Frank Sabatini Jr. | Downtown News
Spike Africa’s Fresh Fish Grill & Bar411 Broadway (Downtown)
619-795-3800
Dinner prices: Appetizers and salads, $5 to $14; entrees, $13 to $27
Ranking among the last schooner captains on the West Coast and known as a weaver of ropes and spinner of tales, the spirit of Philip Marion Africa permeates the heart of Downtown’s newest seafood restaurant, Spike Africa’s Fresh Fish Grill & Bar.
Designed as a casual tavern with metro-nautical appointments, tributes to the white-bearded sailor, nicknamed “Spike,” appear on a back wall plastered with photographs and newspaper articles about his life on the seas. By most accounts, Spike was a salty, enigmatic character who enjoyed an illustrious career sailing the West Coast and South Pacific until his death in 1985.
Had it not been for the folks at Seafaring Ventures LLC, who knew the captain and developed the restaurant’s concept, the adventures of this novel-worthy sailor may have never come ashore.
Spike’s tall tales are combined with the expressive cooking of Chef Paul Rinaudo, who inserts his native Chesapeake Bay roots into various dishes like crab hush puppies and clam chowder while introducing fresh seafood to a host of crafty, house-made sauces. He previously worked at The Lodge at Torrey Pines and was executive chef at FireFly Grill and Wine Bar in Encinitas.
As a prelude to our main courses, a half-pound of peel-and-eat shrimp steamed in Ballast Point Pale Ale rendered us both silent as we ripped through the garlicky dish like machines. A touch of Old Bay Seasoning, used traditionally in shrimp boils along the Eastern seaboard, imparted irresistible hints of cloves and bay leaves. Keep some table bread handy because you’ll want to mop up every last drop of the broth.
Another must-try appetizer that kept our hands moving is the split, char-roasted Globe artichoke. Rinaudo serves the meaty thistle with chipotle aioli and addicting browned butter sweetened with a little balsamic vinegar. Though high in flavor, both sauces flawlessly complimented the delicate choke rather than upstaged it.
For a butter lettuce salad speckled with bacon and Point Reyes blue cheese, we were given super-chilled forks, an amenity that generally washed out to sea a few decades ago in most restaurants. Those preferring an oceanic touch in their salads should look no further than the Ceasar draped in white anchovies or a cedar-plank salmon salad dressed in blackberry vinaigrette.
My entrée, mustard-glazed salmon, was served in a tin bowl that seemed salvaged from an old tall ship. Beneath the plump, flaky filet sat a medley of par-cooked green beans, luscious roasted red peppers and a few fingerling potatoes. The tangy glaze on the fish required no additional sauces, although several unadulterated species are found at the top of the menu, such as swordfish, barramundi and yellowtail. For those, the chef offers a choice of enhancements that include citrus butter, parsley-caper pesto and red pepper remoulade.
As a fan of tartar sauce, I asked for a side of it as a dip for the green beans in my bowl. Made with celery, chopped dill pickles and fresh tarragon, it superceded all other versions I’ve made at home. In my next visit, I’ll slather it over a bare filet or the beer-battered mahi mahi that has generated raves from fellow diners.
My companion set his sights on land, opting for the island pork rib plate. The meat was accented with brown sugar barbecue sauce and chopped cashews. As he had hoped, the sauce was merely a pleasant footnote to the dish, allowing the flavor of the pork to take prominence. Alongside was a mound of fluffy rice and seaweed macaroni, which after a couple forkfuls, didn’t taste as strange as we expected.
Dark rum and salted caramel take center stage in the chef’s butterscotch pudding. It’s one of those out-of-this-world desserts that generate moans of ecstasy even by those lacking a sweet tooth. Served in a small glass canning jar, my advice is to order it individually rather than share it among tablemates.
As the first restaurant to appear on Broadway in a long while, Spike Africa’s breathes new life into this historic structure, which was built in 1880 and shows off some of the original salvaged wood in various accents. Open for lunch and dinner, and with a full bar to boot, you’ll come away with a memorable meal and an education about a man who they called “president of the Pacific Ocean.”
Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of Secret San Diego (ECW Press), and began writing about food two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. He has since covered the culinary scene extensively for NBC; Pacific San Diego Magazine; San Diego Uptown News; Gay San Diego; Living in Style Magazine and The Gay & Lesbian Times. You can reach him at fsabatini@san.rr.com.
