45% cooler than josepharmour.com

514 Via De La Valle
Suite 100
at: Jimmy Durante Boulevard
Del Mar 92075
tel: (858) 792-9090

Mon-Tue 5:00PM- 9:00PM
Wed-Fri 11:30AM- 2:00PM
Sat 5:00PM-10:00PM
Sun 5:00PM- 9:00PM

American Express, Diners Club, Discover, Mastercard, Visa

Opening Arguments

Pamplemousse means "grapefruit" in French.  I always thought it meant goose, which explains why French people laugh at me so heartily as I ask them if I can feed their geese.  (Two problems with that statement A)  I'm lying, I know no French people. B) French people that I do not know laugh at me for many reasons beyond my ability to speak their stuck up, Aquitaine, romance language).  Right before your entree comes out they bring you a small scoop of grapefruit sherbet, thus answering the question of why the place is called "pamplemousse".  If I've ruined the surprise for you, just cope.

The restaurant is in a retail space (i.e. office building/strip mall).  I kept expecting to see glass display cases with metal "t" joints holding folded t-shirts that read "Pobody's Nerfect in Del Mar".  

Some places have a pig thing.  This is one of those places.  Large paintings of Orwellian farm animals seem to look majestic and confident that they will soon be on your plate.  There are pig napkin holders, pig murals, pig sculptures.  You keep expecting Squealer and Napoleon to walk out on their hind legs offering herb encrusted shank of Snowball.  You've got to love our food chain, and this restaurant reminds you that we've won.

The Scene

North County money loves this restaurant.  The scene is mostly the landed coastal dwellers (i.e. first against the wall when the populist revolution comes).

They have a bar.  It would be a fun bar to take over and torment the bourgeoisie with inside jokes about topics that they feel they know a great deal about (my recommendations, sailing and escrow).   

It's very much a date place.  Be careful with your wine selection however.  Our waiter questioned my order and asked me "What are you looking for?"  I don't know, a buzz?  Something that doesn't burn as bad as Boone's Kountry Kwencher?  After a little negotiating, he brought us what I ordered.  

Bulimic Factors

I don't normally comment on the bread.  This restaurant will continue that trend.

The warm goat cheese salad with field greens is a great starter.  Very nice warm goat cheese, but of course you'd expect that.

I had the osso bucco of lamb.  Osso Bucco means "shank", thus that means I had the lamb shank.  Very tender with an outstanding sauce.  It's surrounding in baby corn and heri court vert (that means little green beans).  All the vegetables on the plate were smaller versions of traditional vegetables, leading me to praise genetic engineering.  The truffled mashed potatoes were amazing however.  Possibly the best mashed potatoes I've ever had.  Jen kept stealing them off my plate.  We actually fought for the last bite.

Jen had the porcini dusted whitefish.  Very nice.  Strong flavor.  Nice texture.  How you "dust" a fish with a mushroom is beyond me, but they did.  It was good.

The Important Part

The pear tart tatin with vanilla bean ice cream was the victim of the evening.  Nice presentation, despite the fact you needed a pizza cutter to serve it.  The pastry it was set on was great, and the ice cream that they placed on the tart was amazing.  A big recommend on the dessert.

Deadly Sins

5 of 7