One of the coolest things about San Diego’s bid to become one of the premiere food destinations is the number of super trendy eateries that have sprung up in our most touristy spots.  As downtown San Diego is the hub of our tourism, it seems only fitting that so many of them should be located there.  It was also kind of funny that just a day or two before my friends and I hit up this week’s restaurant,  this meme had been making the rounds on the interwebs.  That is not to say that The Neighborhood meets the criteria of that list but in all honesty, it walks a fine line. Joining me to find out just how fine that line is were the following usual suspects:

Aimee–Roommate since the 90’s, BFF, allergic to hot dogs and therefore labeled a commie by many

Amy B-Vegetarian Belle, Author, Event Planner

Amy J-Rocky Horror performer, Michigan football loyalist, a common floozy

Brad-Rocky Horror performer, Fluent in most nerdisms, Still thinks Miley Cyrus is sexy

Chris-Attorney, lifelong food snob, loves good Scotch and gay jeans

Joey-Future music professor, Sazerac drinker, makes a mean cup of coffee

Kate-Costume designer, Comedian, Once starred in a church rap video

Kelsey-Project manager, Advanced level foodie, Has been known to drop it like it’s hot after a few cocktails

Ky-Rocky Horror performer, Disneyland enthusiast, Roommate of Brad

The people that you meet each day

If you enjoy beer and spirits, you might actually believe you’ve died and gone to heaven at The Neighborhood.  Their beer and bourbon list reads like a damn phone book.  Of course, if you’re a vodka lover, your application to heaven has been denied and you’ll soon to get meet your new roommate, Satan.  Because you’re in Hell.  For reasons not made terribly clear, there’s two things you will NOT find inside this place:  Vodka or Ketchup.  There’s a nice blurb in the menu about the aversion to the red stuff but the vodka ban remains a mystery.  Speaking of mystery, there’s also a secret locked deep inside the Neighborhood.  The Noble Experiment is a speakeasy with a secret door.  We didn’t go in there because they don’t serve food and that’s really the point of this here blog but since we’re super besties, here’s a look inside.  Cool right?

Meanwhile, back in the commoner section of the Neighborhood, we attacked the drink menu with gusto!  Amy B had a few beers, among them the Mikkeller Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (SOLD AMERICAN!) Wild Ale series 2.0/Beer 1, the Allagash Victor and the Allagash Odyssey.  Amy J had the Mezcal (a smoky tequila).  Chris ordered the Duchesse de Bourgogne Flanders Red Ale from Brouwerji Verhaege.  It’s worth noting that he asked me to try it and I didn’t find it completely disgusting.  Considering my well documented hatred of beer, that’s kind of a big deal.  Kate had the non-alcoholic Fentiman’s Ginger Lemonade.  Brad had the Jolly Pumpkin Chestnut Porter and the Almanac Doghatch Strawberry Sour Ale, the latter of which I tried and got me right back on track with my choice to live beer-free.  Yuck.

We ordered some small plates to start with.  Joey & Brad both ordered the Fried Chicken Deviled Eggs.  Brad found them to be pretty good but nothing special.  Joey found a pleasing slight acidity in the dish and good seasoning in the yolks.  He felt the chicken got a bit lost in the egg but it provides an interesting textural contrast.  Amy B had the pickle plate: Bread & Butter pickles, pickled cucumber and pickled green beans.   She proclaimed the dish quite good with so many different flavors and herbiness in each pickle; a refreshing start.  Amy J had the Cheese Sampler: Point Reyes Bleu, Koko’s Netherlands Cow with coconut & Vlaskas Holland Cow served with Almonds, Honey and Cranberries.   She enjoyed the good size of the plate and the good cheeses offered.  Chris went a bit further and said the Vlaskas Holland Cow was one of the best cheeses he’s ever had!  Aimee and Chris both ordered the Chorizo Corn Dogs served with mustard seed aioli and smoke chipotle.  Aimee found them very tasty with a nice spice and just the right amount of breading.  The mustard aioli was her favorite sauce and she gave the dish high marks for presentation.  Chris was less in love with the portions of the dish.  Kate ordered the Pink Salt Deviled Eggs.  She found them to be spicy (in a good way) but a bit over priced for the portions, which is an opinion not unheard of in this challenge.  Kelsey had the Goat Cheese Balls with tomato sauce.  She found them really rich and good.  I tried them and completely agree.  Crispy, creamy and savory; a winner.  I ordered the Neighbor’s Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Mango sauce, Cranberry Sauce and Habanero Aioli/Lemon BBQ sauce.   The real star of this dish was the sauces.  Lots of bold flavors that complimented what was basically popcorn chicken pieces.  I enjoyed it but was left wondering what the dish was really without the sauces in the equation?

I resisted the very strong urge to toss a piece of chicken in the air, catch it in my mouth, say “Proper” and take the stage with my 4,356 back up dancers to perform “Addams Groove”.

For our main dishes,   Aimee and Brad both ordered the “Local Animal”:Polish sausage and braised pork with a fried egg, mustard and molasses glaze with arugula.  Brad loved the runny egg and said the dish was perfectly spiced with the glaze being the real stand out.   Aimee also enjoyed it but didn’t understand the inclusion of the egg.  She also called the glaze the best part.  Joey had the butter poached black mussels with braised leeks, grilled toast points and spicy flakes.  He found the fume a bit aggressive on the acidity at first but warmed to it throughout the meal.  The mussles themselves Joey found tender and delicious but thought the arugula seemed like a bit of a throw away in the quantity given.  Not dressed enough for a salad but too much for a garnish.  Amy B ordered the Fork & Knife Veggie Sandwich with grilled asparagus, hummus, oven dried tomato and burratta on sour dough.   She found the dish hit and miss.  A hit in the delicious flavors but a miss in the rough, chewy and flavorless ends of the asparagus left on.

Amy J had the Beet Burger with spinach, hummus and swiss cheese.  Amy really liked the burger and advises potential diners to not be scared of the bright pinkness of the patty (it actually looks like an uncooked beef patty, which made watching a vegetarian eat it all kinds of hilarious).  The burger is not overly beety.  I found it tasted a bit like falafel, which I’m totally okay with.  Kate had the spicy cajun rubbed burger and added some mixed greens.  Her burger came up a bit too rare for her to eat (She’s any-minute-now-level pregnant) but Chris stepped in a proxy taster.  He found the patty decently prepared but without a lot of cajun flavor to it.  Kate also had an order of sweet potato fries which she said were “The shit” that personified her love of pub food forged years ago in England.  Chris echoes that, calling the fries taste and texture outstanding.  Ky ordered the Jalapeno Mac & Cheese and the Grilled Cheese: Pepper Jack and american cheddar with tomatoes, Amish loaf and roasted tomato bisque.  She enjoyed the many different levels of spice in the mac and cheese.  I tried it and it did have some great kick to it.  Ky would later tell me that this was the dish at medium heat level.  She found the grilled cheese, which is actually TWO sandwiches, to be pretty standard with a good soup.  Kelsey and I both ordered the Neighborhood Burger with caramelized onion, blue and gruyere cheeses and arugula.   While Kelsey found the burger to be nothing special, I was a slightly bigger fan of it.  The patty was juicy, flavorful and the arugula added a really nice flavor and texture.  What neither of us were feeling were the Kennebec fries with garlic aioli.  Again, great sauce but the texture of these fries were straight up freeze dried.  They reminded me of the potato stick snacks I ate as a kid.  Kelsey felt the difference was strong enough to warrant calling them “fries” at all a bit of a misnomer.

So I was stupid and didn’t get a picture of my burger. This photo comes from Food Smackdown.com. My apologies to them for any food blog etiquette breach incurred herein.

The dessert menu at The Neighborhood is small but I had to try it.  A few of us had the apple pie that was brought in direct from The Neighborhood’s Sister restaurant, Soda and Swine (which I’ve been to and is lovely).  The pie was pretty standard.  I prefer a thicker cut apple filling to the more traditional thin sliced that was served but the flavors were on point.  Aimee was a little tougher on the dish.  She found it lackluster with a bland crust.  She reinforced her point by adding that if a restaurant offers only one dessert on it’s menu, it needs to be spectacular.

Some folks at the table lamented that they would’ve enjoyed a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on top of this. I lamented that I have really weird friends.

So overall I found the Neighborhood to be big on style with a mostly solid menu.  The staff was great.  Our server Matt was dashing, helpful and yes, bearded.   Another thing most folks enjoyed were the home made chips that came with some of the dishes (Kelsey and I went amiss in ordering fries in place of these).  Some also pointed out a negative in charging $2.50 for a can of soda with no refills but my thinking is, in a place like this, you most likely are not there to drink Diet Coke but to enjoy a whiskey flight (Yes, they do that).  I say try it out.  There’s lots of character to this place and it’s a cool place to have lunch or dinner.

Further reading: http://www.neighborhoodsd.com/hood/

You can see pictures of all the dishes listed in this review by checking out The Boy Who Ate San Diego on Instagram!