Alchemy

This is the first in a series of posts from a trip down to San Diego. I had a lot of fun and had some good burgers down there.

The first place I went to was Alchemy. It is a sort of gastropub style restaurant with a tapas like feel. It is located in the South Park area of San Diego. I highly recommend this area as there are lots of cool little restaurants and bars and its less touristy than the Gaslamp district. They had a good selection of beer and wine and some of which were quite small but everything looked very good and some things that I may have to go back on a second visit to try. They also have a cool event called “Dining with Six Strangers”, where you get to try a three course meal with 5 people you don’t know. What better way to meet new friends than over a delicious meal?

On to the burger. The overall presentation of the burger made it very appealing. You could tell the toppings were very fresh. The meat was cooked perfectly. It was incredibly juicy. They use Paso Prime grass fed beef, which I think limited some of the flavor since grass fed beef is usually a bit leaner. The bun was a brioche style bun but was cut with too much bun on the top so the bottom got very soggy. The burger was topped by tomatoes,bibb lettuce, housemade pickles, onions and mahon cheese. Like I said before, the veggies were very fresh and the pickles were very good. The best part was the mahon cheese. It was the first time I have had this type of cheese, let alone on a burger, and it was a perfect complement to the rest of the flavor of the burger. This was a very good burger and great way to start my burger tour of San Diego.

Bleeker Street

Several people have recommended Bleeker Street since it opened a few years ago. It is a New York style restaurant inspired by Greenwich Village. The interior feels like a cross between an outdoor café and a gastropub. The place is located in the Village Walk in Tarzana. It is a great area with all sorts of shops and restaurants. The one thing I will say is that the restaurant seems to be a little over priced. Most items on the menu feel very similar to a gastropub but are priced like a fine dining restaurant.

 On to the burger. The meat was Angus grass fed beef. While it tasted fresh, it did not have that great meaty flavor and was a little over charred as well as being cooked to more of a medium well than a pink medium. The bun was one of the better buns I have had in a while. It was a brioche style bun and had good chew and held together nicely. The burger came topped with organic greens, vine ripen tomato, smoked gouda cheese, crispy onions and roasted garlic aioli. First off, the smoked gouda did not add much to the flavor of the burger. It did not melt on the burger and I got none of that smoky flavor. The greens and the tomato were very fresh. I wish there were more of the onions because they were very flavorful. Overall, I was a little disappointed because it came recommended and it was overpriced for what you got.