Seasons 142

We've all faced the classic restaurant dilemma: knowing you want to go out to dinner but a being unable to agree on where to actually go. One person wants Italian, another is dead-set on Thai, and a third is craving seafood. By the time a restaurant is actually chosen, it's late, wait lists are long, and someone in the group is inevitably disappointed.

Seasons 142, a new restaurant in the heart of Hillcrest, puts the restaurant debate to rest. Featuring “seasonal world cuisine,” the restaurant offers a stunning range of flavorful dishes from an eclectic array of cuisines. One guest can dine on Vietnamese appetizers followed by Italian main course, while another can sample an Italian starter, move on to an Asian salad, and conclude with Mexican entrée.

Chef Comer Smith is the culinary genius behind the menu. Wildly creative and equally determined, he turns out a refreshingly eclectic array of dishes that are a delight to experience. With a menu concept that gives him free reign over the flavors of the world, he seeks out stunning ingredients—Asian ginger, Mexican chiles, American horseradish—and seems to be a master of all of them. Each dish on the concise but wide-reaching menu is packed with flavors, visually stunning, and fun to experience.

The restaurant's location seems ideally suited to such a diverse concept. Occupying a prime corner spot on Third and University, the restaurant is an open, airy space that fades into the background. Previously a casual Brazilian restaurant, the space still retains a casual feel, although it has been transformed by co-owners Steve Robinson and Shannon Beckwith into an elegant, open setting.

The decor is remarkably simple—a few live plants, a white linen sheet draped above the bar, and a rotating selection of local art on the walls. High ceilings and a curved wall of windows fill the space with light. During the fall, the walls are painted a dramatic brick red and golden yellow, matching the napkins on each table, although the colors of both walls and linens change with the seasons. White linens cover the tables, but sheets of brown paper atop each tablecloth add a casual touch. Woven screens between window-side tables lend a slight degree of privacy, while an outdoor patio offers more open seating. Overall the space seems very Californian, very casual and calm.

We peruse the menu, which is divided into four sections—Spring (appetizers), Summer (salads), Fall and Winter (entrees). The division makes sense—the appetizers are light and airy, with dishes such as Vietnamese lettuce bowls, carpaccio, and calamari. The salads are vibrant and alive, and while the entrees range from light and sensible to decadent, they all seem comforting. In tune with the seasonal concept, the menu items themselves change frequently, reflecting the seasonal availability of produce, meat, and game. A small but smart wine list accompanies the menu, with a solid range of reasonably priced offerings.

We know the meal is going to be a good one when Chef Comer's World Famous Crab Cakes are set on our table. A fitting first stop in our tour of the culinary world, the dish is essential and American—it’s inspired by a decades-old family recipe for low country crab cakes. Two wide, thin cakes of blue crab balance atop a bed of caramelized mango, surrounded by a deep brown applewood bacon vinaigrette and a textured (and surprisingly delicious) eel reduction sauce. Micro greens and paper-thin ribbons of red pepper finish the dish. The presentation is playful and tempting, with an array of bold colors and textures. The crab cakes themselves are creamy and moist, but it the accompanying flavors that captivate our tongues: the eel sauce lends a piquant tang, the bacon vinaigrette is savory and addictive, and the mango a complexly sweet finish. A glass of Montes Savignon Blanc is sharp and floral, and accompanies the diverse tastes gracefully.

In addition to the regular restaurant menu, Seasons 142 offers a Bar and Patio Menu, with a short selection of appetizers, salads, and sandwiches and wraps, all under $10. We sample just one dish from this menu, which is enough to convince us to return for more: the Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings. It’s rare to be impressed by chicken wings, but Chef Comer offers a brilliant rendition. Four wings are aligned on a white plate, accompanied by a line of crumbled gorgonzola and a dipping bowl of house-made gorgonzola dressing. The brilliance in the dish is the preparation of the wings—the meat has been pushed to one side of the bone, leaving the other end bare, so that each wing's shape resembles a miniature lamb chop. This allows each bone to become a handle, conveniently allowing us to eat the wings mess-free. As for the taste, the sauce is astounding—a house-made concoction of chipotle chilies, fresh tomatoes, hoisin sauce, and a hint of honey, carefully crafted to allow the smoky heat of chipotle to burst forth but not overpower.

The Marinated Mushroom Salad again demonstrates Chef Comer's talent in concocting flavor. The presentation is lively and fun: a bundle of locally grown enoki mushrooms sit atop a bed of juliened watermelon radish, slivered portabello and cremini mushrooms, micro greens, and crumbled queso fresco. The mushrooms, which have been marinated for 24 hours in a ginger vinaigrette, explode with flavor. Chef Comer's philosophy is to never use more than seven items on one dish, and here his mastery of this technique shines—there may be only seven items in this salad, but each is carefully selected for its vibrant color, texture, and taste. Together, a forkful is complex and mysterious, predominated by Asian-ginger flavors but given an earthiness from the mushrooms and a refreshing crunch from the celery and radish.

Over the course of a meal, each dish seems to be better than the last. The Salmon Dynamite is fresh and flavorful, exuding the essence of fall. Dynamite sauce—a creamy mixture of eel sauce and mayonnaise—coats a thick filet of pan-roasted Loch Duart salmon, which balances atop a colorful succotash of corn and shelled edamame. A deep green scallion oil dances around the rim of the plate. The dish tastes of a fall harvest—the corn and edamame succotash is simple and flavorful and the scallion oil infuses the dish with a crisp vegetal flavor. A playful garnish of pea shoots and corn shoots subtly evoke a farm. Although I’m in San Diego, I feel as if the leaves could be changing color and a crisp breeze filling the air.

If the salmon suggests crisp, early fall days, then the Chicken "Sous Vide" is fall just before winter. The dish is infused with deep, dark colors and flavors that seem like they should be enjoyed in a chalet by a roaring fire. The slow cooked chicken breast rests atop a colorful canvas: mashed purple Peruvian potatoes, dark green braised Connelly farms spinach, and dark, almost black truffle-infused jus. Having been slow cooked with thyme, rosemary, truffle, and garlic, the tender chicken explodes with herby flavor, just before taking on a dark, earthy flavor from the truffle jus. The potatoes are the showstopper—"twice baked" with goat cheese, they are a creamy, salty flavor explosion. The spinach vies for attention and rightly so—anyone who thinks they don't like spinach should eat it sautéed with bacon. It's one of life's perfect combinations. A Rio Sol Cabernet Syrah blend from Pernambuco Brazil proves a fitting pairing.

We travel from France to Mexico with the New Mexican Chile Rubbed Filet. New Mexico, or Anaheim, chilies are mild and earthy, a quality Chef Comer specifically pairs with steak. The dried chili rub offers just a hint of feistiness, not at all overpowering the tender, succulent filet. The presentation, as with everything on the menu, is playful and lively. Three thick slices of filet topple like dominoes, ultimately landing on a perfectly round slice of Nopal Cactus. A black bean demiglace spreads across the plate like a puddle, and three rolled tortillas the size of sushi pieces line up next to the steak. The tortillas, to our delight, are miniature squash blossom quesadillas, filled with pepper jack cheese and crunchy squash blossoms. The surprise of the dish, however is the chipotle crème fraîche, a feisty house-made concoction of guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chilies. Luckily, the cool citrus-like flavors of the cactus perfectly soothe our tongues. With the steak we pair a Montes Malbec, a Bordeaux-style blend that is full and lingering with a hint of spice—exactly like the dish itself.

Chef Comer explains that he wants to introduce people to the flavors of the world, but to do it slowly. His approach is to take dishes that people are familiar with—quesadillas, twice-baked potatoes, succotash—and infuse them with diverse and new flavors. It's a brilliant move and one that is boundless in its creativity. I already can't wait to return next season, to see how the menu has evolved.