$10 that will make you happy

We at the Linkery are really enjoying the new sausage sandwich on our menu, and we want all of you to come enjoy it, too. So we're offering a deal this week -- the sandwich and a half-pour of draft craft beer (whatever we have in the Pils/light ale category that day, we'll let you know) for $10. This will be good from tonite through Thursday nite.



Don't forget, you can also add bacon and cheese.

Thursday Ritual: Fresh Carlsbad Aqua Farm Oysters and Green Flash 30th St Pale on Cask

Wondering what to do tonight? We'll be spending our Thursday night in air-conditioned bliss, eating fresh local seafood and drinking casked ale :-)
Join us, won't you?

We sent Michael over to Catalina Offshore Products earlier to round up some fresh local fish for tonight's dinner. Then we sent him to the North Park Farmer's Market. He's now shopping for fresh organic produce to accompany tonight's entree. (and our new dessert too!) Very excited to have an organic fruit tart tonight :-)

An EZ Dish: Chicken Nuggets With Mole

Chicken nuggets have a bad rap. And what with their being an icon of industrial food an all, I understand.

But at El Take It Easy, we don't need a poultry scientist to make nuggets worth socking someone in the mouth for. We just need pastured local chickens from Curtis Womach, a traditionally prepared mole sauce, and the talent of chef Max Bonacci.



It's white meat, dark meat, and a touch of the precious bits from Curtis' chicken, lovingly nuggetized by our culinary team and presented to you in a rich dark mole. Available every day at the link, except when we run short on chickens.

Margerum Wines at the Linkery on Thursday

I first discovered Margerum Wines maybe a decade ago, when Gaffney's was featuring them on a night I wandered in. An old friend was in the bar, buying the maximum allocation she could of one of Margerum's Syrahs, and she told me about this winery and the quality of the wine. I bought my first bottle then, and have been hooked ever since.


Check out Joshua Lurie's Q&A with Doug Margerum here

As such, we usually have at least one Margerum-made wine on our menu at the Linkery, whether it's his M5 Rhone, or one of the wines he makes for Happy Canyon such as Barrack or Piocho.

It is with great pleasure, then, to celebrate with Mr. Doug Margerum and Margerum wines on Thursday, in a special pairings dinner. We'll have four wines from Margerum Wine Company in house, and Max will have a pairing for each dish. You can get each pairing for $11, including the food and a small pour of the wine, and also buy food and wine a la carte.

Margerum Chenin Blanc 2008 paired with
Pedrozo Black Butte cheese, Three Sisters Serena cheese, local buckwheat honeycomb, apples

Margerum SYBARITE Sauvignon Blanc 2009 paired with
Local squid scampi, pink grapefruit, tarragon

Margerum M5 Rhone Blend 2007 paired with
Roasted sweet pepper empanada

Margerum ÜBER Syrah 2008 paired with
Griled pastured goat from Farinelli Farm

We'll start at 5:30pm and go until 11:30pm. Full menu available in addition to the pairings. Doug Margerum will be in the house to chat about the wines.

It's going to be a great event.

AleSmith nite at the Linkery - 4 casks, 2 drafts, pairings with pastured meat dishes

Tonite (Thursday) promises to be a great nite at the Linkery -- we've got 4 cask-conditioned AleSmith beers, a couple of their drafts, and Max has made four special pairing dishes for the cask ales, each one featuring one of the amazing meats we get from our independent California farmers.


The Linkery at Alesmith, June 2006

Each pairing is $10 for the food with a half-pour of cask ale, or you can buy the food and/or the beer individually.

The menu:

Anvil ESB | Kettle fried raviolis made with local rabbit from Curtis Womach

Summer YuleSmith | Pastured Central Coast lamb sopes, Righetti Ranch pinquito beans

Nautical Nut Brown | Braised pastured California goat in a blanket

Wee Heavy | Grassfed Spanish Oak Ranches beef bresaola hash with local quail eggs from Wingshadows Hacienda

Full menu also available. The dinner is available from 5:30pm till 11:30pm (or until we run out, of course).

Farmer's Market to Table on August 5

Please join San Diego Weekly Markets and the Linkery for a progressive dinner beginning with an amuse bouch from Viva Pops! at the North Park Farmers' Market and then continuing up North Park Way to the Linkery, where you can enjoy any or all of the following courses featuring ingredients found at the market that day:

Stone fruit salad - Smit Orchards
*
Cheese selections - Taste Artisan Cheese
*
Linkery made lamb and pork hot dog on Linkery baked bun with SoNo whole grain mustard - SoNo Trading Company
*
Strawberry gazpacho with strawberry sorbet - Suzie’s Organic Farm

The dinner will be served at the Linkery until 11:30pm or until we run out of courses. Most if not all of the farmers and artisans will be present at the Linkery after the market ends, to talk about their work and their delicious products.