BLAH

The first annual San Diego Beer Week has officially kicked off!  Mark and I decided to initiate this 10-day beer-fest by visiting one of our new favs, Blind Lady Ale House (BLAH).  We don't live anywhere near this establishment, but when you are in pursuit of good craft beer with good food pairings, it really doesn't matter if it's in your backyard or not.  We do have the Shack in our neighborhood, but as far as good beers go, they fall a bit short.  Shack, we love ya, but tonight, we were on a mission to seek out some tasty craft brews.  That's exactly what BLAH has to offer and a lot of them.  Mark began his evening with a Craftsman Bourbon-Barrel Aged Edgar's Ale while I quenched my thirst with the Hanger 24 Alt Ale.  The Edgar's Ale has the appearance of a stout, but with an incredibly smooth and robust flavor, it's far from it.  Out of the huge variety of beers to choose from, Mark was extremely pleased with his selection and gives it 4.5 out of 5 stars.  My 24 Alt was a red ale that is made with chocolate roasted malt.  I can't get enough malt, whether it be in beer or malt shakes.  I'll take malt however I can get it.  Now onto the food...

The BLAH's menu is ever changing due to the fact that they buy local and what is in season.  Music to my ears.  According to their website, about 97% of their produce is from California, mainly Crows Pass in Temecula and the Santa Monica Farmer's Markets, via Specialty Produce. BLAH's menu consists mainly of Napoletana style-pizzas, so this place is definitely not your ordinary pizza & beer joint.  Some are more traditional pizzas, and some quite unique.  We had to try two.

We started with the Salsiccia.  House made Italian sausage, rapini, oregano, mozzarella, tomato sauce.  It was simple, but so flavorful.  Far too often, I taste pizzas where it seems the restaurants are scared to use a good amount of oregano.  I was hoping since they actually listed oregano in the description of the pizza, that this wouldn't be the case.  I was in luck - it was delicious and robust.  The rapini added a bitterness that was quenched perfectly by the beer.  All in all, a finely executed pizza. 

Now onto our second course :)    Of course we had to partake in another round of beer as we were waiting for pizza number two.  I faithfully had another Hanger 24 Ale and Mark changed it up for a lighter Ommegang Hennepin, a golden belgian-style ale.  Our pizza choice was quite different this time.  A delicate Asian pear and leek pizza, with gruyere and bits of ham.  The pear was sliced paper-thin and add just the right amount of sweetness to the leeks and gruyere.  Complimented by the salty ham, it was a match made in heaven.

Even though we gave it our best effort, we could only eat one slice each of this one, due to our 100% consumption of the first one.  But come on, who doesn't love leftover pizza?  Thank you, BLAH, we can't wait to come back!

P.S.  The email subscription box wasn't working before, so I believe it is fixed now.  Even if you previously signed up before, I'm afraid you'll have to do it again to activate the subscription.  Thank you!