Hamilton’s Kitchen has a new chef, Marc Kusche, and a freshened menu. It’s like the reset button has been pushed. And now the experience is more along the lines of what I was hoping for a year ago.

Kusche comes to the Alfond Inn by way of the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara in Carlsbad, California. His menu makes good use of the bounty from local growers and has a nice mix of seafood and meat, though it seems that the former is the forte.

I can’t say that anything in particular has been done with the dining room since it opened last year, but it seemed to be different. It didn’t have that college dorm dining hall feel — maybe it was that it wasn’t as crowded this time, or maybe there have been enough subtle changes in lighting to make a difference. Whatever, it was more comfortable now, even with open kitchen. (It is called Hamilton’s Kitchen, after all.)

I was happy to make the return visit to HK and I’m even happier to now put it on my list of recommended restaurants.