We were going to meet our good friend Superman for lunch at a venue of his choice...
I was excited when he informed me that he chose Solace & the Moonlight Lounge. I'd heard good things about it and we haven't really explored Encinitas before.
A wrong turn brought us to this side street. Just up the hill is the Pacific Ocean...
We were able to find parking on S. Coast Hwty 101 and did a short walk to meet up with Supe. The restaurant was in this shopping complex, Pacific Station, a "premier upscale mixed use development" anchored by Whole Foods and our lunch destination. Ooh...well now.
See the balcony? That's where we ate...now let's go in, eh.
It was still quite early which was nice. Beat the lunch rush was our idea.
There was this cool painting as you walk up the steps...
where there is a cool looking bar and another dining area. Lots of light in here. Very nice.
As mentioned earlier, we chose to eat outside...
Towards the back near the bathrooms was this cool contraption that held live potted herbs.
We already knew what we wanted, having checked the menu ahead of time...
The menu was quite similar to that of Urban Solace in North Park. This was no coincidence because Solace is the sister restaurant to Urban and the owner and executive chef of both restaurants is Matt Gordon.
We all ended up getting sandwiches.
Bert and Supe both got local craft beers...
Our server was this young gal who was super cool and friendly.
Bert's beer was the San Diego based Butcher's Brewing Brown Ale (7.6% abv) while Supe's was the Nitro Oatmeal Stout (6.8% abv; thicker foam and same brewing company).
Our entrees:
TC's Roasted Pork Loin Sandwich with arugula, caramelized onions, fig jam and cambozola cheese. All of our sandwiches came with fries and pickle spears (except mine did not have fries).
Bert's Banh Belly with BBQ's Duroc (ooh, pedigreed) pork belly with pickled onions and herbson a toasted baguette. Supe was here a few days prior and had the same thing. Story about this later.
Bert liked the crust for this bread but it wasn't quite the same as the other banh mi sandwiches he's had at the past. This was the more upscale version. The restaurant even had the slices jalapenos on the side
Supe's Triple A with albacore, almond apple salad with lemon thyme aioli, lettuce and tomato and his favorite add on ingredient, BACON.
That's an interesting flavor combination. Leave it to Supe for pairing up fish with bacon.
Here are the innards of Bert's banh mi...
When Supe ordered this a few days earlier, he thought it was named the Banh Belly just to be trendy. He exclaimed, "Hey it's NOT a fake banh mi", not realizing that the chef overheard his comment. Supe was examining his sandwich when the chef came over and asked if everything was all right. He thought that Supe didn't like it and had expressed displeasure.
On the contrary, Superman was quite happy that they had all of the ingredients down right but with pork belly as the protein, which was like a big step up. He didn't realize later that the dude was THE chef and owner, haha.
TC's sandwich was piled pretty high...
It had all kinds of flavors going on. I probably would have enjoyed this if it didn't have that cheese on it.
Rather than a whole sandwich, I got the 1/2 Sando Combination, choosing to have the chicken salad sandwich with clam chowder (I knew that the term "sando" is short for sandwich, but in Tagalog, the word "sando", pronounced, "saahn-DOUGH" means "undershirt", ha ha) and a house salad.
This rich and creamy chowder was chock full of clams and diced potatoes. I lovedit and so did TC. The portion was just perfect as well. The house salad was also quite fresh and not marred by any dressing (just a lemon wedge on the side as requested).
I ended up eating the filling and not much of the bread. The candied pecans and grapes in the chicken salad sandwich provided texture and sweetness. There was more bread than filling and I kind of wished the bread was thinner or I would have eaten it.
If we ever go up here again, I'd like to try some of their other entrees as well as their biscuits (if they're the same as Urban Solace's) with orange honey butter, OMG. Biscuits. Yes.
Who else went to Solace & the Moonlight Lounge?
Kirbie has been here twice: first visit and second where she had brunch with Mr. K.
Solace and the Moonlight Lounge
25 East E St.
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 753-2433
www.eatatsolace.com
Articles:
"Solace and the Moonlight Lounge now open" - SD Union-Tribune, August 2011
Thrillist - August 2011
Up next...a quick stroll down the main drag and an awesome view of the beach...
4 comments:
It's nice to see all of the bread offerings in one post (and yes, yours was a bit too thick, or the filling was too sparse, especially compared to TC's, which seems to include a salad as filling). The soup looks great. Nope, never would pair bacon with seafood salad...
Hi Cathy - it was a "sandwich" kind of day, haha. I couldn't even bite my sandwich - it was too thick (mostly bread), so I just deconstructed it. The filling was too sparse for my liking, but it was pretty good from what I recall. This was a really nice place with excellent service.
I saw the location when I went to the Whole Foods there, but I wasn't able to stop in (but I wanted to). The food looks good. Funny about the chef/owner overhearing your friend! I like the sandwiches look fresh and piled high. I'd want to try the pork belly thing too... because uh, hello - pork belly! Too bad your bread was too thick, maybe you could have switched out the bread if you ever get it again.
Hi Mary - I'm still not into WF. I don't have money to burn.
Yeah, my friend said the chef was totally concerned and wanting to know what was wrong. he doesn't know how my friend can come off when he makes comments. i wish i was there when that happened.
I didn't know my bread would be that thick. that was kind of a rip just thinking about it now. too much bread and not enough filling.
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