karl strauss brewery – sorrento valley / san diego, ca

Laura called me up on a whim one evening to see if I was free for dinner and luckily I was because we went out for a lovely little meal without any boys in tow.

The nice thing about going out to dinner with girlfriends is being able to share everything. Sure, Jake and I share things, but mostly he wants his own plate and he doesn’t always like what I like. He doesn’t usually want to get a fancy pants girly salad or anything with seafood in it. Going out with a girlfriend lets me indulge in eating “girly food” and sharing everything and having leftovers to take back to the boy (or eat for lunch the next day).

We went out to Karl Strauss Brewery for our dinner, to the Sorrento Valley location with its pretty, pretty outdoor koi pond.

I swear the photo just doesn’t capture how completely lovely it is, or how pretty it looks after dark. If Karl Strauss were ever a quiet restaurant I’m sure it’d also be super mellow and chill, but since it’s usually busy and quite loud it’s mostly just pretty to look at and makes it feel kinda tranquil.

It’s hard to go to a local brewery and not order a beer. Laura and I both got Windansea Wheat Hefeweizen as our beer of choice. I don’t have much to say about beer. I liked it. It wasn’t too dark or too bitter (which I don’t like) but light tasting. Good. Yay.

For some reason that night I was craving french fries. There was a brief period of time where I swore off french fries for about a week after I ate too many at lunch. I knew it wouldn’t stick. French fries are just too darn good with their deep fried crispness and you can’t avoid them for too long. These Garlic Parmesan Brewery Fries ($4.95) hit the spot while we waited for our entrees to come. Not super garlic-y – more like “Hint O’ Garlic with some Parmesan Scattered Across Fries”. They were good though. Nothing to write home about, but good. We kept eating these for some reason. Why is that? You keep eating something even though you’re full but you keep munching away…

Ah, here’s the “girly” item. Summer Berry Salad ($13.95) Blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, prosciutto crisp, goat cheese, field greens, red onions, fresh herbs, and ginger-lime vinaigrette. Though, I think Jake would eat this because he loves watermelon, but I think the cheese and onions would make him have a funny look on his face. Laura and I loved it. I love the combination of the sweet berries and watermelon with the crisp prosciutto and the tang from the goat cheese – the flavor combination just worked so well! A little acid, some sweetness and a great combination of berries and greens made this a really lovely and refreshing salad.

We also shared the BBQ Chix Mac and Cheese ($15.95) Made with large elbow noodles, gorgonzola, gruyere, cheddar cheese, and a crispy parmesan breadcrumb topping. Red Trolley BBQ sauce, grilled chicken, and sautéed red onions.

A few months ago I made the mistake of having just mac and cheese for dinner and was totally tired of eating it right away. This time I shared a salad and we got mac and cheese with BBQ chicken in it to break up the flavors of this super cheesy dish. It’s got some very good cheeses in it and I loved that it was crisp on top from the Parmesan breadcrumb topping. The BBQ chicken added some sweetness, smokiness and texture to the dish that made this a total winner in my book.

Oh my god, it was so cheesy – I loved it!

If you haven’t been you should check out this local chain of breweries in town to check out some of their offerings. There are 5 locations in San Diego (and 1 in Universal City) with a great bunch of offerings for anyone in the mood for some good beer and good eats.

Karl Strauss Brewery
(Multiple Locations in San Diego)
9675 Scranton Rd
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 587-2739