I waited until the very last day to use my LivingSocial deal for Southpaw Social Club. Like the LAST DAY. LivingSocial put it into the “expired” section of the app and I freaked out a little but then I realized they probably don’t expire it by time so I knew the sucker was still good. Jake came with me as my cohort for this trip (not a surprise, I’m sure) and we enjoyed a nice evening out. Lucky for us there was no Padres game that evening and we were able to park across the street from Southpaw and Petco park on a Tuesday. Amazeballs.
The menu(s) come on clipboards! The office supply lover in me liked this little touch.
We sat in a booth near the bar. I took a photo looking back into the dining room and outside dining area. On the left you can see part of the shuffleboard table. They do BBQ on the weekends and game days but it seems unlikely we’ll ever be here on the weekend (but maybe a game day).
Our super friendly, chatty and fun foodie minded waiter gave us some complimentary popcorn to munch on. It was a little stale but we still ate all of it since we’re crazy pants. And we were hungry. Put popcorn in front of me and I’ll eat it. Probably even if it’s stale. I can’t seem to resist the allure of popcorn.
[double cooked garlic honey chicken wings / $10]
Our waiter highly recommended these and we were kind of eyeballing them anyway (yeah, I’m still into my “I WANT WINGS” phase). They had buffalo, garlic honey, sweet chili, spiced maple or thai caramel. The thai caramel kind of caught our eye in a “what do you think that’s like” kind of way but in the end we went with the waiter’s recommendation of the garlic honey wings. These were not fried wings – I think they were either grilled or baked but they had a really excellent texture. There were crispy-like bits from being a bit charred. The wings were large and stayed juicy and moist on the inside. I didn’t really taste the honey in particular, but they were slightly sweet. They’re also not really “OMG GARLIC” but it’s a little more subtle in the sauce. Jake and I really liked these.
[grilled chicken sandwich with southpaw style fries / $12]
Our waiter really raved about this and said it was the one item he got over and over again so we felt like we HAD to try it. But, I should have known maybe it wasn’t the sandwich for me since the only green topping on it is arugula. Arugula is okay to me if it’s mixed in with other greens but by itself I find it to be too strong and overpowering with it’s peppery flavor. This is what happened here. Even without the arugula though the chicken was a little overcooked since it was really flat and kind of dry. It did have a blue cheese spread on it that I enjoyed and the bun was nice and fluffy but I’d order something else next time. Sorry, waiter dude.
The Southpaw style fries were excellent though. “Southpaw” style means that the fries are thin cut fries topped with Reggiano cheese, fried onions, and jalapeño slices. Don’t worrry, I avoided all traces of jalapeño. These were really good – I liked the addition of the cheese and fried onions!
[southpaw mac / $12]
Mac and Cheese constantly calls my name. I wasn’t really sure about this one thought since it has PEAS in it. Ugh, peas. I don’t like the texture of peas – they’re weirdly mushy on the inside and I hate that. Pea soup I’m totally fine it – I really like it – but actual little peas need to stay out of my food. Despite that little shortcoming, we ordered this anyway. Mostly it was the promise of “pretzel crumbs” that intrigued me.
I was surprised that the listed “pretzel crumbs” turned out to just be whole mini pretzels… uh, what? I can say that I have never seen mac and cheese served with pretzels on top before and quite frankly, I think they should have chopped them up to be finer and more like the promised crumbs. They were unwieldy and weird with the mac.
Despite the peas and the weird presence of pretzels, the mac itself was really good. They use Vermont white cheddar and applewood smoked bacon in the dish. The mac was super creamy and very rich from the white cheddar. I love the creaminess and overall flavor but I couldn’t just order this as my whole meal – it’s too rich! Much better as a side dish. Since Jake and I shared everything this was sort of like our side dish with the chicken sandwich.
[cinnamon roll bread pudding]
There wasn’t a dessert menu to look at but our waiter told us about their two desserts – a housemade brownie sundae or cinnamon bread pudding. Since we’ve never had (or heard) of cinnamon roll bread pudding before that was clearly our winner for the evening.
Our waiter explained that this is made completely from scratch (they make their own cinnamon rolls). It had a nice balance of being tender but still firm (some bread puddings can be way too moist) and it had a nice eggy-custard like texture. There’s lots of swirls of cinnamon once you start digging in and there’s toasted walnuts as well to give extra crunch. It’s topped off with creamy vanilla ice cream and a vanilla sauce that was so so so good. This might be one of the best bread puddings I’ve ever had!
Jake and I shared an enjoyable, quiet evening here on a baseball-less night in Downtown. I’m sure weekends and ball game days are crazy so we appreciated the quiet serene atmosphere on this evening. It was fun chatting with our foodie waiter who loved to talk about food almost as much as we do! We’ll definitely be back to explore more of the menu and hoping grab that cinnamon roll bread pudding again.
Southpaw Social Club
815 J Street
San Diego, CA 92101
619-269-2255
Hmm… I would have been confused if the menu said pretzel crumbs and broken mini pretzels showed up on my mac n cheese. Goldfish cracker crumbs would have been awesome, I think.
Since we were there on a game night, we tried a bbq plate – the bbq pork, I think. It was okay. Very saucy and the white meat parts were dry. The dark meat pieces were really tender and moist, though. I also don’t like their mustard, which means I didn’t like the potato salad that was made with their mustard. And the baked beans tasted like they came straight from a can.
I did enjoy the duck fat fries, because I love thick, steak-y fries. The pretzel dog (3 mini dogs) were okay. The cheddar bratwurst part was way better than the pretzel bun part.
I checked in on Foursquare, though, and we got 50% off a beer taster flight!
Hi Leanne! Yeah… I was confused about the mini pretzels, too. Goldfish would be good I have also seen Cheez-Its on top (at D Bar, which I loved). I kind of wanted to get the duck fat fries on our visit but we got those Southpaw fries instead. The pretzel dogs sounds like something I would also order. Too bad the bun part wasn’t as exciting! I haven’t used Foursquare in forever and a day so good tip about the Foursquare discount!
I hate when I ask a waiter for their suggestion and the person raves so much about a dish I feel almost obligated to get it even though it doesn’t sound like my thing, haha.
Weird about the pretzel “crumbles”. I feel like someone just didn’t feel like crumbling the crumbles that day, it seems weird they would want to serve just whole pretzel on top of mac and cheese??
Lastly, I love popcorn too! At Brooklyn Girl in Mission Hills instead of the free bread they give you yummy super butter-y popcorn. The flavors change but last time I went I think it was brown butter thyme with parmesan, sooo good!.
Hi J.S. – OMG I totally felt that way about the chicken sandwich… I felt like we HAD to try because he raved about it so much. But then well, it wasn’t as amazing as he made it out to be. Oh well. Better to go with your gut! I do felt like someone was just half assing is back in the kitchen and were like “whatever, I don’t care about these pretzels”. Brooklyn Girl is a place I’ve been meaning to go try so hearing that they give you popcorn has suddenly made me want to go sooner…. yum! Riviera Supper Club has bacon popcorn that is really awesome if you love both popcorn and bacon. 🙂
The bread pudding looks tempting! I love popcorn too. But I definitely wouldn’t eat stale popcorn if put in front of me lol. I cant ever watch a movie without popcorn. It always feels like something is missing if I don’t have popcorn. I usually get the kiddie size though (unless sharing). It’s just the right size for me to finish. And of course, the M&Ms! I don’t really eat much of the other candies, but I like to mix M&M’s in the popcorn.
Those chicken wings look yummy too. Sweet and garlicy. Yum! Getting hungry now.
Hi Miss Kim – I shouldn’t eat stale popcorn but I guess I’m weird sometimes 🙂 I tend to not get popcorn when going out to the movies anymore because it always makes me feel sick later – they put something weird in it that does not agree with me! I like making my own popcorn instead. Usually just salt and butter but I made some with truffle oil and herbs for the bake sale and it was SO GOOD. I need to do a popcorn post. M&M’s and popcorn is yummy! But only peanut M&M’s for me, please!
Yes the Chicken wings look so good! Thanks for the link I just joined their newsletter!
Hi Carla – You’re welcome! The chicken wings were tasty – I’d love to try their other flavors!
Have you tried Popcornopolis (particularly their Zebra popcorn)? That’s my favorite popcorn ever. I can’t believe even stale popcorn makes you happy !
Thai caramel on fried wings sounds like it can be an interesting concept. What’s your preference between grilled and deep fried chicken wings. I think I’d prefer deep fried as it gives me that crunchy chicken skin I crave.
The burger bun reminds me of a crab with no legs. It looks so shiny and red (with a pickle stuck on top of its head).
Hi Faye – I have tried Popcornopolis – I thought it was good! I tend to like savory popcorn more than sweet though. Most bagged popcorn is okay but I really prefer making my own. I know, stale popcorn is a weird thing to eat anyway. I am weird. 🙂
I’m intrigued about that Thai caramel one – I want to try it! If we go out I like getting the fried wings, but at home I prefer to make the grilled ones so I don’t have to pull out the fryer and make a big mess. Haha, funny about the crabby burger bun. I did not touch that pickle! Jake ate it 😛
Hahah, I thought that pretzel bun was a giant red potato. I was wondering why it was on top of the chicken!
re: clipboard – the “office supply lover in me”. : )
Pretzel bits vx pretzel crumbs = fail.
Glad you and Jake were able to enjoy dinner without a massive baseball crowd as company.
Hi CC – Haha… I haven’t quite figured out how to take the best pictures in low lighting with my new camera yet. Still learning! Yeah, weird pretzel fail. I’m glad we were also able to enjoy it without the baseball crowd! We would have had to park like blocks and blocks away otherwise. If it were that easy to park all of the time I would go Downtown more haha.
I love the colors in the photo of the dining area. Looks like it was quite dark that night for taking pics of food though (dang bars)! The southpaw mac looks so appetizing until you notice that the pretzels are… larger pieces. Maybe I am in a pasta mood today since it’s been quite a while. I wanna try that bread pudding. I’ll send Dennis to sample it first since he works in downtown!
Hi Lynn – Yeah, it was pretty late (after 8pm) when we went. The pretzels were weird. They needed to be smaller! The mac was good though, really nice and creamy! Nice you have Dennis as a scout 🙂