Farmer's Bottega Restaurant

One of my top choices for this year's San Diego Restaurant Week was Farmer's Bottega. And... it's also my 200th review! I wrote over half of those within the last two years! Wow does time fly by before you know it!

At 7:30pm on a Sunday, the restaurant was packed and we were seated in the back patio area. Even though it was chillier outside, the heat lamps were at a perfect temperature that Dennis, wearing his big coat, was neither hot nor cold, and myself, in a sweater, felt quite cozy. It was also quieter and less cramped in the patio so we were quite happy with the placement.

Burnt Carrots Salad / avocado + red onion + cilantro + feta + citrus thyme vinaigrette

I heard good things about this salad from Baby Birds Farms so made sure to order it. The sliced carrots still had a slight firmness in their bite. I love roasted everything and additional caramelization/burnt-ness in conjunction with creamy avocado, microgreens and sharp red onions would have blown my mind. Dennis thought it needed more variety though.

Burrata / artichoke

This delicious soft burrata wrapped in prosciutto was a fun pow-wow in my mouth. Dennis said it reminded him of yogurt with a sweet jam treat. The dark sauce was on the acidic side and could overpowered the cheese if you dipped it. We thought some bruschetta style bread would have been a nice accompaniment to the cheese. The app did come with a side of artichoke marinaded in vinegar and carried the typical oiliness I'd find straight out of a jar.

Free Range Chicken / fingerling potatoes + Brussels sprouts

The entree plates were super huge, like a kid's skateboard! The chicken stayed super moist, surrounded with slightly fatty and oily juices. It was a delicious mess. Underneath were some soft brussels with little bits of char and roasted skinned potatoes. Perhaps not so roasted because the chicken juice was softening everything around it! The portions were plentiful for this dish!

Oxtail Ravioli / cherry tomatoes + caramelized onion + herbed goat cheese

The oxtail ravioli had a savory sauce with a nice deeper flavor to it. The consistancy was thicker and coated the pasta well. The bits of goat cheese went incredibly well with the tomato sauce. One platter contained three huge raviolis, but the extra flat noodle edges kept pulling the rest of the ravioli off my fork! Gimme more of the good stuffing please!

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

Of course, we had to end with desserts! This lovely and tasty cake was indeed chocolately smooth but there was a part of the flavor that threw us in a loop. We pondered this until it suddenly hit Dennis - matcha green tea! Go figure since it's not in the ingredients list!

Pear Cranberry Tart

This dessert was delicious but unexpected in taste. Rather than a fruity pear or cranberry taste, it had a strong almond/amaretto taste!

The SDRW menu is attached at the bottom and we definitely enjoyed our pre-fixe meal here. Neither entree had complex flavors but were created from simpler concepts, basically a menu full of comfort food meals done well. The food portions were plenty to get you full without feeling heavy. It's just a small thing but I always appreciate when the restaurant lighting enables you read the menu easily (Banker's Hill was delicious but super dark). Our server was kind and took good care of us. What a great last meal to end SDRW. Until the next one!