San Diego Food Love: barleymash

Mark and I went on a San Diego staycation over the weekend to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It was a much needed solo trip! We stayed at the Hacienda in Old Town and trolley’d around the area to Little Italy and downtown. On Saturday evening we took the trolley from Old Town to the Gaslamp station and headed over to Barleymash. We really wanted to go somewhere fun but with good food and we found just that! 

Let me introduce you to the Maine Event: an anejo tequila and butter-poached Maine lobster Mac n Cheese with white truffle aioli and parmesan cheese. This my friends, is a must try! The chunks of lobster on this thing were huge and amazingly delicious.

Before we settled on our menu options I tried the barley margarita. The margarita was right on par and if you’d like, they’ll through in some red bull for extra fun.

We had the most amazing server when we visited barleymash. He gave us incredible recommendations and really listened to us. We ordered the San Diego Iron Fries and the Spicy Shrimp Skillet for our appetizers. Both of these dishes were incredible and I would order both again. The San Diego Iron Fries are not your typical fries from the local taco shop. These fries are baked in a brick oven and topped with stout braised short ribs among a pile of other tasty ingredients. I do wish they had these at my local taco shop though. The Spicy Shrimp Skillet really wasn’t too spicy but it packed a lot of yummy flavors. The shrimp is cooked and served in a garlic-chili butter with tequila, wasabi cream and herbs.

We were overly delighted to meet the chef, Kevin Templeton. He brought out our main course and I noticed his chef jacket right away. We thanked him so much for the food and I asked if I could take a photo. He is a super nice guy. Actually the whole staff at barleymash was very friendly and accommodating. They really want to make sure everyone is happy and satisfied with their food and drink options.

This is the Ida Bailey Martini and one of my new favorite drinks. It’s a mixture of Sky citrus vodka, strawberry, basil and lime. Oh so delicious. I think the strawberries must be fresh and muddled because it tasted so good. I could have stayed all night and sipped on these classy martinis. 

For our other main course we had the Stout Braised Short Ribs with arugula mashed potatoes, farmhouse veggies and a coffee demo-glaze. The chef really knows what he is doing with these short ribs. They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and spread on top of a delicious pile of creamy potatoes. 

The portions are pretty big and our eyes were definitely bigger than our tummies. We could have probably just shared one appetizer and one entree but we really wanted to try a few items to get a good feel for the restaurant. And if that wasn’t enough…

The B.A.B.B.
This homemade like twix bar was something among amazing. I have never had a dessert quite like this one. It’s a shortbread cookie with a chewy Jim Beam honey caramel, dark chocolate topping and served with a fresh made ice cream. The ice cream flavors change weekly based on what the chef makes for the week. This particular ice cream was a Jim Beam honey carmel B.A.B.B special and went perfectly with the cookie. We could not get over how good this dessert was. And now that I am writing this post I want to go back and get another.

Have you been to Barleymash before?
I have been a couple times for dancing in the evening but never before for dinner. I have heard that they had great food but I never knew how good till this weekend. The really awesome thing about barleymash is that it is a super fun place to go. I have stopped in for a drink with friends, gone dancing and now we’ve gone for the food. Mark and I were too full for dancing this time around so we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep! Next time I want to get a group together for a late dinner, so we can stay for dancing at 10.

Barleymash
600 5th Avenue
San Diego, CA
619-255-7373

We received a meal for media consideration. All opinions are my own.