Red Leight isn’t a district but is a cleverly named and bottled Rosé. The vineyards are in Malibu on 37 acres and they have been producing since 2006. Howard Leight created Red Leight which is under the Malibu Rocky Oaks Estate Vineyards label that produces award-winning Cabs along with a Syrah and Merlot. Buzz was lucky enough to taste the Rosé and Syrah along with San Diego’s top sommeliers, wine directors and distributors–and the wines are notable. You can purchase online at their website and soon (we hope) will have distribution here.
Just opened, Sessions Public, an odd name for a new contemporary place sandwiched next to the retro Catalina Bar at Voltaire and Catalina. The tavern style food is good and if the Cat Bar (as the locals refer to it) is too retro, the restaurant’s long skinny contemporary room features a full bar to go with the eclectic yet approachable food. There’s a mystery consulting chef who created the menu that includes an additive bowl of tender crispy chicken oysters ($9), duck confit with an Asian flair of udon noodles ($17), Nueske bacon tempura lollipops ($8), short rib sliders ($11) and lobster-scallop cioppino ($20). Happily, most of the menu is $15 and under. Four of us feasted well though we weren’t impressed with the miniscule serving of Serrano ham and artisan bread ($6).
Buzz wonders if the mysterious consulting chef at Sessions Public could be Jason Maitland who had been at Arterra for ages…until the axe fell on him and others of the dining management team. Maitland, is teaming up with Jerome Astolfi who just left the front of the house at Market Restaurant + Bar in Del Mar to become the general manager at Flavor. They will open late summer in the old Epazote Steakhouse in Del Mar Plaza.