werewolf american pub / downtown san diego

Jake’s birthday is approximately 20 days before mine. We don’t always celebrate on his actual birthday though since S’s birthday is on the 2nd and he doesn’t want to steal his thunder. Instead we celebrated after his actual day. I made the whole thing a “Surprise! Woohoo!” evening and didn’t tell him where we were going. Jake’s mom graciously dropped us off Downtown as I had arranged transport home through Blacklane. Our first stop: dinner at Werewolf American Pub.

I didn’t know anything about Werewolf before we headed down there. What I did know is that it had a kickass name and was just a couple of blocks from our final destination for the evening. Werewolf is located right next to the Haunted Hotel so for Halloween they were going with a “Haunted Lobby” theme with all the wait staff dressed up like French maids and bellhops.

What I did notice right away was that huge painting of Vigo the Carpathian!

Ray: You think there’s a connection between this Vigo character and the… slime?
Egon: Is the atomic weight of cobalt 58.9?

Yesssssss.

Also, that decor that says “Shots”? It’s made with bullets.

[yellowtail and a storm trooper / $6.75 and $10]

The other fun thing about Werewolf? They had a rum based drink called a Storm Trooper (basically a “Dark and Stormy” but geekier) which I felt was perfect for my Star Wars lovin’ boyfriend. They served it in a glass beaker (!) with a garnish of candied ginger that Jake tried to get me to eat (no, thanks). Jake forgot to stir the drink first to mix it so his first sip reaction was pretty classic. Heh heh.

[grilled garlic ginger wings / 10 for $10.95]

Jake and I shared two appetizers and split a burger for our meal. I love splitting food. That way you get to try more goodies!

Our first dish were Werewolf’s Grilled Garlic Ginger Wings. These had an excellent outer crispiness and a ton of flavor from the marinade that the wings hang out in. The ginger gives these a great boost of flavor and I love that they’re not fried. I love grilling wings at home so I was excited to see a grilled version out a restaurant instead of another fried wing.

[papas balls / $5.95]

On their menu they also refer to these as “Werewolf Hushpuppies” but actually they’re mashed potato based and not cornbread based. In addition to the mashed potato, there’s bacon, scallions and cilantro and they’re topped with cotija cheese and a spicy house sauce.

Here’s a peek at the ball’s innards. You can see bits of herbs and the bacon hiding out in there. I wasn’t a huge fan of the house sauce which just tasted like spiciness to me, but I enjoyed the balls themselves. There’s a slight outer crunch and the inside is soft and warm with lots of bits of flavor from the herbs and bacon.

[triple threat burger / $12.95]

Jake and I were split between the Pork Belly Cubano and the Triple Threat Burger and our waiter told us the burger was his favorite item on the menu. We decided to trust him and ordered that. The Triple Threat is a burger that’s piled with a 1/3lb beef patty, maple glazed pork belly, a fried egg, greens (peeking in there at the very bottom) and a blue cheese aioli. Whoa. It was a lot.

The burger itself was really tasty – very juicy, cooked to medium rare – but I found the pork belly to be incredibly salty. Which is a shame because it was so tender and seemed like it would have great melt-in-your-mouth appeal, but I didn’t want it to melt in my mouth because it felt like I was chewing on a salt lick. Once I removed the pork belly (and the egg because, well, you know me and eggs) I liked it a lot better. If they toned down the salt I’m sure it would be much more enjoyable and it was probably just some weird overly salty fluke.

The burger came with a little bowl of perfectly crisp golden french fries. Nothing out of the ordinary, but enjoyable enough.

After we paid the bill, we were chatting with our waiter about Werewolf and he started telling us about Comic Con and what it was all about. I interrupted him and said, “Oh yeah, we know about Comic Con, we’re from here! We’re locals, we’re here celebrating his birthday.”

To which our waiter said, “Why didn’t you tell me?! Hang on. Stay there. I’ll be right back.”

Jake kind of glared at me at this point and I giggled. We could sense SOMETHING was coming.

Our waiter came back with this:

AN ENTIRE CAKE. WHAT.

Not only that, but there was a shot of Fireball Whiskey is the middle!

And then our super cool waiter got the attention of the whole restaurant.

Uh oh.

Jake gave me another look at this point and I just kept grinning.

Our waiter got the whole restaurant to sing to an embarrassed Jake. Heehee!

Here’s Jake before he slung back his shot of whiskey.

And here’s me having a bite of his yummy chocolate bundt cake! I couldn’t believe they gave him the WHOLE cake. Most places will just give you a slice, but damn, I was impressed with Werewolf after that! Cheers to Werewolf for being so awesome and making Jake feel more special on his birthday!

After Werewolf, we walked down to the Horton Grand Theater. I was taking him out to see Boomers, a musical about the baby boomer generation which featured TONS of music from the 50’s to the 70’s. They do lots of snippets of little songs while re-telling part of the history of the baby boomer generation which was great fun.

After the show, we got a sweet ride in a Mercedes-Benz 500 thanks to Blacklane. It was a cozy, cool ride with a very friendly driver. It was a great night overall and I was so happy to take Jake out to celebrate his birthday.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ride from Blacklane. I was not further compensated and all opinions are my own.

Werewolf American Pub
627 4th Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
619-234-0094