Now here’s a really interesting newcomer, due to open soon:  Steve Barr, who for many years ran the Winesellar & Brasserie dining room, will open Per Se Restaurant and Wine Bar in Carlsbad at Roosevelt and Carlsbad Village Drive.  No points for originality in naming the place, but lots of moxie to so closely borrow from the Thomas Keller restaurant of the same name in New York city.  We guess that the French Laundry name was already taken.

Crescent Heights,  one of the best new restaurants to grace San Diego’s restaurant scene, has closed as the message states on their answering machine.  Truly a place that will be missed for its food, service and alternative to the Gaslamp’s mostly mediocre  convention oriented places.  For more  closings, read the comments posted on my recent post, Sadly Gone.



The Book of Eli film

Downtown has a new chic dining room:  Crescent Heights Kitchen & Lounge at the corner of India Street and Broadway.  The contemporary room (designed by the same firm that did Blanca in Solana Beach) matches the modern American menu that features mussels with flavored chorizo in an addictive broth, lovely charcuterie and cheese plates (and you can choose your meats and cheeses), along with Parmesan fries, skinny onion rings, sliders and lots more.  Three of us sampled most of the above on a quiet Saturday night…We’d all go back.  Open for lunch and dinner, closed Sunday.  655 West Broadway, 619-450-6450.

Arterra’s general manager, Tom Mastricola moves on for an, as yet, undetermined location.  Sara Hanson moves from The Pearl to take Tom’s place.

Up in Hillcrest, The Better Half can help get over the shock of the stock market drop and still eat well with a three-course dinner for just $15.  Called the “Stressed Economy Blue Plate Special” the dinners are available from 5 to 7 pm daily.  You can choose flat-iron steak, snapper, wild game meatloaf or pasta, along with soup or salad and, of course, dessert.  Pretty damn good deal at a place with a wonderful selection of half-bottle wines. 127 University Ave., Hllcrest, 619-543-9340.

Blue Boheme in Kensington will preview their Papa Nanou menu (even though the restaurant is not yet ready) on October 19.  It’s a prix-fixe menu for $48 and reservations can be made online or at 619-255-4167.