Reviews

Happy Hour Appetizers at Urban Bar & Grill

November 3rd, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit Comment
Who wouldn't want stabbed pineapple?

Who wouldn't want stabbed pineapple?

On a short trip down to San Diego to visit a friend, I only ended up having time for one meal, so I wanted to make it good.  I was told the Gas Lamp area was a great part of town to find some grub, so we took a stroll through that part of downtown to see what we could find.

After checking out a couple menus prominently displayed outside of restaurants, we chose Urban Bar & Grill, mostly because they had a pretty great happy hour going on.  Aside from some pretty swanky drink specials, all appetizers  were half-priced.  We took our seats at the lovely outdoor patio and opened our menus.  Even though the main courses looked good, I knew I had to stick to the awesomely priced appetizers.

The two meatiest options were the chicken satay and buffalo wings.  I ordered a set of each to mix up my palette and chilled out, enjoying the nice weather and atmosphere.  When my food came, I was pretty impressed by the arrangement of the satay.  Three skewers  of chicken were impaling a hunk of pineapple and surrounded thin strips reminiscent of styrofoam.  The presentation of the buffalo wings was pretty basic comparatively although there were a couple veggies in there that severely dipped my appreciation of the presentation.

Why would they ruin these with veggies?

Why would they ruin these with veggies?

Despite the presentation, I was a little disappointed to find the satay tasted pretty generic.  It was good, but didn’t impress.  The buffalo wings were pretty much the same story.  I enjoyed the sauce, but was a little disappointed that the wings weren’t wings at all, but actually drumsticks.  A lot of people prefer drummies, but I prefer when a menu doesn’t lie.  These complaints aside, my meal was fulfilling, and even more so with the happy hour discount.  Had the appetizers been full-priced, I may not have been such a happy camper, but I guess happy hour lived up to its name.


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Unvegan Top 20 for 2011

‘Tis the season for “Best of the Year” lists, so I thought I would join the party and put in my top 20 new restaurants from 2011.  By the way, this means the restaurants were new to me, not new to LA.  Please note that I am only including meals in the Los Angeles area.  As much as I loved the food on my travels, you can check any of those places out pretty quickly by clicking here.  So, without further caveat, here’s the best that 2011 had to offer for the unvegan:

20.  Cobras and Matadors

This tapas place in Mid-City is everything tapas should be.  From bacon-wrapped dates to a variety of cheeses, there is really something for anyone looking for a delicious meal.  Just beware, while tapas can be kept to a moderate price, when you throw a big group in with small plates, there are bound to be some people who don’t get their money’s worth.  But keep the group small and Cobras and Matadors will send you home full and happy.

19.  Steingarten

Dishing out delicious sausages, including a few of the exotic variety, Steingarten also offers up a pretty stellar beer selection.  If you’ve ever wanted to eat alligator in sausage form, Steingarten won’t disappoint, but they also serve a wider range of foods, including some pretty delicious burgers.  Their sausage execution, though, could use a bit of improvement, which pushed another sausage joint further up on the list. Continue Reading»