Double Standard

Double Standard

Right after opening, a restaurant loses its exec chef, leaving a 24-years-young sous to salvage things. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but in the case of the casual fine dining spot replacing the Gaslamp’s fallen Counter burger bin at Sixth and G, it’s proven surprisingly successful thanks to the tenacious creativity and gourmet pedigree of Chris Gentile, a wunderkind of sorts who cut his teeth at Nine-Ten and Kitchen 1540. A few months in, he’s applied touches of his nouveau American style to Double Standard’s “Italian kitchenette” menu to create unique dishes like golden browned scallops with charred leek ash over a divinely sweet puree of Vidalia onions, and spaghettini with fresh harvested uni, saffron, and spicy Calabrian chilies. His chicken liver mousse comes across refined and interesting care of bacon dust, a light-as-air chicharron, and La Jolla sea salt. Such elegantly plated dishes look good in a space combining myriad contemporary touches — bricks, books, subway tiles, reclaimed wood. It’s a nice playground for a young, daring chef showing a great deal of promise. (619.269.9676, www.doublestandardsd.com)    BRANDON HERNANDEZ