Nate’s Garden Grill Revisited:
Well, the Missus has the “gardening bug” going really strong! We’ve been hitting up Walter Andersen Nursery at least once a week these days! Yeesh….
Anyway, She mentioned wanting to check out City Farmer’s Nursery on Euclid…..well now; opportunity knocks! Since Nate’s Garden Grill is right next to the nursery and my goodness, we hadn’t been to Nate’s since right before Covid! So, with JJ anxious to do some more exploring we headed out for breakfast.
Man, the place was pumping on this Sunday morning!
We got what was an old favorite of ours; the Pulled Pork Hash and an Avocado Toast on Pretzel Bun. The Missus went in to order while I got us a table on the patio.
Where JJ made himself right at home. There was some live music, so I made sure we sat on the other side of the patio out of the way of folks.
The Pulled Pork Hash was a bit of a disappointment.
Other than the crisp, perfectly buttered, and tasty sourdough toast. The pork lacked smokiness and was really chewy, the eggs overdone, and the dish was on the bland side. In a rare move, we had to grab some salt from the condiment table…and then went back for more hot sauce. Too bad, because this was one of our favorites from previous visits.
I’ve always enjoyed the Pretzel Buns at Nate’s and which didn’t disappoint with the Avocado Toast.
Slightly chewy, mildly salty-nutty, and crisp crust. The avocado was really creamily mashed, wish there was more of it. Didn’t care for the bacon which was really thick cut and chewy, rather than crisp like I enjoy.
Overall, not an especially pleasing breakfast. Though the two young ladies loved JJ and asked us if he could have some steak! Good lord……we got bland pulled pork and chewy bacon…..he got steak? What is this world coming to? So, I guess if JJ had his way; we’d be here often…..
Nate’s Garden Grill
3120 Euclid Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Tuesday 11am – 730pm
Wed – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Friday 11am – 9pm
Saturday 8am – 9pm
Sunday 8am – 5pm
Dining In at Village Kitchen:
It’s become a standard routine that when we return from one of many road trips that the first thing the Missus wants is…….well, Chinese food of course! And after returning from one of our road trips, the Missus was thinking of visiting Village Kitchen. I had thought we had just done take out recently….but no, that was from all the way back in November of last year! Man, time has flown by!
Another interesting tidbit is that She wanted to dine in…..looking at all my posts on Village Kitchen it seems that my last seven posts on the place were takeout visits! And the last time we’ve actually eaten in the restaurant was….yes, you guessed it, before Covid!
Over time we’ve noticed that several of our favorite dishes are no longer on the menu. We stuck with one old favorite, one that has been +/- over the years, and one new item from the menu.
Our old favorite, the La Rou with Bamboo Shoots Skin was quite good. We actually wanted the version with radish skin, but they were out.
Though not as spicy as we’d like; the smoked pork was more tender than usual; the bamboo shoots slightly crunchy and earthy. Not overly salty, nice savory tones.
I consider the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg to be the “signature dish” at Village Kitchen, though we’ve had mixed results ordering over the years.
These days it seems to have a lot less chilies, thus making it less spicy…but oh my; so much pidan! Which the Missus enjoyed…She loves that savory-complex umami flavor, with the ammonia like finish! Well, there was a ton of it here! The eggplant was very creamy and smoky, there was a hint of sweetness as well. This was a huge portion.
The one new item on the menu we tried was the Smoked Bamboo Shoots with Pork Belly.
Not enough black bean to really add much flavor to the dish; which was really salty. The pork belly was tough and chewy as was the bamboo shoots. This one is a “one-and-done”. Lacking in spice.
Overall, not a bad dinner….we’ll stick with our old favorites. We’ve noticed that the portion sizes here sure have gotten bigger over the last couple of years. It was good to actually dine in rather than do take-out for a change.
Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Hope everyone is having a nice post-Xmas weekend!