3 Best Restaurants in North County and Around, California

The appropriately named AVANT—meaning advanced and innovative—delivers contemporary California cuisine—duck, lobster, lamb, fish, or the pride of AVANT, Wagyu beef—in an upscale setting. Dark woods, leather chairs, and pillar-candle chandeliers adorn the mission-style dining room, and the upper-level bar shakes up handcrafted cocktails with their own double-barrel reposado tequila. The heated patio with a fireplace adds a touch of romance. Start with the artisanal cheeses or caviar with a side of Parker House rolls sprinkled with sea salt. The crudo bar draws a crowd with fresh oysters, beef carpaccio, salmon belly. Go big without regret by ordering the whole roasted branzino or Kerwee Farms Wagyu strip loin.   For a VIP experience, reserve AVANT Table 65 where chefs prepare dinner in a private demonstration kitchen for up to 12 guests.

The elegant, dinner-only restaurant at Barona Resort is one of the few fine-dining venues east of San Diego. It caters to high rollers whose culinary choice often involves steak, thus the menu here lists a large selection of USDA Prime, including dry-aged porterhouse and buffalo rib eye, but there are seafood options, too.

Across the street from the Del Mar racetrack, this classic old-fashioned, family-owned, steak and seafood house is a high-roller's heaven and a perennial favorite with jockeys celebrating their wins. The food is simple but good, and the menu highlights roasted prime rib in addition to filet mignon, pan-fried scallops, and such starters as lobster bisque and jumbo shrimp on ice. Everyone from the pianist to the waitresses is well aware that smiles and prompt service can result in tips as generously sized as the gigantic Australian lobster tails that the menu demurely lists at "market price."