Anchors Aweigh Stevie

Garage Kitchen + Bar

655 4th Street 

San Diego, CA

It's pretty crazy that we haven't been to San Diego in over eight years. Besides being one of the most beautiful cities in the US, there's always tons to do here. There are the museums at Balboa Park, walking around Old Town, taking in a baseball game at Petco Park, and of course a ton of restaurants. It was definitely time to review our first restaurant in what some call, America's finest city. 

We came down this way not only to eat but also to tour the USS Midway, which is permanently docked in San Diego Bay. Katie's uncle Jim is a docent on the ship and gave us and her cousins a private tour. This trip held another special purpose, as our cousin Stevie has enlisted in the Navy and leaves for basic training this week. This tour kind of gave him an idea of what he's got to look forward to in the next few years. 

After walking around this massive ship for close to five hours, it was definitely time to eat, and of course, when that time comes, all eyes fall on me to make a decision on where to head. Since we were so close to one of my favorite restaurants downtown, we headed to La Puerta. No good. Downton San Diego was buzzing with lots of people roaming the streets and La Puerta had about an hour wait for a party of seven, so a quick search of Yelp led us one block north to the Garage Kitchen and Bar. 

We arrived at the Garage just before half past two and were a little bummed that they were not serving their lunch/dinner menu, but instead offered their brunch menu until 3. Not wanting to wait, and eager to get some nourishment, we decided not to be picky by this point. We were quickly seated in the front portion of the restaurant, adjacent to the pretty crowded bar area. The Garage is part restaurant and part large music venue, which I spied as I went to the restroom. Both areas are separated by a hallway, so I imagine even if there's a show going on you'll still be able to hear your tablemates. Something I wish I wasn't able to do on this afternoon since I was sitting next to cousin Yvette, one of Katie's more questionable family members.

The Garage pays homage to all the San Diego bands out there that started in garages. This historic building also used to be home to Carriage Works, which started in 1890 until 1902. After that, the building was purchased by the Lyons Implement Company, which housed the complete line of Studebaker vehicles.  The structure has been other things as well but has been home to the Garage Kitchen and Bar since late 2014.

Executive Chef Brent Hersant is the man in charge of the menu at the Garage, and his goal is to use sustainable ingredients, create modern approachable food, and offer it at a fair price point.  We were all pretty excited to see if he had achieved his goal. So let's check out the food at the Garage.

As I said earlier, we were all famished by the time we finally sat down at the table, so Katie alertly ordered two sides of Fries ($3.50). These were thick cut, very sturdy french fries that came garnished with what I believed to be crispy shallots. Not too bad, they were obviously freshly cut and fried to perfection. The crispy shallots really did not add too much, and we discarded them to dip the fries in ketchup. 

I was sitting next to Yvette, so I definitely needed to drown my sorrows with alcohol. The Moment in Paradise ($9) would be my diversion drink on this late afternoon. Sky Vodka is the base of this tropical beverage, then they add pineapple and lime juice, then spice things up a bit with some cayenne pepper. I enjoyed this drink as it kept me interested with the unexpected spiciness from the cayenne, unlike my lack of interest from listening to Yvette drone on and on about her fascination with water. Ugh. 

Katie's much better cousin Steve ordered this San-Di-Cristo ($14) as his entree on this fine Sunday afternoon. I had actually debated on whether to get this sandwich or not. Between the two pieces of creme brulee french toast was a good amount of smoked ham, pork, swiss cheese, caramelized onion, and pear. I did not get a chance to try this one, but from the looks of it, it kind of had a Cuban feel to the sandwich, without the pickles and mustard. Steve said it was alright, and nothing that really made him stand up and take notice. 

This good looking burger is the Butcher's Burger ($15). The patty is made up of bison, boar, and grass fed Angus beef. It's then stacked with cheddar, bacon jam, crispy shallots, house sauce, and served with fries. This burger was juicy, but I kind of expected more from it. The patty was fine, but I think it might have just been better with the beef alone. The boar and bison did not really add too much. I've never really been a fan of bacon jam, and this one had made me wish they would have just stuck with good old fashioned strips of bacon. The house sauce was mellow and was much more pronounced when I asked for an extra side of it. A solid effort, but maybe they tried too hard to make this an extra special burger when they could have just stuck to the basics. Still a beautiful looking burger though. 

Last but not least was Katie's selection, The Benny ($14). Benedicts have become pretty original nowadays, and this one from the Garage wasn't any different. Perched atop a cheddar and chive biscuit, a poached egg is topped with sliced, roasted tomato, smoked ham, and then drenched with a saffron hollandaise sauce. Katie really liked this little tweak on a traditional Benedict. The hollandaise was a little on the thin side, but she loved the saffron tinge it had. She was also stoked on the use of a biscuit instead of the usual English muffin, which gave this a little more depth. This also came with some very fresh and vibrant fruit and rosemary potatoes which were okay. 

The Garage filled in nicely as a backup for the restaurant which we had originally set out to try. Even though the brunch menu was relatively small, and we would have liked to have been able to order off of the much more diverse dinner menu, we all found something that we all kind of liked. I enjoyed that the chef took chances with the food here and made regular breakfast items his own. Some worked, and some didn't but I enjoyed the effort. Service was spot on for our party of seven, and our server made sure we had plenty of refills at all times. A bittersweet meal since we will probably not see our cousin Stevie for a long while, as he's off to the navy, but hopefully this was a sweet send off for him. 

Out of five gas lamps, (in honor of our first San Diego restaurant review, and the area of town this restaurant is located in), five being best to zero being worst, the Garage Kitchen and Bar gets 3 gas lamps. 

For more information about the Garage Kitchen and Bar, head to their website here: http://www.garagekitchenbar.com/