Open House Asian Kitchen (sadly has since closed)

I was introduced to this restaurant by my dad who shares my passion for Asian flavors. He raved about how great this place was (really wouldn't shut up about it), and after brushing him off for a couple months, he finally bought me a gift certificate here for Christmas (the way to my heart). That $100 gift certificate lasted Kris and me two and a half visits, which by itself is a huge feat for an Encinitas restaurant.

I should mention that Kris is not a foodie. I know, I know - how did I end up with a man whose response to most of my meals is "it's good"? Ah love. But that's another story.

The point of me telling you this is that when Kris took his first couple bites of our meal at Asian Kitchen, he started smiling and saying "holy shit, this is really good." Hallelujah! A restaurant eliciting an emotional response to food from my man!

And it really was so good. We started with the jidori chicken karaage with hot honey sauce and compressed jalapenos. This chicken was next level juicy, and we've ordered it every single time since. The drunken noodles with marinated beef rival any drunken noodles I've ever had. The pork bao buns were perfectly soft with a salty, sweet, and crunchy pork belly interior. We finished the meal with the Blue Ribbon butterscotch pudding (a dessert made famous by the Open House restaurant group's sister restaurant, Blue Ribbon Pizza). I knew then that we had found our new date night go-to.

In the visits that followed, our favorites have included the panang curry with mussels and shrimp, the "bay area" garlic noodles with a fried farm egg, garlic butter, chinese chives, and garlic chips, and the pork fried rice with every type of pork you could imagine stuffed in there (chashu pork, spicy lap cheong, bacon, pork belly). With the panang curry, my favorite thing to do is use a mussel to scoop up a mouthful of the broth and suck it dry. The garlic noodles are deliciously simple - I want to use the words unauthentic or Americanized but I don't like the negative connotation. These are what you'd expect "bay area" garlic noodles to be, and they're best doused with sriracha. Last but not least, the pork fried rice - every bite filled with a burst of salty surprise. Did I mention how much I love pork?

Chef Marlaw Seraspi has managed to combine all of my favorite Asian regions and dishes into one cohesive menu with bold flavors as the unifying x factor. I would say, with his Filipino heritage, I was looking forward to the pancit noodle dish, but found it to be lacking in flavor compared to the rest of his menu - it was good, just not great.

I should mention that the cocktail and dessert menu is excellent, too. For having such a wide range of options, I'm impressed with how thoughtful and well-executed all aspects of the menu are. We will definitely be regulars as long as the Asian Kitchen occupies it's half of Open House, and we will follow Chef Seraspi wherever he may go!

UPDATE: Open House has sadly been permanently closed. The space they occupied in Encinitas was huge, and I'm sure that the high rent forced this. I hope they open another location soon! Will keep y'all posted.