Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Prepkitchen Standards Survive Little Italy Jaunt Intact

Good, uncomplicated food and a level of consistency necessary for a quality chain is what’s impressed me about Prepkitchen since my first taste of their home-style cuisine back in 2009. That was after the opening of their first store, a tiny spot in La Jolla with only a handful of tables. As displayed in my pre-open sneak peek of their third spot in Little Italy (which opened for business on January 30), the newest link in the chain is the exact opposite. Large even by Little Italy standards, it will serve many more diners than either the La Jolla or Del Mar locations, which made me wonder if the standards and continuity I so appreciated could be maintained . Last week, I headed out to PKLI to see how they were holding up.

I started my meal with a terrine consisting of duck liver, brandy and pork (including the pig part of the moment, the fatty belly). Though it’s billed as the “Terrine of the Day,” this is the only version that has been served at PKLI so far. It exhibited a nice, homogenous texture broken up by coarsely chopped nuggets of pork that were studded throughout. It was extremely tasty, but what really made this starter shine was the plethora of house-made accoutrements that accompanied it.—mostarda, tangy bread-and-butter pickles, thinly sliced sweet-and-sour shallot rings, some truly delicious house-brined olives, and a salad of dressed greens that looks like, but is far more than filler garnish. The most fun aspect of this dish is making bite-sized sandwiches - mixing and matching all of these on lightly toasted and properly neutral crostini with the spreadable meat to find the flavor combo that most matches one’s personal tastes.

I also ordered an appetizer of bay scallops served “crudo” style in a mixture rife with sweet overtones from kumquats and fennel alongside crisp free-form crackers dusted with sea salt. The dish is tasty, if not a bit too citrusy. I also discovered that getting the correct ratio of scallop to cracker is essential. Not loading up enough scallops makes for an overly salty bite bound to burn the roof of your mouth. In other words, go heavy on the shellfish, and don’t go in expecting to finish all of the crackers.

While doing the aforementioned food math, I spotted PKLI’s flatbread being delivered to the table next door. It’s interesting to say the least. Made from a semolina flour-based dough, the finished bread is flat beyond wafer-thin description. It’s about as thick as a bible page, allowing it to quickly crisp up without burning around the edges while providing an anything-but-bready mode of conveyance for the toppings they serve it over. On this day, it was a combination of aioli, prosciutto, cioppolini, and greens that seemed to mimic a ham sandwich. Definitely something I’ll be trying on future visits.

For the main event, I sampled two dishes most fowl, starting with Mary’s chicken. On my first visit to La Jolla’s Prepkitchen, I proclaimed it to be one of the best, most approachably, uncomplicatedly delicious chicken preparations I’d ever had, and I was excited to dig into this one. While a bit more complicated than the plate from over two years ago, this in no way disappointed. The chicken was plump and juicy with a wonderfully seasoned, crispy skin—a deft restaurant interpretation of home-style perfection. A restrained silken purée of apples and celeriac provided a nice flavor bridge for well-cooked winter veggies, Brussels sprouts and turnips.

My second dose of poultry (and pork) came via a leg of duck confit served with a sizeable link of sweet pork sausage over a white bean “cassoulet.” The sausage may be described as “sweet” (only by Italian standards, where “sweet” is merely the opposite of “hot”), but this dish is epitome of savory fare. In fact, while tasty and so filling I had to box up over half the dish, its only flaw is that it is so one-note. The duck is cooked nicely, the sausage tastes great and has a nice grind, and the cassoulet tastes better than most bowlfuls of beans. It just seemed the dish could have benefitted from something sweet, acidic or cuttingly herbaceous versus the sprinkling of duck fat soaked bread crumbs that took the savory factor over the top and added a crumbly Shake-and-Bake quality that I wasn’t digging.

Like a walking contradiction, I read the dessert menu with my elbow on my to-go box and determined I couldn’t leave without trying their bread pudding. It's a hefty block of brioche that, unlike most versions of this classic, isn’t soaked beyond an inch of its crust with royale (a mixture of cream, milk, eggs and sugar used to make custard). Some bites toward the center were a bit drier, but in a way that made for nice variety versus a lacking morsel. Every bite delivered the decadence one would expect from a good bread pudding, especially one incorporating flavors of banana, coconut and dulce de leche. The crispy corners also came across as big plusses in my book.

It was nice to see that, despite a heavier workload, this kitchen is soldiering on unaffected and bringing it with the elements and food that make the Prepkitchen brand one San Diegans can rely on. PKLI is located at 1660 India Street.  

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo

Good, uncomplicated food and a level of consistency necessary for a quality chain is what’s impressed me about Prepkitchen since my first taste of their home-style cuisine back in 2009. That was after the opening of their first store, a tiny spot in La Jolla with only a handful of tables. As displayed in my pre-open sneak peek of their third spot in Little Italy (which opened for business on January 30), the newest link in the chain is the exact opposite. Large even by Little Italy standards, it will serve many more diners than either the La Jolla or Del Mar locations, which made me wonder if the standards and continuity I so appreciated could be maintained . Last week, I headed out to PKLI to see how they were holding up.

I started my meal with a terrine consisting of duck liver, brandy and pork (including the pig part of the moment, the fatty belly). Though it’s billed as the “Terrine of the Day,” this is the only version that has been served at PKLI so far. It exhibited a nice, homogenous texture broken up by coarsely chopped nuggets of pork that were studded throughout. It was extremely tasty, but what really made this starter shine was the plethora of house-made accoutrements that accompanied it.—mostarda, tangy bread-and-butter pickles, thinly sliced sweet-and-sour shallot rings, some truly delicious house-brined olives, and a salad of dressed greens that looks like, but is far more than filler garnish. The most fun aspect of this dish is making bite-sized sandwiches - mixing and matching all of these on lightly toasted and properly neutral crostini with the spreadable meat to find the flavor combo that most matches one’s personal tastes.

I also ordered an appetizer of bay scallops served “crudo” style in a mixture rife with sweet overtones from kumquats and fennel alongside crisp free-form crackers dusted with sea salt. The dish is tasty, if not a bit too citrusy. I also discovered that getting the correct ratio of scallop to cracker is essential. Not loading up enough scallops makes for an overly salty bite bound to burn the roof of your mouth. In other words, go heavy on the shellfish, and don’t go in expecting to finish all of the crackers.

While doing the aforementioned food math, I spotted PKLI’s flatbread being delivered to the table next door. It’s interesting to say the least. Made from a semolina flour-based dough, the finished bread is flat beyond wafer-thin description. It’s about as thick as a bible page, allowing it to quickly crisp up without burning around the edges while providing an anything-but-bready mode of conveyance for the toppings they serve it over. On this day, it was a combination of aioli, prosciutto, cioppolini, and greens that seemed to mimic a ham sandwich. Definitely something I’ll be trying on future visits.

For the main event, I sampled two dishes most fowl, starting with Mary’s chicken. On my first visit to La Jolla’s Prepkitchen, I proclaimed it to be one of the best, most approachably, uncomplicatedly delicious chicken preparations I’d ever had, and I was excited to dig into this one. While a bit more complicated than the plate from over two years ago, this in no way disappointed. The chicken was plump and juicy with a wonderfully seasoned, crispy skin—a deft restaurant interpretation of home-style perfection. A restrained silken purée of apples and celeriac provided a nice flavor bridge for well-cooked winter veggies, Brussels sprouts and turnips.

My second dose of poultry (and pork) came via a leg of duck confit served with a sizeable link of sweet pork sausage over a white bean “cassoulet.” The sausage may be described as “sweet” (only by Italian standards, where “sweet” is merely the opposite of “hot”), but this dish is epitome of savory fare. In fact, while tasty and so filling I had to box up over half the dish, its only flaw is that it is so one-note. The duck is cooked nicely, the sausage tastes great and has a nice grind, and the cassoulet tastes better than most bowlfuls of beans. It just seemed the dish could have benefitted from something sweet, acidic or cuttingly herbaceous versus the sprinkling of duck fat soaked bread crumbs that took the savory factor over the top and added a crumbly Shake-and-Bake quality that I wasn’t digging.

Like a walking contradiction, I read the dessert menu with my elbow on my to-go box and determined I couldn’t leave without trying their bread pudding. It's a hefty block of brioche that, unlike most versions of this classic, isn’t soaked beyond an inch of its crust with royale (a mixture of cream, milk, eggs and sugar used to make custard). Some bites toward the center were a bit drier, but in a way that made for nice variety versus a lacking morsel. Every bite delivered the decadence one would expect from a good bread pudding, especially one incorporating flavors of banana, coconut and dulce de leche. The crispy corners also came across as big plusses in my book.

It was nice to see that, despite a heavier workload, this kitchen is soldiering on unaffected and bringing it with the elements and food that make the Prepkitchen brand one San Diegans can rely on. PKLI is located at 1660 India Street.  

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

New chef rocking Bird Rock

Next Article

Very Good Flavor Del Mar

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader