently during Covid my "visits BC" post....the actual one and done is at the end....can you guess where that is?

But times have changed.......Covid has changed things and of course, prices have gone up like crazy. Even if we like a place it doesn't mean we'll be returning in a reasonable time just based on price alone. 

And so, I thought I'd try and do a some posts on places we dined at recently; which haven't been relinquished to a folder for an extended amount of time. And you can tell me what you think of these.

Again, I have my reservations (no pun intended) about doing these.....but thought because of the Covid rollercoaster, prices and such, I'd just do some quick posts this week. Call it "a quick look" week.

I will reveal at the end if we plan to return in the future or not.....

Our visit to Wormwood was somewhat serendipitous. We had planned on dining elsewhere but our designated dining spot was a bit too busy for us. I had heard that Wormwood in the former location Jayne's Gastropub location was a rather difficult online reservation to get. We just decided to walk on over....and managed to get a one of the tables located in front of the restaurant. Yes, it was kinda windy and got pretty cold; but the young lady manning the host stand was a joy! She was a dog (and cat) lover and seemed to know most of the pooches that walked by....and gave us "heads up" on several......we had a blast dog watching.

The menu seemed interesting; kind of French influenced with an international flair......and we like this type of menu. 

While like the namesake of the restaurant indicates Wormwood specializes in Absinthe based cocktails and such. Though on this evening, neither the Missus nor I were in the mood.....
So we stuck to the food; starting with the "Champignons" - Basically Mushroom Tartletes ($14).

These were very crisp and light, topped with Golden Thread Mushrooms, the tartlets resting on the potato puree. This was a bit light in the earthy-mushroom flavor department, but the crispness was quite enjoyable.

Next up; our favorite dish of the evening....the Missus is leery of ordering mussels at restaurants because many times the shellfish aren't cleaned well, over-cooked and tough, sandy, or taste a bit "off". In this case, the Moules and Merguez ($17) were done quite nicely.

The Mussels were plump and tender, with a light briny-sweetness. The Missus loves Merguez and though there wasn't much of it in the Poblano Cream Sauce, what was there was tasty. The cream sauce was nicely balanced. The addition of preserved lemon added a nice savory-acidic tone that refreshed the palate.

The Confit de Canard ($25) had some potential which was squandered as the dish was very salty. In fact, since I make duck confit at home a lot,  Perhaps they weren't wiping the salt cure off the duck before cooking....or possibly....are they reusing the duck fat for cooking too many times?

The texture of the potato gnocchi was perfect......but again, we really couldn't taste much except for salt.......and couldn't finish this.

I had been craving some beef tartare since returning from Paso Robles, so of course I ordered the Wagyu Tartare ($23).

We really didn't care for this at all. First, the chilled beef was placed on a hot bone and bone marrow......a no-no in my book. Second, the beef was chopped too coarsely chopped and was really tough. Third, the guajillo based sauce overwhelmed everything. 

Like I said, the young lady manning the host stand was wonderful. She even said to call or drop by for reservations as they reserve tables for those customers. As for us; well, I think you can figure that out. Maybe one day.......maybe...

Wormwood
4677 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92116

So there you go......in the "old normal" I would have never done this post......or perhaps, just maybe, waited a year or two and start over.......

What do you think?

Comments

[kat]

at least the mussels did not disappoint

[Peter]

My thought: It's not necessary to make multiple visits before you post your impressions in this COVID world. It seems that many of the times when you do, your original opinion is confirmed anyway.

[Som Tommy]

I was wondering about this place. It gets a lot of hype from people in the office

[Joy]

Yes I think one and done is perfectly fine for a freelance blog. The food isn’t comp’d by an employer so there’s a monetary consideration, and consistency is on them (the restaurant) and shouldn’t require multiple trips by a diner - we don’t get discounts when food is too salty, not warm, packaged badly, etc so that being your experience and mentioning it is fair game, even if it’s one time. They should strive for excellence every time. The only drawback is in not being able to get a better feel for more of the dishes, imho, especially at places that run the gamut and do a bunch of different items/cuisines.

[alnc]

I really appreciate that Kirk makes more than one visit to a place before posting on it. More fair that way.

[Kirk]

Yes, that was the best dish Kat!

Thanks Peter; I appreciate your input!

Well, there you go ST.

Hi Joy - You know, especially in my line of work there's validation and due diligence; and the last thing I want is discounts and free food. And like you stated, I want to get a good range of dishes.

Thanks ALNC; I appreciate your opinion. It is definitely a more balanced approach in my opinion. I'll keep doing that as much as possible, though prices now have made revisits for these type of places tougher.

[Junichi]

It's definitely tough to do multiple visits to higher-end places. I've had a few one and done spots recently too.

[Kirk]

Yes, especially with prices these days Junichi!