juantanamera's Profile
Best Lager beer in the World!
Try the Full Sail LTD series - number 3 is my favorite. Port Brewing Midnight Sessions Lager is excellent. It's a schwarzbier, a very dark lager. Ballast Point Fathom India Pale Lager is quite tasty.
what are your favorite places on (or off) adams ave?
I also enjoy BLAH. Cantina Mayahuel has some interesting dishes and an excellent tequila selection. Viva Pops makes really tasty organic 'popsicles' from local fruits in some really interesting flavors - think strawberry basil, lavender lemonade of Mexican chocolate. Cafe 2121 is worth a try as well.
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Cantina Mayahuel
2934 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
Cafe 2121
2736 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
Viva Pops
3330 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
Dark Lord
It's a very good example of a huge, powerful and rich imperial stout, but I sure wouldn't book a ticket to Indiana to drink it, not with all the other great imperial stouts being brewed today.
Dog days, fave Wit (white) beer
Jolly Pumkin Calabeza Blanca; like many of there beers, it has a touch of tartness, not a completely traditional wit but delicious.
Where to buy Za'artar?
Search for "Thyme of Essence." Local distributor selling organic Za'artar at several local farmers' markets.
Urban Chicken
So I could get a chicken dinner with beans and veggies and some sustainable ingredients for less than $5? I'll give that a try.
Best Local Strawberries in SD
I'm not a strawberry expert, but the ones from JR Organics at the North Park farmers' market are pretty delicious.
Everyone Loves this Place but Me...
McDonald's. Dean Loring and Josh may love it, but I've never been impressed.
Where can I buy smoked salmon?
Try Omega Me Well - they sell delicious smoked wild salmon (and some other smoked seafoods) at farmers' markets. I find them at Little Italy on Saturdays.
Leinenkugels Creamy Dark Beer
You'll find some Leinies in San Diego, but I've never seen the Creamy Dark here. I don't think the California distributors carry it.
If you're interested in trying something new, you might like some of these San Diego beers: AleSmith Nautical Nut Brown, Port Hot Rocks Lager or Midnight Sessions, or Alpine Captain Stout.
Negro Modelo from Mexico or Shiner Bock from Texas are probably the closest thing to the Cream Dark you will find here.
Stone Sessions - San Diego County Session Ale
I'm not sure that the brewers ever called it a bitter, but I've heard that description used several times in conversation. I believe "bitter" alludes the relatively low alcohol content, which is closer to a traditional British bitter than to most modern American IPA's, while "West Coast" refers to the heavy handed hopping schedule using the high alpha acid varieties associated with West Coast beers.
To my taste, it's malt character also seems a bit closer to a British bitter than to most American pale ales, although I'm not able to explain why.
Best Wine Store/Supplier in San Deigo?
I find the overall selection at Holiday Wine Cellar at least twice as good as any other store I've been to in the county.
My egg dilema
There are many different egg vendors at local farmers' markets - I wouldn't write off all farmers' market eggs because you got one unsatisfactory lot. I like the ones from Rose Cottage at the North Park market.
San Diego Farm Week at the Linkery?
The Linkery usually does a good job with vegetarian dishes in my opinion. The Linkey has strong relationships with many local farmers, and one farm sells nearly all their crops to them, so it has the potential to be a great alternative to Restaurant Week, an event I'm usually not impressed with.
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Linkery
3794 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104
Cafe Chloe – Another perfect night
Love that salad; simple, delicious and perfectly executed. Before I tried it, I didn't think I liked frisee!
Local beer suggestions
For great aroma without crazy bitterness in an IPA, Ballast Point Sculpin and Alpine Nelson are the two best examples I've tried. AleSmith's summer version of YuleSmith (the bottles has a red, white and blue logo) also fits the bill perfectly.
Alpine's other hoppy beers are typically world class, and they are fairly difficult to find outside San Diego county. Their recently opened restaurant has been getting great reviews, but I haven't been myself.
If you have a chance to try Even Keel from Ballast Point, it is amazing when fresh. It's a true session beer (under 4% abv) hopped enough to fit in here in hop happy San Diego. Ballast Point's Homebrew Mart has a small tasting bar that often feature one off beers that won't be seen elsewhere. It's strictly a tasting bar, no full pints are served.
Each of the Pizza Port locations brews its own beers (which are different than the Port Brewing Company bottled beers), and they are usually excellent. These beers are also seldom found outside San Diego. The food at Pizza Port is pretty forgettable in my experience.
Stone's latest offering, the West Coast Bitter, should not be missed.
Green Flash has released a large number of limited production beers on tap recently, including the highly enjoyable Citra pale ale and Matt's Bitter; niether is likely to see wie distribution. 30th Street Pale Ale is also great.
Www.taphunter.com is very useful for finding out what's on tap where in San Diego, although some bar owners are much more diligent about updating their offerings than others.
Blind Lady Ale House -- I don't get it
On occasion, the beers poured in 25cl portions are the majority. And sometimes the prices for the small pours do seem a bit high.
However, I really appreciate the fact that BLAH tells you how much you'll get and the price; at several other local beer bars it seems the portion size is completely random, and you only find out when the glass is in your hand.
Cooking Channel at Little Italy September 11
The Cooking Channel is going to give away free Viva Pops at the Little Italy Farmers' Market tomorrow morning, September 11, starting at 9 AM.
Although I'm not usually a big fan of desserts and I don't care for ordinary popsicles, I really like Viva Pops, they really capture the flavor of the fruits in my opinion and I love their use of herbs and spices to liven up the pops.
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Viva Pops
3330 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
SD Hype Machine has their own Food Truck...
I think is is pretty fair to bash restaurants who buy most of their ingredients from Sysco (or a similar distributor) as caring more about cost and convenience than quality.
I worked for 20 years in restaurants and I am very aware that many expensive restaurants use lots of Sysco products, and that many reasonably tasty meals have been crafted from these products.
I also know that dedicated chefs an restauranteurs who seek out fresh, seasonal produce and artisan producers are much more likely to produce great meals.
San Diego diners have the choice to support local producers, variety, sustainability, and food safety by avoiding restaurants that depend primarily on broadline distributors and supporting those that look first to individually sourced ingredients.
Zoigl and other uncommon styles.
Wow, after a quick search for zoigl, I see I slightly misunderstood the original question, but now I too want to taste some zoigl!
Zoigl and other uncommon styles.
Ratebeer.com has a nearly comprehensive data base of beers, categorized into approximately 80 styles, including some rather obscure ones. Many very rare, older style beers are lumped together in RB's 'traditional ale' style.
Dogfish Head brewery brews some very interesting beers based on ancient recipes, although to be honest none of them really appeal to me beyond the curiosity factor.
Normal, Everyday Beer
For simple but tasty, the Trumer Pils brewed in Berkley is a good choice, at least here in California where it's widely available on tap and consistently fresh.
SD Hype Machine has their own Food Truck...
DD, what Sysco products does the Linkery use? El Take It Easy? Spread? I think quite a few restaurants make a conscious decision to seek out minimally processed, locally produced ingredients that do not come from Sysco.
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Linkery
3794 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104
El Take It Easy
3926 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104
Food choices you want to see more of in SD..
Whoah, I don't know how I didn't notice this post earlier, but I am in shock. Have you eaten a peach from Lone Oak Ranch, Smit Orchard, or Santiago Soto Farms, and found it lacking? Those are just a few of the farms growing excellent peaches and bringing them to San Diego markets. Even if you disagree with my taste in peaches, you surely are joking when you say you can't find a flavorful tomato in this town? Chino Farms? Tom King Organics? Valdivia, JR Organics, Suzie's Farm, Kawano Ranch, Schaener Farms? Tomorrow Organic Farm, Heritage Farm, Carlsbad Strawberry Farm? Not a single one of thes grows tomatoes that meet your standards? Please tell me where in this universe are tomatoes grown that satisfy you!
4 1/2 weeks and fine tuning my chow worthy restaurants
Blue Water Grill is exactly what you're looking for - I think some other posters misread your post and think you WANT $40 and up plates.
If you are in Little Italy on Saturday morning, DO NOT miss the Little Italy Mercato, an amazing farmers' market plus awesome prepared foods, crafts and live music. Almost everything there is great, but you definitely want to hit Viva Pops bright colored pushcart for popsicles made with local organic fruits, kids love them but they have some really cool grown up flavors too.
If you want to try Italian food in Little Italy, IMO Bencotto outshines anything else there and the prices are fairly reasonable, I think all or nearly all entrees are under $20.
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Viva Pops
3330 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
The Style You Come Home To
Dull as this answer may seem, I find American Pale Ale is probably my ultimate go-to style. Can't think of many times I'm not in the mood for a good APA, and it's actually a style with good variety in its ranks - off the top of my head, I think of Sierra Nevada Pale, AleSmith X, Ballast Point Even Keel, and Stone Pale, all very good but quite different brews.
Drinking the Regional Beers of Central Texas: Austin to Blanco
This story is not likely true. In the past, brewers were limited (or blessed) by the natural water sources available to them. Today, water chemistry is pretty well understood and modern commercial breweries can alter the mineral content of water to suit the style being brewed.
Harpoon I. P. A. In a can.
I enjoy any good beer far more out of a glass, or even a cheap plastic cup. Many stores carry plastic beer 'glasses,' but even the ubiquitous red 'party cup' is a step up from drinking out of the can. I always bring some on camping trips.
