Vol. II, No. 28 - February 16, 2012
Decked out
I’m not so sure the guy who seated me at The Gathering restaurant will exactly write home about my attire. On second thought, maybe he will. In my defense, I visited the Mission Hills eatery pretty much on the spur of the moment—but it’s true that I was wearing a kaleidoscopic poncho and a pair of pumpkin-orange shorts. Those are hardly the sartorials of choice in a beautiful little eatery like that. Not unexpectedly, I got one of those looks.
All I wanted to see is if the prices on staples like hamburgers and nachos were competitive. Not only are such items delicious and eminently affordable, but you get to eat them in a totally clean, well-lighted place, with soft jazz piped in and two cool big-screen TVs at your disposal over the bar. The Goldfinch Burger ($7.95 and so named for the restaurant’s cross-street) is charbroiled, so it’s best well-done—and if you don’t order the onion soup to go with it, you’re dumber than I look in that silly poncho. A slate of breakfast and lunch items also awaits, with higher-priced entrées big enough to split (at $19.95, the steak Napoli is reportedly off-the-charts spectacular). Your part of the bargain involves driving to 902 West Washington St., where the venue is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day (’sep for Fridays and Saturdays, when it closes at 11 p.m.). The number is 619-260-0400, or you can educate yourself beforehand at www.thegatheringrestaurant.com.
Meanwhile, I seriously can’t figure what that guy at the door was weirded out about. As guys’ legs go, mine are actually very nice, so it couldn’t have been the shorts. Next time, just to be safe, I’d better leave the fishnets in the car.
Look what's in store
Fifty Seven Degrees, which moved from Downtown to Mission Hills last year, takes its name from the best temperature to store and age red wine. The measurement is a vestige of the really old days in France, when the vintners found the ideal climates for their product inside a series of cool, sunless caves. Wine, after all, is a foodstuff because of its fruit component; any warmer, and the odor might start to remind you of, uh, something else.
But the name means what it says at this wine bar, which is also San Diego’s largest wine retailer—the back room is full of lockers and chilled at the requisite temp for those who prefer to keep their booty at a separate location (the venue has a 600,000-bottle capacity, so it’s sure to accommodate you no matter the size of your collection). The real payoff is at the bar, or, if you like, the sprawling patio; check out the stunning menu that includes everything from Chardonnays to Pinot Noirs to Merlots, produced everywhere from San Diego County to South Africa. (There's an Australian Chard called Pure Evil on the list; the label is mounted upside down in a show of the arid fun inside. If the dessert angle intrigues you, you must try the Moncucco Moscato from Italy—watermelon never went down so easy.)
Fifty Seven Degrees, at 1735 Hancock St., is open Tuesdays through Fridays at 3 p.m., with its retail store open Mondays through Saturdays at 11 a.m.; the number is 619-234-5757, and the website address is fiftysevendegrees.com. A glass runs anywhere from $7 to $20, with a bottle of Portuguese Krohn Porto Colheite setting you back $120. But the blow is softened amid the staff’s attention to your every comfort.
These reviews originally appeared in San Diego CityBeat.