Engaged + A Dinner at Cowboy Star

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written but GUESS WHAT YOU GUYS! I GOT ENGAGED!#%$!

Han & Leia plus my peridot engagement ring

Jake took me by complete and total surprise on Christmas Eve when he asked me to marry him (in front of our parents after dinner) and got me this beautiful peridot engagement ring! I’ve never really been into those big diamond rings, so this was the perfect ring for me.

Peridot engagement ring

It’s been like a week now and I’m still a little in shock. Jake always told me he wasn’t interested in remarrying and I was okay with that. I had accepted it and figured we would still build a life together anyway. Being proposed to threw me for a loop (in a good way!) and I’m happy and ecstatic that he asked and that I’ll be marrying my best friend. HOLY COW!

We decided to celebrate our newly engaged status with a fancy dress up dinner at Cowboy Star in Downtown San Diego. I made a reservation the day before and we arrived just before they opened at 5PM.

Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

This was our first visit to Cowboy Star! We snagged street parking like a block away from the restaurant – total score!


Menu at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

Lots of stuff to choose from at Cowboy Star.

Menu at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

We made our selections for our split meal and then we received this little amuse-bouche to start off our meal.

Starter bite at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

It hit all of the elements – creamy, crunchy, sweet, and salty. There was a tiny bit of ham on top with I think some kind of nuts and a little creamy sweet bit in the middle. Nope, don’t remember what it all was, but it was a really fun bite to start!

Parker House Rolls at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

We also ordered the Parker House Rolls [$4] to start. The bread is presented in a cute little cast iron pan and has a little bit of butter and salt on top of each roll. The bread was still warm (but not hot).

Fresh butter at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

We happily slathered our rolls in this super creamy butter.

Wedge Salad with Bacon at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

I told Jake I was happy with any of Cowboy Star’s salad selections to choose one and he picked the Wedge Salad [$13] because he knew I would like it the most. Isn’t he something? He’s not a super big fan of blue cheese but he said he didn’t mind it. The wedge came with a creamy blue cheese dressing with chunks of blue cheese. The blue cheese was a bit more mild than other ones I’ve tried. It also had some grape tomatoes, red onions, and a slice of house cured thick cut bacon which was incredible with the salad! They also split it for us so we each had our own plate (and slice of bacon – the important part).

Dry Aged Rib Eye Steak at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

For our entree, we decided on Cowboy Star’s Dry Aged 18oz bone-in Rib Eye [$67]. We were both surprised that the steak was cut into slices for us, but it worked out since we were sharing it.

We our got steak cooked to medium rare. The steak had a nice flavor to it and was pretty tender, but honestly, it wasn’t one of the best steaks we’ve ever had. We still enjoyed it, but I think we were hoping for something with a bit more marbling/fatty parts to it. But that’s just us!

Side dishes with our ribeye steak at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

What I do like about Cowboy Star and their steak dinners is that they include sides with the meal! We’ve been to other steakhouses were you don’t get any side dishes so this made us pretty happy. This is a split portion of chive mashed potatoes and yummy crisp green beans. Jake finished his green beans first!

Macaroni and Cheese side at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

Our #1 hands down favorite thing at Cowboy Star and our new favorite in town: the Macaroni and Cheese [$14]. My first thought about this macaroni and cheese was “eh it looks dry”. But that’s a TRICK! Because all of the delicious creamy cheese sauce is right underneath and there’s a big pool of it! They also use smoked garlic, bourbon shallots, and bacon lardons in their macaroni and cheese to elevate it and make it extra extra delicious. It also tasted like there was a hint of truffle in it and I appreciated that it wasn’t really heavy or rich. We kept raving about how good it was and decided it’s our new favorite in town. YUM.

Dessert Menu at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

Jake asked for the dessert menu because my fiancé (!!) knows me so well. Our first plan was to get the carrot cake – IF it did not contain raisins. Plan #2 was the chocolate bar. But plan #1 worked out since – hooray! – no raisins.

Midnight Snack tag at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

While waiting for our dessert, our waiter dropped off this tag at our table and we asked what it was. It’s sort of like a “coat check” but for your leftover food! They don’t want you to have your table piled up with bags of leftovers and instead store it in the back for later. Each tag has a number of the back so they can grab your leftovers right before you leave. What a clever idea!

Carrot Cake with Browned Butter Maker's Mark Ice Cream at Cowboy Star - San Diego, CA

The Carrot Cake [$12]. I think the other thing that sold us on this dessert was the Browned Butter Maker’s Mark Ice Cream which is sitting on top of the cake. The “blobs” (haha) around the cake are fromage blanc mousse (tasted like a really fluffy cream cheese), carrot gel (carrot enhancer), and curried walnuts (crunchy and sweet). The carrot cake was tender, moist, and packed full of flavor. The ice cream was the beautiful topper to the cake – creamy, salty, sweet – and really elevated the entire dessert. Damn, we really loved this cake.

We had a wonderful time at Cowboy Star celebrating our engagement. The service was wonderful, the food was great, the atmosphere was comforting, and I spent the evening with my best friend and fiancé. Excited for the year to come! Happy New Year my friends and I wish you a great start to 2019!

Cowboy Star
640 Tenth Ave
San Diego, CA 92101


18 thoughts on “Engaged + A Dinner at Cowboy Star

  1. Mary, I have followed your blog from the beginning. It has always been obvious you are a perfect match! I am thrilled for you both! To a wonder-filled 2019 for you! Thank you for your blog.

  2. What a great post to kick off 2019! Congrats again! 🙂
    Also, that mac n cheese sounds SO GOOD! Smoked garlic caught my attention – never tried that before but sounds so delicious :9

  3. Congrats Mary! What a nice spot for dinner! I totally want that Mac and cheese! Hubby cooks great ribeye but not that dry aged kind. I wonder what flavor difference there is (I think we tried once but I can’t enter).

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