Gulf Coast Grill

[Update - Closed in 2011]


[original outing was in early November 2009 but finally being posted now]

I believe this was during the Veterans Day holiday...we were trying to use up our Entertainment Book coupons so that day we went to Balboa Park's Japanese Garden. For lunch, we wanted to try the Gulf Coast Grill (which I hadn't been to in several years) on Park Avenue.

Unfortunately, the 2 for 1 coupon I had for Gulf Coast Grill, which came from a magazine that HotFudge sent me, was not valid during a "holiday" which Veterans Day was. So...we decided to stay despite this glaring error on my part. We'd already sat down and ordered and didn't want to back out now.
Here's the view of outside patio from our table. If you look closely, you can see Henry's Market across the street.

Check out their lunch menu here:

I had the Cornmeal crusted brie with organic mixed greens salad, candied walnuts and honey drizzle. I really liked this dish - especially the candied walnuts. The sweet mixed with the bitter greens and the crunchy crust of the brie was divine. The bread was blah and seemed like an afterthought.

Bert's Jambalaya with with shrimp, spicy andouille sausage, house smoked chicken and topped with a crawfish. Both his and my entree were dusted with some sort of smoky and spicy powder. He really liked this since it had a little bit of everything in there. As for me, I am not a fan of rice that's "soft" or "wet" (sounds like the title of a Prince song there, ha). Doesn't that crawfish look cute?

For TC - we ordered her the House Smoked BBQ Ribs with jalapeno BBQ sauce, fries, slaw (the menu said, "jicama" but this was clearly regular cabbage slaw). The portion was a little much for her so we "helped" her with it. The sauce was also a bit too spicy for her as well but for us, it was normal.

One of the appetizers was clam chowder which we ordered for TC. Although you can't really see it, it had a lot of clams and potatoes and was nicely seasoned. Win for the soup.

Although this was an "almost" coupon meal (a pricy mistake), we still enjoyed our food. It was nice and quiet since we came at the tail end of lunch (1:55 pm) and we almost missed eating there as well. Originally the host thought the chef was about to leave as well for his other job at another restaurant, but he didn't have to go until later so he stayed to make our meal.