So, the Missus wanted an early weekend dinner/happy hour and was thinking of revisiting Tribute Pizza. So, we drove on up and found parking on North Park Way. We were a bit early though and Tribute was still closed. We went and did some strolling thru the area and headed back toward our vehicle when I noticed this shop in the newish apartment complex on the corner of Grim and North Park Way. I then recalled our good friend Candice had mentioned the place, named Finca to me and thought we might enjoy it.
Turns out that Finca opens at 3pm on weekends with a Happy Hour from 3 to 6 pm. We decided to give the place a try. This was before the recent super cold spell, so we had a seat outside.
The folks working were very friendly! We were handed a menu, with some items that looked quite "hipsterish", but interesting to us. There were some featured small plates which were $10 during HH.
The Missus started with some red sangria, which was $10 during HH. She enjoyed it and followed with the house red; which She also enjoyed during our meal.
Since I saw Beef Tartare on the menu and it was priced at just ten bucks during Happy Hour; you know I had to order it, right?
Well, this wasn't a good start to our meal as the beef was mushy; over dressed; though we enjoyed the pickled green beans and the pungent-savory fried onions. The item we least enjoyed was the cardboardish, hard, flat bread, which had no flavor at all.
Things completely changed with the Bone Marrow ($16). Ah yes, you know me with beef tartare and bone marrow, right? We really weren't sure when the bone marrow arrived, with a layer of red pepper jelly smeared on it.
Loved the yeasty grilled sourdough, which went so well with the beefy-tallowy-buttery bone marrow. We made sure to get every single drop of the rendered fat. No wonder there's an option to do a Bone Marrow luge to finish! The red pepper jelly had a hint of sweetness, sour, and acidic-spice to complement and cut the richness. This was quite good.
We also got the Lamb "Chorizo" ($18) which were more like lamb meatballs.
The meatballs were very tasty; more African-Middle Eastern flavors to use, cumin…that sort of thing. It was enjoyably gamy, nice "flavor of the pasture" as it were. The "soubise"; basically a bechamel based like sauce was a bit too sour and sweet for us.
We managed to take a look inside the restaurant-bar before leaving.
Stylish; somewhat moody.
We really liked the service and the food, especially the bone marrow was quite enjoyable. So, we decided to return a couple of weeks later. Again it was for an early dinner on a weekend.
The Missus again enjoyed the Sangria, followed by a glass of the house red. The service again was warm and friendly.
We started with the Red Wine Spanish Sausage ($17).
Now this was the one dish that really reminded us of Spain. Yes, there's grits on this; which were quite tasty, and that black garlic sauce wasn't too sweet, but along with the shallots added some nice pungency. The sausage itself had great flavor….there seemed to be hints of coriander and other spices; which just took me back to Seville for some reason.
And of course we had the bone marrow again.
Which was even better this time around! The fat was even more rendered and we could make out a hint of salt which heightened the flavors!
We had one last dish for the evening; the Chicken Liver Mousse ($15).
The mousse was quite runny, very metallic, almost bitter. Not a fan of the very dry milk bread and the dish goes a bit overboard with sweet items. The pork cracklins ' were super hard instead of crisp…heck, I almost "cracklin'd" my tooth on a piece. We'll pass on this one in the future.
Yes, I said in the future. While I'm sure we'll make that revisit to Tribute soon, we enjoyed that bone marrow and the wonderful staff enough to return again! When we're in the mood for California-ish "tapas" with Middle Eastern and Asian, hipster-modern touches. To us, this is what BoujieManacould be!
Finca
3066 North Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Tues – Thurs 5pm – 9pm
Friday 5pm – 10pm
Saturday 3pm – 10pm
Sunday 3pm – 9pm
Happy Hours:
Tues – Fri 5pm – 6pm
Sat – Sun 3pm – 6pm
Closed on Mondays
Finca also features a bottle shop which opens at 3pm
