Animae

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in San Diego.

Chef Tara Monsod, a James Beard finalist, runs the kitchen at this Pacific Gate Tower dining room done up in velvet booths, gold pendant lighting and a koi mural under an Art Deco ceiling. Her menu reworks homestyle Filipino dishes into steakhouse-scale plates built around Snake River Farms wagyu filet and duck leg confit: sweet pork tocino becomes a pork tomahawk glazed with beet, and short rib stands in for oxtail in a meatier kare kare. The oversized booths have stayed full since the kitchen leaned harder into its Filipino roots.