Didactic tasting menus a new genre? (And will there be a pop quiz?)

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor

Aug. 31, 2008 9 AM PT

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El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego has installed former Saddle Peak Lodge chef Steven Rojas to helm the stoves, and the restaurant’s tasting-menu-only offerings go into full swing next month. (Ex-El Biz chef Gavin Kaysen left last fall for Cafe Boulud in New York.)

Rojas will prepare spontaneous menus of five, seven or as many courses as the guest wants. The restaurant also will debut its ‘Les Secrets de la Cuisine’ menu -- ‘educational tableside tastings’ -- including studies in mushrooms, Port, salts, dessert wines and butter. Two points off if you don’t know your Bordier butter from your Plugra.

El Bizcocho, Rancho Bernardo Inn, 17550 Bernardo Oaks Drive, San Diego, (800) 675-8500.

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish

Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.