We wanted to check out the new beer-centric eatery that took over the old Sculpture Garden Cafe ext to the SD Museum of Art...
Hipsters will be besides themselves knowing that the owners of Tiger! Tiger! (haven't been) and Blind Lady Ale House are the ones spearheading this new eatery. Folks eating there will have a nice view of not only the sculpture garden but of the wide open space of the Plaza de Panama which is now sans parking spaces and cars...
There is a ton of seating inside and out. The fedora clad guys working here were all quite nice and welcoming...
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Very hipstery, eh...You walk in and can order your food at the cart ahead, which is also a super long bar with over 15 taps of craft beers. The bar incorporated old panels which used to be part of the gates to the garden. It's a clever repurposing of the old gate panels which ties in the design elements. The tables were a bit sparse though.
We ordered the sandwich special (not listed) as well as the melon salad...
Panama 66 just opened this past week and offers brunch on the weekends.
We'll have to try their brunch next time. This day we just wanted two small things. So here is where it kind of went downhill. We got our melon salad fairly quickly. Isn't it quite pretty? Yellow melon with canteloupe (not honeydew as listed on the board though), topped with roasted sunflower seeds and julienned mint, flavored with a light citrus vinaigrette. This was a refreshing and light salad...
After about half an hour, we were wondering about our sorpressata sandwich. After asking the girl at the bar, she said there was a "mixup with the numbers". Perhaps when our table number was taken, the server thought we only had one item ordered? Whatever it was, we were a bit irritated. We finally got the sandwich ten minutes after we had asked. Although the server apologized, I was irked that we had to wait that long considering other folks who arrived after us got their food before us. It wasn't even that crowded either. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the server talking to the manager while pointing in our direction. Hmmm....
What made this situation right was the manager who approached us soon after we got the sandwich and apologized for the long wait. He offered to comp us a dessert as well as the sandwich. We passed on the dessert but accepted their offer of a refund on the sandwich.
The sandwich had thin slices of sorpressata, pickled red onions and A LOT of pickle slices and grainy mustard spread within. It was supposed to be served with goat cheese, but I'd asked for a cheese subtitution (provolone or mozzarella) and opted for mozzarella.
I ended up giving most of my pickles to Bert who was only to happy to eat them. Overall the sandwich was quite tasty. It was too bad the service was a bit off the day of our visit. Hopefully they will brush up on the timing of their service. Forty minutes to wait for two items is a bit lame.
While there, we thought we'd take a look at the Sculpture Garden. I don't quite remember the last time we were there, but TC was still quite young (perhaps more than 10 years ago)....
The sculpted monolithic columns were designed by Malcolm Leland in 1965; this is the same sculptor who designed the distinctive gates to the Garden (there is a video linked to the SD City Beat article on the end with more extensive info on Leland).
"Accelerated Point" by Claire Falkenstein
"Sonata Primitive" by Saul Baizerman
"Aim 1" by Alexander Lieberman (1980) - biased sliced aluminum tubes
In the foreground, "Cubi XV" by David Smith (1963-1964) - steel
In the back, "Two Lines Oblique" by George Rickey and in the distance, "Figure for a Landscape" by Barbara Hepworth. The empty slab on the far right used to have a reclining figure by Henry Moore but for some reason, it is no longer there.
A bench with an inspiring quote:
Detail of Malcolm Leland gate:
Here is a very recent article about the repurposing of the gates used in the modular bar of Panama 66:
"Malcom Leland's gates are put into use" SD City Beat, Septemer 8, 2014. The article has a link to a 16 minute long video on Malcom Leland (I didn't link it but I did watch it and it's quite interesting)...
A new look at the Plaza de Panama which is modeled after the great plazas in Europe where folks could walk and congregate without having to worry about cars running them over!
A quick trivial note about the name - "Panama" is taken from Balboa Park's origins hosting the Panana-California Exposition in 1915. The "66" is a nod to the year that the Sculpture Garden opened. I thought it was also a take on the group Brasil 66.
Previous visit when it was known as Cafe Giuseppe, the Sculpture Court Cafe:
SDMA Sculpture Court Cafe October 2009, lunch with TORC and Mr. TJ during a school field trip
Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 performing "Mas que nada" on Earth Kitt's show. Groovy baby!
This song was played to great effect in the first Austin Powers movie!
And now the bastardization by the Black Eyed Peas (featuring Sergio Mendes on the keyboards!):
Sorry but Wil.I.Am cannot sing worth $#%@!!!! Actually none of them can, that's why they need auto-tune. Okay, rant over.
Panama 66
1450 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone
www.panama66.blogspot.com
More info on the Sculpture Garden:
"Balboa Park garden where bronze and steel bloom", February 24, 2010. It's a bit outdated since it references the previous Cafe Giuseppe, but shows the now missing Henry Moore sculpture.
and this more recent blurb from the SDMA website:
"Marcy S. May Sculpture Court & Garden"
Despite the delay in getting our sandwich (which was eventually comped), we definitely want to give this place another chance or two or three. I am curious about the donut and beer pairing (the beer is Alesmith's Speedway Stout, which is pretty strong); Bert would also like to try a beer over a future lunch as well. The folks working here seem to want to please their customers. With their menu offerings, they have to be able to cater to families with babies and small children (we saw quite a few that morning), old folks, hipsters, and tourists, and so on.
2 comments:
Glad you had some extra time when you stopped here and very nice to see they apologized for their mistake, without you asking for anything. The food looks very good. I love the Sculpture garden and all the museums there; we usually go on a Tuesday, but haven't been during this weather. (On a side note, the 2015 SD County Fair will be highlighting Worlds Fairs and Balboa Park.)
Yes, I'm glad that they recognized their error. I would've been really po'd if they hadn't. maybe you and your husband can check this place out on a future Tuesday...
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