Last month I was invited to check out Lumberyard Tavern up in Encinitas. I brought Stacey along with me to check it out. Whenever a place has a long whiskey menu, I figure Stacey is the one to bring along.
[kentucky koolaid and an old fashioned / $8]
I hardly drink these days but Stacey insisted I at least try something. Fine, okay. I ordered a totally girly fruity sounding drink called Kentucky Koolaid with bulleit rye, muddled (smoooooooooshed) blueberries, agave soda and a lemon twist. It was a bit sweeter than I though it would be but I liked the blueberries in it. I didn’t drink a whole lot of it and Stacey finished it for me, even though she also thought it was too sweet.
“I can’t let whiskey go to waste!” she said. See. That’s why I bring Stacey to the whiskey places. So she can finish my drinks.
Stacey got an Old Fashioned which had templeton rye, angostura bitters, sugar, soda, an orange twist and cranberries for the holiday season (usually it is luxardo cherries). She liked it. That’s about all I can say about that.
If you’re crazy and can eat a lot of food, they have this very interesting 4×4 Challenge.
Pass.
[pulled pork mac n cheese / $11]
Our first shared item: the Pulled Pork Mac n Cheese. I was going to order this without the jalapeños but I figured… oh, why not order it the way they make it. It had a ton more jalapeños than I was anticipating! They were swirled into the macaroni, not just on top! Oy. Despite the extra heat, I still enjoyed the dish (though I worked myself around the jalapeños) and I really liked the pulled pork on top. It had a nice smoky sweet flavor to it that paired well with the creamy (hot) macaroni and cheese.
[apple and goat cheese flatbread / $12]
Stacey is all about the goat cheese and wanted to try out this flatbread which came with herbed goat cheese, honey crisp apple slices, shallots, and spinach with a balsamic reduction drizzled all over it. It’s almost like one of those salad pizzas with all of the greens on top of the bread. I thought the flatbread was a little too tough and chewy but I liked the flavors on top. The balsamic reduction gave it a nice touch of sweetness.
[side of ginger slaw / $4]
Stacey saw this in the side dishes and thought, “Oo! Ginger!” But it just tasted like plain coleslaw. We couldn’t detect any ginger flavor at all. I wasn’t going to even try it (due to my dislike of coleslaw in general) but figured I’d have at least a bite. Yeah. No ginger. Where is the ginger?
[strawberry bleu salad / $12]
Stacey picked the Strawberry Bleu salad. It kind of just looks like a pile of blue cheese and strawberries, doesn’t it? I assure you, there are totally greens under there. Somewhere.
The salad had butter lettuce, strawberry slices, red onion, candied walnuts, blue cheese and was topped with balsamic vinaigrette. I really liked the tangy blue cheese paired with the crispy sweet walnuts and the sweet strawberries. You get the creaminess, the crunch, and a bit of sweetness all in a few bites!
[the psycher aka meatloaf sandwich / $12]
As for myself, I ordered the Psycher, aka, a meatloaf sandwich. Meatloaf sounded so good to me that day, on sourdough bread, but honestly this sandwich didn’t do it for me. The meatloaf didn’t have much flavor or seasoning to it and kind of looked like an overcooked hamburger patty. I also thought the texture of it was too dense. I compared it too much to my own homemade meatloaf that I love and it didn’t quite stand up to my version. Oh well. I loved the bread at least. It made me wish for a patty melt.
[chocolate wipeout cake / $7]
To round out the night, we got dessert. Of course. Though we couldn’t even finish this sucker, it was huge to us after the meal we just shared. This is the Chocolate Wipeout Cake and it’s got layers and layers of chocolate in it. Jake would hate it. I liked it, though it because so rich after awhile. If you’re in a chocolate mood this is the way to go!
There were a few misses here at the Lumberyard Tavern but overall it felt like a cool place to relax. There are plenty of TV’s all around for you sports watching types and it had a laid back atmosphere. They have an early and late night happy hour and on Tuesdays they have tri-tip specials using the Cardiff Crack from the Seaside Market.
Disclaimer: I was invited to dine at Lumberyard Tavern. Our meal and drinks were complimentary. All opinions stated here are my own.
Lumberyard Tavern
967 S Coast Hwy 101
Encinitas, CA 92024
760-479-1657
Bummer about your sandwich. 🙁 It always sucks when something sounds so good and isn’t what you’d hope it would be. That chocolate wipeout cake, however, looks awesome! My husband Josh would dig that for sure. I have a friend that could totally do this challenge, he’s sort of an eating challenge pro. Stacey has good taste if she likes a good ‘ol Old Fashioned! It’s one of my favorite drinks, but then again, I love whiskey. 🙂 Please with both early and late night happy hours definitely get my vote.
It is a bummer when stuff doesn’t live up to how you think it will be. But it still fun to try out. The cake was so good but a little to much for us to finish that day, haha. I like whiskey, too, but I just haven’t been drinking very much these days.
Encinitas is one of the north coastal cities that I want to explore more of…
It’s a really nice area. But parking kind of blows around here. There are a bunch of nice little cafes though.