The Starlite is a place I’ve been wanting to visit for awhile. I originally thought about going here for my birthday dinner, but my boyfriend’s son would be with us that night, so that plan was out. I went a couple of weeks later with my friend, Heather, for a little birthday redux.
The Starlite offers a locally grown, hand crafted menu. The menu changes daily depending on what foods they are able to get locally. Looking at the sample menu and with what we got that day, there do seem to be a few staples on the menu. The Starlite is a great place to try different meals with locally grown foods from San Diego.
They also have a really interesting drink menu.
I got the Kentucky Colonel ($8) – Buffalo Trace Bourbon, ginger beer, lemon, house made cherry vanilla bitters. It was served in a large copper mug which kept it cool for the entire dinner (and yeah, it took me pretty much the whole dinner to drink it). I loved the ginger beer flavor in the background with the bourbon – it was a bit sweet and not too strong – excellent for me. Heather got a drink called the Velvet Diablo (awesome name) and I had a sip of it – and it actually kind of had a little spicy kick to it.
We got the Cheese Plate ($12) with a variety of cheeses, some local honeycomb (in the cup), some fruits and some toasted hazelnut raisin bread. I don’t remember what kind of cheeses they were specially, but there was a blue cheese (on the far right there) a soft, goat like cheese (far left) and then two harder cheeses in the middle. All were really good with the fruit, the honeycomb and the toasted bread. I really enjoyed the bread – I’m not even a fan of raisins, but the addition of big hazelnut chucks was divine to me. I loveeee cheese!
I suppose I could have gone for a fancier, local food dish, but after reading the description for the burger I wanted it! This is one of those, “seems to be a staple meals” since it’s also on the sample menu on the website: “The Burger ($13): All natural Brandt beef patty, Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions served on a brioche bun with dijonaise, house made pickles & fries.” It was really delicious and perfectly cooked. I kept munching on the fries, too, even though I was done. Heather got the same thing and did the same as me – munch, munch, munch. But it was delicious!
I didn’t get any shots of the inside of the bar, but we were actually sitting outside on the patio but it was weird because it still felt like we were indoors – but with the stars overhead. Also when you first walk in you’re struck by how pretty and cool the place looks – the bar is sunk into the middle of the floor with cozy booths and tables all around it and a pretty neat looking chandelier. Even the entrance to this place is cool – a hexagon shaped door. Totally a great place to chill out and relax with a few friends if you’re in the area. Highly recommended!
Starlite Dining and Cocktails
3175 India Street
San Diego, CA 92103
(619 358-9766
That looks like an interesting place to eat! I love cheese too, and am always on the lookout for good places to eat it. Check out my favorite San Diego eats on my blog too 🙂
Isn’t this a great place? I haven’t been in awhile, so your post is making me want to go back. We also enjoyed the cheese plate – yum. Drinks were great too and I believe (if I recall correctly) we got an assortment of chocolates to finish off our dining experience and they were divine. House-made chocolates. Thanks for reminding me of this great little find!
.-= Jen´s last blog .. =-.
Starlite has great atmosphere, our longtime favorite bartender Chris works downstairs sometimes.