The main reason for our outing in Imperial Beach today was to celebrate Bert's birthday.
We were able to make it with ten minutes to spare before Happy Hour ended, ha ha...
Their Happy Hour price for beers kind of sucks; it is only $1 less. Bert got the Ommegang le while TC had a Strawberry Spritzer. A group of elderly women asked her what she had because they liked how it looked. As for me, I had a "House Made Infusion", a mango Cosmo (kind of watered down). All of the drinks looked good though, especially since I processed the photo below with some effects on my camera for fun.
Our spread from the Happy Hour Menu:
Baja Bay scallop ceviche (the scallops were sweet and tender and cooked with just enough lime juice). There was a herb on top that I didn't recognize (it wasn't cilantro either), I should have asked. Anyone recognize it?
TC's mac and cheese with truffle oil. This was quite a huge portion and only a few bites were enjoyed before packing it up to go. I'm not a fan of truffle anything because the mustiness tastes like "dirt" to me. The truffle flavor here was very light however, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
This was the roasted beet and arugula salad with tangerines, pecorino cheese and pistacios; the dressing on the side was a "coriander" vinaigrette. Bert and I really enjoyed this salad while TC wasn't fond of the bitter arugula.
Bert's second beer, the same kind as before. It wasn't too heavy like a dark beer would be. It wasn't too hoppy and went down easy with our meal.
Our entrees:
TC's fish and chips (which my co-workers ordered when we went here for lunch in May, post linked at the end), Bert's beef short rib with silky mashed potatoes and broccoli. I was totally adventurous (not) and got the cheeseburger topped with what they call "bacon jam" and aged white cheddar. The bun was brioche, served open face and with the fixings separate. Both the fish and chips and my burger were served with garlic parmesan fries (which were quite delicious and crisp).
I have to say that the burger was pretty good. The meat was cooked medium. I only managed half (since we had all of those happy hour appetizers). The other half will be breakfast, ha ha.
TC was excited because it was "The Golden Hour", which is considered an optimum time to take photos (softer light and with the distinctive reddish golden glow). We took a quick walk to the pier to take advantage of the opportunity before it got too dark.
So nice when the beach isn't crowded.
At the foot of the pier, a lone musician was playing his saxophone for spare change. One of the songs he was playing was "Pick up the Pieces" by the Average White Band. We recognized the riff, but it just wasn't the same without the rest of the instrumentation.
Another song he played that we recognized was "Rise" by Herp Alpert (of The Tijuana Brass fame) from the album of the same name. This song was a hit in 1979 and capitalized on the disco craze.
Herp Alpert is still alive too, 81 years old.
My parents had this Herp Alpert album:
Well hello there. Actually this album has been parodied so many times.
"Rise" was also sampled by the late Notorious B.I.G. for "Hypnotize" (1997):
I totally remember when this song came out and they used to play it on MTV's TRL (Total Request Live with Carson Daly). Notorious B.I.G. was killed shortly after the song was released.
At home, we enjoyed the dark chocolate ganache tort the Bert picked out at Trader Joe's...
Happy Birthday to my dear Husband! :)
Previous visit to Sea 180 Coastal Tavern
"Lunch at Sea 180 Coastal Tavern" May 2016
An older post about the IB Pier:
"IB Sunset" December 2013
Last year's birthday:
"Bert's belated birthday brunch at Center Cut Steakhouse"
Until next year's festivities...
2 comments:
Happy bday to your hub! I loved the photos of the drinks and the burger.
I also think a $1 off for HH is kinda lame. Not really an incentive IMO.
I've been wanting to try that chocolate cake from Trader Joes. It's in the frozen section ? How did it thaw and taste?
I didn't know Golden Hour so thanks for the link. I did notice pics taken during this time turn out quite nice.
Thank you Faye! For the pic of the drinks, I used a wierd filter, playing around with my phone. I am normally not that "artsy". The burger was soooo good. I ate it deconstructed and used a knife and fork. I didn't want to pick it up and bite it.
The TJ's chocolate torte is really good! But it's very chocolatey and rich. I think you would like it. To be honest, we did not thaw it out, ooops. It was hard for me to stick those candles in it. It thawed out okay after 30 minutes, but when he blew out his candles, it was pretty hard to slice. i liked it that way though, ha ha.
I wasn't aware of the Golden Hour either. Lately, TC has been into photography so she schooled us with this phenomenon. It is true, isn't it, that pix taken at that time have a nice "glow" to them.
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