I had been wondering about how Nate's was doing for a while. I thought it would make a nice little IBAW post, so dropped by this past weekend.
I'd been trying to talk the Missus into revisiting; but in typical fashion She just wasn't motivated after tasting the results of….ahem, playing with my butt.
Still, I'd always rather enjoyed the vibe at Nate's.
The rustic interior, the really friendly folks who work here.
I'm thinking it being 8am on the weekend, it was much too early for the Hipster crowd….just a couple of families enjoying the wild west of South City Heights.
My food took a while; which I actually enjoyed. It made me relax and notice the "small things"…..
Like….did they always have air conditioning here? Well, it was welcomed because it was getting warm outside.
I had decided on getting the Pulled Pork Hash, which I really enjoyed during my previous visit. It was such a nice and vibrant dish back then.
Sadly, this wasn't quite as good as that.
While I thought the sourdough bread was nicely crisp and toasted; the eggs, well one of them was nice and runny…the other had leaked out, I really missed all the wonderful textures and flavors from the variety of vegetables I'd had before. This had a ton of pork; of which the smoke flavor was rather over-powering and was a tad too salty. What potatoes there were hadn't been browned very well and while this might be a pork-aholic's choice, I missed the balance in what I'd had before.
And yes, it was still way to much food. I did take almost two-thirds of this home and actually redid it with some proper vegetables…..topped with some Greek yogurt to cut the salt and ate the left-overs for two more meals. There's no arguing about portion size here.
I do like Nate's and will probably return….the folks here are so nice…..though I'm not sure what I'll order next time.
Over the years, I've recommended Nate's to several folks I know. One couple really didn't care for the place. I should have known based on where they lived; they didn't like ordering at the counter, wanted better table service, and gave me a lot of grief about looking out at stuff like this while eating.
Sigh……
Nate's Garden Grill
3120 Euclid Ave
San Diego, CA 92105