Farm To Table Cuisine at Bistro West Carlsbad Restaurant

Bistro West has a Delicious and Farm Fresh Menu

Junk food in California is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With the new trend being eating healthy, Bistro West located in Carlsbad, California has been focusing on wellness and healthy eating for some time now and has since taken this concept straight to the consumer. They recognize that customers want good food – healthy food– for themselves and their families even when they are not eating at home. Bistro West takes pride in the food that they prepare and the ingredients that they use. We had a wonderful dinner on our first night during our stay at the West Inn and Suites where Bistro West is situated.

I can’t say enough good things about Bistro West. From their friendly staff to the farm-to-table concept used in the development of the daily menu, this place is excellent and does not disappoint. This mid-price range restaurant provides a high price range ambiance and Executive Chef Eugenio Martignago brings it all together with impeccable flare. I had the pleasure of meeting the chef on our recent visit to Bistro West and he tells me that every morning, he visits the restaurants local farm and selects the vegetables of the day. Such items include, baby radish, carrots, asparagus, purple cauliflower and other seasonal items. Although some items on their menu are always available, their menu items do change with the seasons.

Why We Recommend It For Families

Appetizer

For the first time ever, I ate a flower for an appetizer and it was DELICIOUS! We started off with the Zucchini Flower Tempura appetizer which the chef chose for us. Although I was a bit apprehensive about trying it, the lightly breaded flower was really good and I would highly recommend it. The Zucchini Flower Tempura is new to their menu and is stuffed with ricotta cheese, served with pickled vegetables, tomato bacon, micro greens and whole grain mustard.

Main Course

For the main course, we actually sampled three very different items. Chef Eugenio Martignago prepared a veggie pizza with the farm-to-table vegetables selected from that mornings harvest. He also prepared one of their specialty dishes from their pasta menu as well as the catch of the day special.

The thin crust veggie pizza was prepared just right for our taste. As toppings, he included freshly harvested vegetables of the day that included cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, baby radish, baby carrots and zucchini. My eight year old is quite the veggie lover so this veggie pizza was right up her alley. She really enjoyed it.

The Chef outdid himself with his specialty dish and was by far one of my favorite dishes. The Carrot-English Pea Ravioli was to die for! Everything about it was delicious. The Chef creates these raviolis to actually look just like pea pods and baby carrots and the cream it comes with is out of this world. The raviolis are usually served with scallops, but they substituted scallops for shrimp because I am allergic. I have to tell you though, I’d actually recommend the shrimp substitution. It was really very tasty!

For the catch of the day, we were prepared about a 2 ounce flank of swordfish and although I did not catch the full details of the ingredients, other than swordfish and fresh veggies, I have to recommend this dish to our readers. I had never had swordfish and it was really good. It was an explosion of taste at the first bite plus, I found that this type of fish is not as fishy tasting which is was great for us. We loved it!

The restaurant also has a very nice kids menu with traditional choices of pizza, cheeseburger sliders, macaroni and cheese as well as non-traditional kids menu dishes such as grilled salmon and filet mignon. We didn’t get a chance to order off the kids menu because our daughter wanted a veggie pizza off the adult menu, but the options looked great. We can tell you that we saw a few kids order off the kids menu and the dishes looked good and the kids seemed pretty happy with their food.

Dessert

Lets just start out by saying, even if you don’t like dessert, you have to try their bread pudding with a latte or the chocolate trio which is perfect for that chocolate lover! Holly cow – I’ve never had bread pudding like that before – ever! Just thinking about it makes me want to stop by on our next visit to San Diego. Uh-ma-zing! The bread pudding is gooey and fluffy with great flavor. A must when at Bistro West. The chocolate trio comes with three different types of chocolate concoctions and is served on a long white plate. Yum! Now the latte…best I have ever had. I recommend you try them all.

Our compliments to the chef!

Bistro West Links & Information

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We were provided a complimentary meal for the purpose of reviewing this restaurant for our blog. Regardless, we would only recommend places, activities or services that we would use/visit personally and that we believe will be good for our readers.