The Linkery

I finally went to The Linkery last night. It is located in the North Park area of San Diego. North Park is an old neighborhood, located northeast of downtown that declined throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s and is now in the midst of gentrification. The 30th Street corridor through North Park is a hot spot, not only for great beer, but also other restaurants and coffee shops. The San Diego location of San Francisco's famed Toronado is a few blocks north of The Linkery, as is Ritual Tavern and Caffe Calabria, an excellent coffee roaster.

If I could create a restaurant it would be like The Linkery. It focuses on farm fresh food and sustainable farming. It has a restrained menu that is dependent upon what is available from farms and other sources of fresh food. The menu is constantly changing and is not constrained by a formulaic approach. It has a thoughtful, eclectic wine list with a number of wines available by the glass, and few, if any, wines from large wineries. The beer list is excellent and diverse, like the wine list. There are no macro beers on tap, unless you include Negra Modelo. It has about six beers on tap (I will describe below what I tasted). Listing what was on tap last night would be pointless because the beers change frequently. One of the taps was a cask beer. (Our waiter recommended a beer that had been on the list the previous day but was no longer on the list, which showed the speed of the rotation not the waiter's lack of knowledge.) It has an extensive list of bottled beers, organized by specialty beers, local crafts, other crafts, German and Belgian beers and a few other categories, including mead (yes mead!). This list, too, is fluid as it already had The Lost Abbey's The Gift of the Magi and Stone's Double Bastard, two recent winter releases.

We had and appetizer of grilled green beans. These were excellent, possibly the best green beans I've ever had. We also ordered the cheese plate. This included three small slices of three types of cheeses and some fruit. One cheese was an English cheese with mustard, one was a hard French cheese and I don't remember the last (goat cheese?), but it was good. For food we had a fish dish, swordfish, that was good, not great, and the meatloaf, which was outstanding. I never had meatloaf like this when I was growing up. It was moist on the inside and crisp on the outside, and served on a warm bed whipped carrots and potatoes.

Since The Linkery makes its own sausages (hence the name Linkery), we ordered two sausages. One was the pork Cincinnati sausage, and the second was a Tandoori Chicken sausage. These were outstanding. I could have eaten these all by themselves.

Now to the beer. I did not order a bottled beer and stuck to the beers on draft. The drafts are offered in either 5 oz, 10 oz or 15 oz glasses. My first beer, shown in the picture, was a 5 oz glass of Edgar's Ale from Pasadena's Craftsman Brewing. Edgar's Ale was listed as a Strong Old Ale and it was served in a wine glass. (BeerAdvocate lists a barrel aged Edgar as an Imperial Stout.) It was nearly black and had large foam that was slow to dissipate. I have posted before that I am not a fan of Craftsman, but Edgar was very good. It was rich and roasty, and its alcohol presence was subdued. I could have had a larger glass and enjoyed this beer.

The second beer, had with dinner, was a 15 oz fresh-hopped beer from Full Sail Brewing. The beer was called Lupilun. The beer was a northwest IPA, with a citrus taste. I thought it was a little too bitter at the finish for a fresh-hopped IPA. But it was a good beer. The final beer (shared) was a 5 oz Green Flash Summer Saison. I only had a small taste, so I can't fully comment, but my initial impression was it was solid and tasted like a traditional saision. It was a pretty beer, with not much foam and a cloudy, straw yellow color.

My overall impression for The Linkery was excellent. It had wonderful food, excellent beer and wine, great decor and is in a vibrant neighborhood. The focus is on the quality of the dining experience and it shows. The one large drawback is the price. This restaurant is expensive. It is on par, in my opinion with the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, but is more expensive. For example, the cheese plate, with three small slices of cheese and some fruit to match was $12.50. Another similar restaurant - focus on food and dining experience - is The 3rd Corner, in Ocean Beach, but it is cheaper, and it emphasizes wine not beer. Its cheese plate, for $10, gives five pieces of cheese, each larger than The Linkery's. To The Linkery's defense, its menu is constantly changing and The 3rd Corner's is static.

The beer and wine were expensive, too. The bottled beer was almost prohibitive for certain releases, which was one reason I stuck to the draft beer. A typical 12 oz bottle was, generally, around $5, and bombers, generally, were $10 and up. The draft beer was $3.50 for a 5 oz glass and the 15 oz glasses were over $5 and a few were over $7. The wine, too, was pricey and the pours were modest.

I understand that it must cost The Linkery considerable sums to focus on fine, fresh food and prepare a fluid menu to match the available food. It is just too expensive to visit frequently. The entrees are not that expensive - $15 to $20 - but the extras are what got to me. The cheese plate noted above and two side links were $11. It should be noted that you can eat cheaper than I did, but I wanted the full dining experience. I would classify it as an "event" restaurant, one you'd visit one or two times a year on special occasions. It is not a weekly or monthly restaurant, unfortunately. The Linkery was packed last night, so I guess it has a steady flow of "event" customers.