Last week, Jake and I were invited to visit The Butcher’s Cut Steakhouse, a brand new restaurant down in the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s right next door to its sister restaurant, Greystone, which you can see just to the right of this photo!
The Butcher’s Cut is a more casual version than Greystone, offering a different selection of menu items along with some steakhouse classics.
Here’s the interior at The Butcher’s Cut. They completed renovated this space and it’s so pretty inside! From the big bar…
To the light fixtures…
To the nooks and crannies of the dining room…
And even the sink in the back next to the restrooms.
In the very back of the dining room, you can peek into their meat locker. And what a fine selection they have in there!
The Butcher’s Cut features a number of drinks on their menu.
Jake opted to try The Butcher’s Cut Cake which is a combination of coconut rum, Godiva white chocolate liqueur, pineapple juice, and lime zest. I took a sip and I said, “Ohhhh boy, that doesn’t taste like alcohol at all!” It had a sweet flavor to it and the flavor of it really did make me think of a slice of tropical cake.
Here’s a peek at the full menu at The Butcher’s Cut. It took me forever to decide what to try! Do you think I picked a steak or a regular menu item? Scroll down to see!
We were given some complimentary bread to start. The bread was warm and crusty and came with this AMAZING dipping sauce that tasted a lot like pesto. We were told one of the waitstaff came up with the recipe and when he walked by, we made sure to let him know that we adored the dipping sauce. It’s the perfect consistency for bread and was so flavorful. I could have just eaten bread and this dipping sauce all night… oh my goodness. I had to stop eating the bread after awhile just so I would have room for the rest of our meal!
One of the first things we tried was the Honey Peach Glazed Pork Belly with truffled celeriac, brussel sprouts, peach glee, and carrot. This was a THICK piece of pork belly! And boy was it tender! I loved the presentation with the sauce all over the pork belly on top of that bed of celeriac.
The celeriac was really interesting. It kind of looked like mashed potatoes – and it has that consistency – but it’s like eating potatoes…. with a hint of celery flavor as an aftertaste. I quite liked it, actually!
The pork belly was phenomenal and really a great dish to start with. It was tender and juicy. The only thing I wished for was some crispness on the exterior, but… it’s more of a braised dish so I can understand why. I just love crispy stuff!
We also shared the Tropical Salad which had a mix of mango, citrus, and pear with candied walnuts, organic greens, and a raspberry vinaigrette. Though looking back at our salad, it looks like the walnuts were left off the dish. I remember thinking the salad was on the mushy side due to lots of fruit without the contrast of texture so I wish those walnuts had been in there! Jake liked it anyway and ate what I left on the plate.
I also ordered the Mushroom Toast which comes with wild mushrooms, aged parmesan, chives, tomato, and umbria truffles. There’s a heavy drizzle of balsamic vinegar and some greens thrown on top. The mushroom mixture is cold on top of the toasted bread which was disappointing to me. I was hoping for a warm mushroom mixture on top of the toast and I thought they went a little too heavy on the balsamic.
For my main entree, I did not get a steak at The Butcher’s Cut. I wanted to try something different and I decided to go with the Scallops! The scallops are seared and served with a pea snap puree, oyster mushroom succotash, and topped with a pomegranate coulis.
The scallops were fantastic! The sear was perfect and I loved how sweet and tender each bite of the scallop was. The sauce complimented the scallops really well, highlighting their sweetness. The pea snap puree was also surprising to me. I tend to not love peas, but as a puree I really dug it. This was a winner dish for me!
I got a Twice Baked Potato on the side. It’s topped with butter, bacon, sour cream, chives, and cheese. The potato inside the skin was really light and fluffy, like a souped up version of mashed potatoes. I loved how creamy the potatoes were and the mix of toppings made this a perfect side dish.
Jake also wanted to try something different and figured he’d go for the one burger dish on the menu – The One Pounder. It is a crazy burger with two 1/2lb. patties (which are made with prime meats) and it’s topped with caramelized onions, provolone cheese, wild mushrooms, avocado, applewood smoked bacon, aioli, and served with a side of salt & pepper beer battered french fries and house made bbq sauce.
Jake ordered it without mushrooms but left the avocado on for me.
Here’s a close up of the burger… look at the bottom… all of the juices running out!
The buns are perfectly toasted and OMG the burger patties are SO TENDER. Like insanely juicy crazy good tender! Jake ended up asking what cut of meat they use for the burgers and after having a bite, we were not at all surprised to learn it was made with Prime cuts. The difference is astounding and this is really one of the most flavorful and juiciest burgers we’ve tried.
Jake really, really loved this burger. The more he ate it, the more he loved it and finally declared it is his new favorite burger in town, displacing the Balboa Burger.
I still really love the Balboa Burger so I’m not ready for that step yet, but it sure is a contender. Jake only ate about 1/3 of it since this sucker is HUGE and saved the rest for another meal.
PS – Fries were good. Jake’s burger really was the winning dish and damn my scallops were good.
We also got Tempura Onion Rings because …. well why not. They were damn tasty, too. A little greasy – but greasy in a “I don’t care because this is delicious” kind of way, not a gross “God why is this so oily I hate myself” kind of way. Understand the difference?
Dessert menu.
Who’s surprised?
No one.
Jake got the Strawberry Churros with Vanilla Bean Ice cream.
They even have strawberry filling INSIDE the churro. I legit though it would just be the strawberry sauce on top. Hardcore.
Jake and I agreed though that the Butterscotch Budino was the winning dessert dish. The churros were good but … it’s really hard to beat a super creamy extra smooth and awesomely delicious butterscotch budino (which is really just a fancy way of saying “pudding”).
Jake and I really enjoyed our meal at The Butcher’s Cut. That burger was insane, I could eat the bread & pesto dipping sauce forever, and then still want to order my own budino so I wouldn’t have to share it (but I would still share). Get yourselves Downtown to check out this new spot!
The Butcher’s Cut Steakhouse
644 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
Disclaimer: I was invited to dine at The Butcher’s Cut on behalf of the restaurant. Our meal was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions stated here are my own.
