30th Street Drinkabout Ritual Wednesday February 17th

The folks over at Draft Magazine have a thing for 30th Street and nearby Adams Ave. Ritual Tavern and Hamilton's were honored in the 'Best Beer Bars' issue January 2009. The current 2010 issue repeats the love for Hamilton's and adds Blind Lady Alehouse into the fold.

This Wednesday, February 17th you can enjoy some of the best craft beer bars and restaurants in San Diego, California and the USA (according to Draft) The beginning, middle and end of this craft beer tour are sure to please your palate and your pocketbook. For more info check out sdDrinkabout.com

Your Linkery Valentine

Here’s how the Linkery rolls on V-Day: full menu (not fixed), no reservations, everything’s the same price it always is, it’s casual, we try to make sure everyone has a good time. Neighborhood restaurant style.

This year it falls on a Sunday, which means we open at 10am and stay open 13.5 hours for your Valentining pleasure. (That’s till 11:30pm).

It’s Smokehouse Sunday, and Max told me he’s going to add some grass-fed Prime Rib to the smokehouse in celebration of it being a luxurious holiday. Also, you can figure we’ll have some oysters on hand. Beyond that, it’ll be another Sunday at the Link.

As for the first-come, first-served factor: we’ve got lots of tables. if I recall correctly, last year we were busy but accommodated everyone with minimal waiting.

Anyway, we like Valentine’s Day, everyone’s out and having fun.

Ritual Tavern is for Lovers (and great food too!)

It's a three day Valentine’s Day weekend extravaganza!
(Monday is a Federal Holiday after all)

2 special beers to commemorate the occasion one from the Bruery and one from San Diego’s own AleSmith:

Patrick Rue at the Bruery has created Mélange No. Sechs (Six in German, sounds like sex) - a Valentine’s Day beer brewed with beets (to give it a very red color), rose petals and cocoa nibs. $6 tulip no discount

AleSmith “My Bloody Valentine”* on cask for our Valentine’s Day Dinner and Beer Pairing. A few reservation are available for 5:00pm and 8:00pm on Sunday February 14th. Enjoy 4 courses paired with AleSmith beers, while enjoying the company of your true love (the brewery staff of AleSmith) for $50 per person (+ tax & tip) What's not to love? Enjoy local fish Ceviche paired with Lil' Devil, Lobster Bisque paired with Alesmith X Pale Ale and Jidori Chicken Cordon Bleu with Niman Ranch ham and AleSmith's Horney Devil. Saving the best for last, we'll finish Chocolate Decadence Flourless cake served with cask conditioned 'My Bloody Valentine' for dessert! Unfortunately we won't be able to accommodate walk-ins for this event so please RSVP ASAP!

We've recently added some of our most popular specials to the dinner menu. We've now got a 'Catch of the Day'. Sourced through Catalina Offshore Products, we're currently plating the fish with sundried tomato cous cous, Crows Pass sugar snap peas and beurre blanc. If you're a meat eater, you'll be happy to know that the Niman Ranch Skirt Steak with potatoes au gratin and organic spinach is now available nightly.

Next Wednesday February 17th is the return of the DrinkAbout. Click the link below to get more info and download schedules for the free shuttle service running up and 30th Street!
DrinkAbout info

Cheers!

Valentine's Day Ritual: Sharing Love and Beers with AleSmith

By Reservation Only

5:00 and 8:00pm

Old House Fair - June 19 - exhibitors?

South Park will host the 12th Annual Old House Fair on Saturday, June 19th, 2010. Applications for exhibitors, sponsors and vendors are now available on the website at www.TheOldHouseFair.com.

Drinkabout! Drinkabout!

Wednesday, January 20, from 7 until 11 PM, you can ride the beer bus to eight bars and restaurants, including five on 30th Street, for free! See the bus schedule and route at http://www.blindlady.blogspot.com/
Drinkabout is a great chance to enjoy local craft beers in several awesome neighborhoods without your car.
Sea Rocket Bistro will be pouring some fantastic local beers including Ballast Point Sculpin on cask!
So put on your drinking shoes, grab your coat and hat, leave your car keys at home, and get on the bus!

Weekly Ritual Update Friday January 15th

Tonight's special appetizer is Fresh Diver Scallop over Risotto for in a Bechamel Sauce for $7.00

We're also introducing two Entrée Specials. Black Bass is plating up with Organic Spinach and Basmati for $18.50. Niman Ranch Skirt Steak comes with Guacamole made with Organic Tomato and Avocado from Rancho Gordonises in Fallbrook for $16.50.

New on tap is Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA from Scotland. This weeks Cask Conditioned Ale is Stone’s Arrogant Bastard with Oak.

Looking forward to next week, the monthly Drinkabout returns, this time on Wednesday, Jan 20th.

What's a Drinkabout, you ask?

Drink⋅a⋅bout [ drink-uh-bout ] -noun 1. an informal bus ride taken by members of the communities of Normal Heights, North Park, South Park and beyond, for the purpose of drinking without driving, sampling the wares at multiple local establishments, and being seen by the public.

So here is how it will go down. Each month, 2 lovely buses (Brewery Tours of San Diego) will cruise a loop, stopping repeatedly at EIGHT craft-beer bars and restaurants. You are free to hop on and hop off wherever and whenever you desire starting at about 7pm, at NO COST TO YOU!
The wonderful beer establishments included in this junket? Blind Lady Alehouse, Small Bar, Livewire, Toronado, Sea Rocket, The Station, Hamilton's, & Ritual Tavern. So if you live in Normal Heights you may want to start at Blind Lady, and then hop on and cruise to another part of town to drink, hopping back when you're done and avoiding driving altogether. And likewise, if you live in South Park, check out other parts of town without pesky parking. It's also a great time to check out any places you haven't tried yet, but have been meaning to. All in all, a fun time and the rides are free! The NEXT one is WEDNESDAY, JAN 20th. Check out Drinkabout on facebook for details and bus schedules! (Lee Chase, Blind Lady)

Make your Valentine’s Day reservations now. It’s our Valentine’s Day Ritual to pair AleSmith beers with lovely courses to celebrate this romantic occasion. This year four courses paired with four AleSmith Ales is a steal at $50. Contact the Ritual via email at info@ritualtavern.com or phone 619 283 1618 to reserve your seat for this February 14th event.

Green Drinks Mixer at Home Brews and Gardens

OK, so Home Brews and Gardens isn't actually on 30th Street, but if you stand in just the right spot on the corner of 30th and Thorn, and look just the right way, you can see it from 30th Street, and that's good enough for me. I'll be at the Green Drinks event grilling up Sea Rocket's fish tacos and maybe a couple other treats. If you are interested in the connections between local businesses and protecting our environment, this is a great place to meet others who share your interests, and it also happens to be a lot of fun with great local beer and food.
GREEN
DRINKS
San Diego Green Drinks

SD Greendrinks @ Home Brews and Gardens

Date:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
3176 Thorn St. San Diego, CA 92104


Now that the wreckage of 2009 is past us, here's wishing Greendrinkers a Happy New Year. May 2010 be filled with health, happiness and progress for all. For January, GreenDrinks returns to our old stomping grounds of North Park, where the craft beer flows like wine.

As the name suggests, Home Brews and Gardens is a neighborhood shop for the home brewer and gardener. Whether you’re making wine, brewing beer or growing heirloom tomatoes; Brett, Dennis and Marty have what you need: great top-quality supplies, expert brewing and growing lessons and tips and tricks to make your brews and plants come out great.

They promise fine local beer for us, and maybe even food from special guests to be named later, and a good time is assured. They're looking forward to seeing us, and I think this will be a great one. Who knows - you might learn to grow the food for the next event, or be inspired to be the next great brewmaster to provide us beer!

New Year's at the Link

Here at the Linkery we’ve been getting a lot of calls from folks wanting to come in for New Year’s, which is great. Many folks asked about our no-reservations, walk-in style, wondering if they won’t get a table. In the past, we’ve had a lot of fun on New Year’s, but we’ve never been overflowing or been on a long wait. We expect the same this year, and were looking forward to it.

So come on in, don’t sweat it. 30th Street should be a blast — all the restaurants are staying open late, and we expect a great community celebration.

Oh, and Max told me he’s doing a special chile verde with the absolute last of Curtis’ pastured chicken for the season. No more pastured chicken till late Spring!

Enjoy this New Year's Eve With No Reservations

Here at the Ritual, we know that you shouldn't have to go broke ringing in the new year. We'll honor the end of 2009 by tapping into a cask of one the best ales in San Diego: Alpine Beer Company's Nelson Rye-P.A. We'll also be serving fresh shucked oysters and mussels form Carlsbad Aqua Farms, and serving organic Prosecco by the glass (if you want bubbly). Our full dinner menu will be available for your enjoyment.

Reservations not required or accepted.
no cover charge, no dress code, no stress

Happy Hour 5:30 to 7:30pm Tues - Sat

3:30-9:30pm Sun
$3.50 most taps & $1 off select glasses of wine

Holiday Cheer at Sea Rocket

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have some great craft beers to celebrate the holidays, including a cask of Stone Smoked Porter withVanilla Beans that I just tapped; Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi, a seasonal release, a Gold Ale brewed with Frankincense and Myrh; and AleSmith YuleSmith Holiday Ale, an amber hued winter warmer with generous amounts of both hops and malt. I also accidentally broke our local beer only rule by bringing in the second annual batch of the Stone/ Jolly Pumpkin/ Nogne-O Collaborative Holiday Ale, brewed with chestnuts, white sage, caraway and juniper berries. Turns out that this batch was not brewed at Stone like last year's, but at Nogne-O in Norway. In the spirit of Christmas, I'm going to forgive myself and enjoy this delicious beer anyway. Happy holidays to all!
Chris

Cask and Oyster Night Keeps Getting Better

Each and Every Thursday at the Ritual you can count on a freshly tapped cask of locally craft brewed ale & fresh shucked Carlsbad Aqua Farm mussels. This week, December 17th we'll be serving Lighting Brewery's Amber Ale. "... an American version of classic UK Premium Bitters. Using literally buckets of hops from homegrown hop plants in the backyard and a well stocked homebrew shop, the resulting beer was big, malty, hoppy and enjoyable. You might even say like a “bitters” but bigger and better. We have taken this beer one step further at the brewery by adapting the original recipe to make optimum use of our brewing and fermenting equipment. We include selected British malts in our recipe to bring out the beers’ hoppy character and carbonate naturally to smooth out any possible rough edges."*

And to top it all off. . . this Thursday is the 3rd one in the month. . . and there's shuttle service

*Lightning Brewery Website

Citizen Video is joining forces with some awesome local peeps this holiday to help support the Lindsay Community School's pregnant and parenting teens and their children. Stop by Citizen Video and drop off a gift for the gift drive and get $5 off any of our newly printed tshirts. Moms need new or lightly used clothing or toiletries. Moms are age 12 to 18. Children need baby essentials - diapers, clothes, blankets, bottles, etc. Children are ages 4 weeks to 3 years. We'll finish up our gift drive with our EVE BEFORE THE EVE PARTY at the Whistle Stop on December 23rd. One dollar from every drink will go to benefit the Lindsay Community School. Need an excuse to have a drink during the madness of the holidays. Well now you have a great one.

Is 30th Street in North Park or the North Pole?

It's been so cold outside lately, we're not quite sure ourselves. The Ritual Tavern is the perfect spot to warm your bones and fill your belly this December. Why not come in tonight, have a hot bowl of Shepherd's Pie (or French Onion Soup), a pint of winter ale, and do your holiday shopping at the same time? Ritual Gift Certificates, T-shirts and Hoodies are perfect for most everyone on your list :-)

Happy Hour nightly 5:30-7:30pm
All Day Sunday (3:30-9:30pm)
$3.50 draught beers & $1 off select glass wines

Here on Cask

It seems appropriate to note in this space, that Green Flash 30th Street Pale Ale is on cask at the Linkery right now. Along with several other delicious beers. Oops, it sold out before I got around to blogging it. Never mind.

30th and NYT

North Park -- and in particular the area around 30th and University -- are nicely featured in this Sunday's New York Times. Caffe Calabria, Bar Pink, and us at the Linkery represent the food and drink side, while Planet Rooth, Soul Ryde, and Rubber Rose hold down the retail.

They could have picked from dozens of other businesses in the area and also had a great story, too. That's what I love about this 'hood.

Here's South Park Walkabout Guide

South Park Holiday Walkabout
This Saturday, Dec. 5th - 6 to 10pm

Click here for a shop-by-shop guide that you may print and use.
Free trolley runs 6-10pm, with stops at Grant's Marketplace (Beech St.),
South Bark Dogwash (30th St.) and The Grove on Juniper (Juniper St.).

Bring the family!

Holiday Ritual

Its chilly and dark early, we’ll understand if you need to drop in to the Ritual for some hot soup, cask conditioned ale, music, or holiday ale.

Daniele Spadavecchia on guitar, Stone Levitation on Cask, Oysters on the Half Shell start it all off tonight.

The decorations are up and the Winter beers are rolling in. We have Alesmith YuleSmith on tap. In bottles are Big Sky Powder Hound Winter Amber Ale Shipyard Prelude, Black Diamond Winter Dubbel Ale from Walnut City, and Vintage 2008 Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi.

We have a great cold weather soup, Londoner Sausage (by Knight Salumi) and Shitake Mushroom topped with crème fraiche and fried leeks. Beginning on Friday night we will offer a hearty new entrée; Niman Ranch Lamb Skewer with Souzie’s Organic Turkish Eggplant over Basmati Pilaf with red bell pepper sauce.

This weekend the neighborhood will offer seasonal attractions, including the North Park Toyland Parade on Saturday at 11:00 am and December Nights this Friday and Saturday in Balboa Park.

Top your Saturday off with our Winter Beer Flight featuring the new Winter Powder Hound, Prelude and Dubbel Ale bottles just in and mentioned above for just $5.

Keep the festivities going with our all day Sunday happy hour special featuring a Niman Pulled Pork slider and Onion Rings with selected draught beer for only $8.00.

Cheers!

Celebrate Prohibition Repeal Anniversary w/Alchemy

We often toast to friends, happiness and health. But on Dec.6, South Park restaurant Alchemy encourages raising those glasses to celebrate what we are allowed to fill them with – alcohol.

In celebration of the 76^th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition, Alchemy will be hosting a “Silent Sunday” prohibition cocktail party starting at 8 p.m. Resident mixologist Frankie Thaheld and guest bartender Nate Stanton of El Dorado Cocktail Lounge will be on hand to dish out delicious drinks throughout the evening. As with a traditional “Silent Sunday” at Alchemy, a silent film from Citizen Video will be projected. Local crooner Melly Frances will perform her unique blend of blues and jazz inspired tunes with an accompanying bassist.

SD Tweed Ride, Saturday December 12

A bike ride celebrating style, camaraderie, transportation, and fun. It starts on the 30th Street corridor, natch.