D Bar

[Closed as of December 2015]

I'm glad that I ate light earlier that day at Moby Dick because later that evening I would be meeting with some friends to celebrate a belated birthday...

My friend, who I shall dub Mr. TJ (TJ for "tight jeans") wanted us to try the newly opened D Bar in Hillcrest...(Heh heh, I wanted to type D Bag)

We got lucky by snagging a space right across from the restaurant. Some of us San Diegans may remember this place as the former parking lot next to Corvette Diner (which is now the breakfast spot "Snooze", located right next to D Bar; same owners).

So let's cross the street now, shall we?

Both the exteriors of D Bar and Snooze are identical in appearance. Modern and clean looking. Lots of overhead space...

They originally sat us in the back past the bar. This shit wouldn't do. It was kind of dark and we wanted to enjoy the natural light still. Why the fk did they do that anyways? It's not like the place was crowded or anything.

The better view from our new seats, which was in the back but in the more "open" area of the restaurant.

The tile insets at our table...

Our dinner party consisted of myself, Mr. TJ (the birthday celebrant), La Ley, and joining us later that evening was our dear friend MFH.  Just us four.

Happy hour ended at 6 and it was 5:30 so we got busy ordering our drinks.

Here is their regular menu:

First round - La Ley and Mr. TJ both got the English Garden (citrus mint tea with vodka, basil, and cucumber) while I got the St. Germaine (champagne with soda). Their drinks were sweet, almost too sweet with an herbal taste to them. Mine was a bit more plain but easier to enjoy my food with since the flavors didn't really clash.

La Ley and Mr. TJ ordered a second round of drinks - a Cosmopolitan and a Gin and Tonic. I've never had gin before and really liked how clean it tasted.

Our appetizers came out in quick succession. These were the chips with guacamole. Points for presentation, but very awkward to eat. Everything was separate. I would have liked the guacamole to be mixed with the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It was unwieldy trying to eat chips this way.

This was the pizza from the Happy Hour Menu (sorry I don't have the description) - topped with cheese, pine nuts and bacon...So good!

These were the curiously named "Crue Fries". Like Crue as in Motley Crue? In any case, this was totally an upscale presentation of what is essentially bar food - fried smoethered with cheese, sour cream, chives, and bacon! Was it good? Hell to the yeah!

These were the waffle cut sweet potato fries which came with the Sorta Torta (from the regular menu). This was Mr. TJ's entree...

And here it is. Looks like they used those fancy bamboo skewers for the sandwich. The filling was pulled pork and came with a small cup of au jus. The fries and cup were resting on top of small squares of what looked to be kitchen shelf liner. Interesting. I wonder if those squares are re-used or if a worker has to cut new squares from a roll each night.

The pulled pork with coleslaw filling:

Both La Ley and MFH had the Tahini grilled Salmon on top of salad (mixed greens with edamame and grilled bok choy) which they both loved.

As for me, I chose the mini Kobe beef sliders. So cute these were. I only ate one and a half (Mr. TJ had one in exchange for a small piece of his torta). I didn't think I could handle a full entree. The buns were so cute and the meat very tasty.

Dessert was their version of a molten lava cake with a quenelle of pistachio ice cream on top, chocolate sauce and what their menu described as raspberry "compote" which it wasn't since the fruit was fresh and did not appear to be cooked in syrup at all. I didn't like the texture of the cake. It tasted kind of gummy to me.

I chose the Pie Curious dessert - Three different handpies served with vanilla ice cream. Of the three pies, I only tasted two of them (cherry and apple). I liked these much better than the chocolate cake, especially since this had a nice flaky crust.

Since I don't really follow all the food trend or food news, I didn't realize that the owner, Keegan Gerhard, was a celebrity pastry chef and former host of Food Network's "Food Network Challenge". My friends were excited to see him standing by the dessert bar. La Ley saw him doing a cooking segment at their hotel five years ago during her honeymoon in Hawaii.

Here's the view by the time we left...several hours later!

Previous birthday posts for Mr. TJ:

2010 - Cucina Urbana
2009 - Arriverderci
2008 - JRDN at Tower 23
2006 - Vagabond (this was one of my first posts with photos!)

For the life of me, I can't find any documentation that we went out in 2011 and 2007!

Who else went to D Bar?

Kirbie went here last month and sampled some of the desserts (the Pineapple v. 2.0 looked pretty cool!)

D Bar
3930 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA
(619) 299 - 3227

DBarSanDiego.com

Other writeups on D Bar by the SD Reader:
Blurb and actual review (with more info on the "celebrity chef owner, better descriptions on the decor,etc.)

Service was really good here.  Our waitress was super awesome and there was another worker (a guy) who was super cool to us. The only downside was that La Ley's Cosmo cocktail glass had a crack in it. In fact, she almost swallowed a small piece of glass that she found in her mouth! WTF right? Scary. Her glass did not come cracked and we have no idea how it got cracked on the rim. This glass shard incident reminded me of the total fuckery that I experienced at Nam An last year with CAB. Unlike Nam An, however, D Bar graciously comped the drink for La Ley and gave her a new one with profuse apologies. And lightning does strike twice because MFH wanted a Cosmo as well and her glass came with a small hairline crack. That too was quickly replaced. So, if you're getting drinks there, check your glasses for cracks! Seriously!