San Diego - Karl Strauss Brewing Co.

Beer-brined Pork Chops from Karl Strauss Brewing Company, San Diego

One of the cities to which I travel regularly is San Diego, to teach for Hitachi Data Systems. The HDS office is up the road from downtown, off of I-15, making the drive over to La Jolla in the evening after class fairly easy. Since the airport is right downtown and I usually try to take a redeye flight home at the end of the week, I get one evening in that part of town.

The Karl Strauss Brewing Co. is a small chain. I ate first at the La Jolla brewpub, and enjoyed it enough to try the one near the old Santa Fe (now Amtrak) train station. I'd spent the afternoon walking around the Embarcadero, noticed a Starbucks across the street from the train and trolley stations, so I parked nearby and did the coffee shop thing to check e-mail and twitter. While sipping my venti black tea lemonade, I googled the location, did a "search nearby" on "restaurants," and found Karl Strauss in the first hits. It was just a walk around the corner.

The location on Columbia Street was a good choice. The place had a good crowd, and the bartender was cheerful. I started with their red, aptly named "Red Trolley Ale." (The trolleys in the city's light rail system are indeed red). It was a flavorful, full-bodied ale, just as I remembered it from La Jolla. The Olympics were on one boobtoob, the Padres on another, as I enjoyed the pint and perused the dinner menu. None of the starters moved the earth for me, so I went straight for the entrees.

I'd had the "Lemon Hef Chicken" for my meal in La Jolla, grilled chicken with a glaze made with their "Windansea Wheat Hefeweizen" beer. It was a tasty combination that inspired me to try another entree that had a beer-based sauce. This time it was the Beer-brined Pork Chops. The chops came with a glaze made with Strauss' Scottish Ale (and the menu suggested that brew to accompany the dish, of course). As I ordered up the meal, the bartender didn't merely parrot the menu's beverage suggestion; before going over to key the order in, she stopped at the taps and drew a sample of the Scottish Ale for me, saying "you're going to want to try this, it goes really well with the pork chops."

The Scottish was tasty in its own right, so I let her pour me that for my next pint, as I we chatted casually and I twittered on the phone. My plate came out in due course, prompt service from the kitchen. The presentation was nice, the chops stood up on their sides, resting on a scoop of mashed potatoes, along with a side of skinny green beans. The glaze was lightly drizzled on the chops, and then a generous helping spooned onto the plate in front. Some mustard was squirted along the edge of the plate, an excellent addition to any grilled pork dish (and a nice color addition to the plating).

The pork chops were cooked just right and the mustard/glaze went well with them. The mashed potatoes weren't all that thrilling, but that's OK, I didn't need the calories of those and the baguette bread served with the meal anyway. The veggies were nicely steamed, crispy and tasty. The bartender was right, the Scottish Ale went well with the meal.

Even though she tried to tempt me with dessert, I decided to pass. After a good meal and good beer, it was time to head off to the airport, where I slept comfortably on the redeye, another successful trip to San Diego.