Legend has it that carpaccio, that famed Italian production of paper-thin beef slices daubed with a bit of lemony dressing, was born at Harry’s Bar in Venice. Or at least that’s the legend propagated by the Cipriani family, owners of said Harry’s Bar and other revered restaurants on multiple continents.
Family members claim that the dish was named carpaccio by Giuseppe Cipriani, an owner of Harry’s, in reference to the Early Venetian Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio (left), because the colors of the dish reminded him of paintings by Carpaccio.
Of course, carpaccio today is just as likely to resemble a painting by Rubens or Rauschenberg. Since the ‘90s, it’s become a darling of contemporary cuisine, with chefs riffing on carpaccio using tuna, scallops, beets, sunchokes and even pineapple.
I’ve never been a big fan of beef carpaccio. But I tasted one version recently that would blow the Harry’s Bar Cipriani clan right out of the water….or, to be more geographically accurate, right out of their canals.
For Suite & Tender, the barely two-month-old restaurant in the Sè San Diego Hotel, chef Christopher Lee
created the spectacularly beautiful and equally delicious carpaccio pictured here. (The James Beard Award-winning Lee is the “consulting chef” who designed the Suite & Tender menu but now cooks in New York City at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole.)
The slices of Wagyu beef are thinner than paper-thin, almost translucent…they literally melt on your tongue but not before delivering their rich, mellow flavor. A bit of extra virgin olive oil is drizzled on top, along with finishing salt, freshly ground pepper, snipped chives and wispy slivers of Parmigiano Reggiano. The ciabatta “toasts” must have been made by the same mandoline-maestro that sliced the meat….there’s isn’t a thinner, cracklier piece of toast out there. This is carpaccio with class.
Suite & Tender is being hyped as a “softer, more sophisticated take on a steak house.” In keeping with that goal, the menu offers “Ocean,” “Land,” and “Suite & Tender” sections. The latter is supposed to be a contemporary take on the old-fashioned “surf and turf.”
The Sè San Diego Hotel is a very hip-looking boutique hotel (184 rooms) in downtown San Diego. Press materials say it’s located in "downtown’s financial district.” And, yes, there are office buildings nearby that house businesses, banks and law offices. But the Sè is next door to the House of Blues on what I would, charitably, call a “scruffy” block set in a sea of scruffy blocks.
Nonetheless, step inside the spacious, sleekly modern lobby and you’re in a world of beautiful young people who are partying like it’s 1999 in both the very cool bar on the first floor and at Suite & Tender which is suspended over the bar on the second floor, connected by a cascading curtain of “organic” shells.
In addition to the stellar carpaccio, the menu features Japanese Kobe beef steaks, grilled salmon, braised pork belly and diver scallops. But, given the kitchen’s magic touch with raw Wagyu, on my next visit I’m going straight for the Wagyu Beef Sliders.
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