COASTAL • KNVS Bar & Gallery

Dining: Coastal

THE OSIDER SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2022

White Chocolate Lemon Curd

Charcuterie Avec Miel

Chrispy Honey Nut Pesto Duck

KNVS BAR & GALLERY

WORDS: SHELBY ROWE PHOTOS: ZACH CORDNER

You may already know the guys leading the kitchen

at KNVS, Coast Highway’s newest restaurant-bar and art gallery.

If you’re familiar with the poke bowls and kalua pork fries next door at The Switchboard, then you’ve already tasted some of their work. But, what Chef Michael Mitchem and Chef Matthew Monko are creating at KNVS is on an entirely different culinary level.

Pronounced “canvas,” the food and drink menus are inspired by the art hanging on the walls. About every three months, a new artist shows their work—meaning Mitchem and Monko rotate their menus on the same schedule.

The grand opening of KNVS was held on July 30 with their debut artist Margaret Alexis Chiaro showing her collection, “The Floral Guild.” Drawing inspiration from specific pieces in Chiaro’s collection, Mitchem and Monko tapped into their creativity to craft dishes resembling Chiaro’s work.

Mitchem, pulling inspiration from the painting “Sentinel of Storms and Sea,” created a spicy Shrimp Ceviche Verde on his menu.

“I’m from the East Coast where there’s a lot of hurricanes, so the stormy seas are something I grew up with. It’s this really scary and beautiful thing,” Mitchem said. “But I wanted to bring something with a lot of spice and a lot of fire to the plate, so that’s why I chose aguachile.”

Mitchem sourced wild Mexican shrimp and local halibut to bring local flavors for the dish, and then topped it with lemonade pearls to encapsulate the calming effect after a turbulent storm.

One of Monko’s dishes, the Crispy Honey Nut Pesto Duck, plays off the painting “Preserver of the Pristine.” Monko was inspired by the Ingrid in the painting to use poultry in his dish, and landed on medium rare duck to represent the darker composition of the painting.

Both chefs pulled inspiration from “Protector of the Pollinators” for one of their dishes. Mitchem created a charcuterie board with locally sourced ingredients, honeycomb, and lavender pickled onions.

The bees in the painting represented summertime to Monko. So, he created a sweet and tangy White Chocolate Lemon Curd with a delicious blueberry and gin reduction on top of a tarte cookie with a deeper meaning.

“I have a very close friend named Jackson Hill in Oklahoma City, and we got into cooking at the same time,” Monko said. “And now he’s a head baker and these are his cookies, and it means a lot to use one of his recipes in my restaurant.”

KNVS as a concept is ever changing. Between the art and the rotating menus, you can always expect something different.

Next, Mitchem and Monko are focusing on releasing their late night menu (Hint: oysters with cactus bear and bacon jam coming soon) and preparing for the next gallery showing with the San Diego Astronomy Association taking over KNVS in November.

KNVS is open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 4pm to midnight

Shrimp Ceviche Verde

Chefs Michael Mitchem and Matthew Monko

KNVS Bar & Gallery 127 South Coast Highway (442) 655-9851 knvs.bar @knvs.bar