Sunday, August 29, 2010

Viking Feast at Valhalla Table? - CLOSED


Valhalla Table
2981 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Valhalla Table has been on my list of places to try this summer. It is now August, and we finally made it. Our busy summer had a rare lull in the action, so we gathered up some friends and headed up to the Camp to try this place out.

Valhalla, in Norse mythology, is where great warriors would go to eat and drink after battles. Valhalla Table is a sparse-looking restaurant, with minimal decor. They feature a great many salads, appetizers, and sausages.  Their meats are organic, hormone-free, and steroid free. The menu is inspired by the chefs' travels all over the world. Let's see what they have cooking up over there.


First, a little blast from the past, Diet Jolt Cola, with 2X the Caffeine! These were the only two soft drinks we got, but I assume that they all come in glass bottles, just like the old Viking days! Kevin was a little miffed that they did not have regular Jolt, only Diet, which I thought was odd too, but I am not much of a soda drinker, and I do not really know if they even make regular Jolt anymore.


One of our three appetizers was the Currywurst, which is a Berlin street food. I would describe this as a bratwurst, with marinara over it, with a hint of curry flavoring. I usually do not like curry, but with just a hint of curry flavor, the sauce, and the sausage, made this appetizer a winner in my book.


I know that our second appetizer was hummus, but I do not remember what kind it was, and it is not on the menu online. I liked the flavor of this, but I did not eat a lot of it. Kind of an un-memorable appetizer.


The last of our trio of starters was the house-made German Style Pretzel. I am not much of a pretzel guy, but the pretzel lovers at the table liked this fresh-tasting pretzel. The outside had a nice chewiness to it and the inside was soft. The texture of this made Kevin uneasy at first, but then he liked it. Sara had no problem with this pretzel and declared it the best pretzel she has ever had. Mighty praise from Sara.


To keep with Valhalla's international theme, we got the Belgian Style Potato Fries. These are your basic fries, but thicker cut, and fried crisper than regular fries. These are served with one dipping sauce, which includes five different kinds of mayo, ketchup, and ranch. We got the aioli, (garlic mayo), but I liked the Wasabi mayo the best. Good fries here. Clay felt that the fries were above average, and Sara thought that the fries were, "Oh, so yummy!"




So out of the six of us, four people in our party got the Bratwurst. The sausage sandwiches come with your choice of one topping. These toppings include; sauerkraut, caramelized onions, sweet peppers, salsa verde, or sambal balado, (an Indonesian-style spicy salsa). You also have the option of adding chili to the brats as well. I am not too much of a fan of chili on a brat, but different strokes for different folk. Ugh, sorry that made me sound like my Dad. Geez, I am getting old. Anyways, the consensus of our bratwurst eaters was that they were good, but everyone has said that they have had better.


Clay ordered the Chicken and Apple Sausage. Clay thought that this sausage was average, and it did not have a lot of apple taste to it. I did not get a chance to try this, so I guess I have to go by what he said.


Now here is a sausage I did try. This is the Spicy Texas BBQ Pork and Beef Sausage, with the sambal balado salsa. To state it simply, this was an awesome sausage. Spicy times two on this one. The sausage had a great flavor, and the sambal balado was spicy, but not overly spicy. It was a kind of yin and yang effect with the sambal, part sweet and part spicy. I would definitely get this again.


For my second sausage, I got the Duck, Bacon, and Jalapeno Sausage. Even with these three ingredients, this sausage seemed pretty mild. I liked the flavor of the duck, but the bacon and jalapeno were nonexistent here. I also wanted to mention the buns here, they were good, without over-powering the sausage. The meat is supposed to be the star here, and the bun does not get in the way of that, and it is toasted perfectly.


For dessert, we chose to get the Cinnamon Rasin Bread Pudding with caramel bourbon sauce. I thought that this was not as sweet as I would have liked, but everyone else thought it was delicious, and some of the best bread pudding they have had in a while.

There are more sausages that I would like to try here. They have a Boar Balinese, and an interesting Buffalo and Pistachio sausage. All of our party said that would return here. I would have to agree with that sentiment. What the place is lacking in ambiance, it more than makes up for in great-tasting sausages and Belgian fries.

Out of five smorgasbord's, (keeping in the Scandanavian theme), five being best to zero being worst, Valhalla Table receives three smorgasbords.

To get information on Valhalla Table click here: http://www.valhallatable.com/index.html

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