Rocky's Crown Pub

A couple of months ago I was happily chewing on a burger in a PB bar when an acquaintance showed up, saw the burger and gasped: "You're eating a burger ? Here ? This is not the right place. If you want a good burger, go to Rocky's". Talk about a burger Nazi, I thought. Then I forgot about it until I read in the Union Tribune that the "king of the burgers" in PB was... Rocky's. A few weeks afterwards I went to a barbecue where I noticed that a friend was proudly sporting a Rocky's T-shirt. He confirmed that yes, it was the best place in PB for burgers. I figured it was time to check what all the hype was about.

So last Friday we did go to Rocky's for, well, burgers.

The place was pretty full and buzzing, but although we were obviously not part of the regulars, it was very easy to get the bartender to take our order and he was very friendly. The menu is pretty simple: there is the 1/3 lb burger, and the 1/2 lb burger. Oh and yes you can opt to add cheese ("white or orange"). That's it. They also have a couple of beers on tap, including the Rocky's, which turned out to be a very nice ale, rather on the sweet side. So there we sat, anxiously waiting for the famed (cheese)burgers while sipping the (very good) beer. They finally came and I took a bite of mine.

So how was it, you ask me. Was it that extraordinary ?

Well, it was a good burger. Fresh ingredients and well cooked meat, prepared exactly as a burger should be. But it was just that. Nothing unexpected, nothing extraordinary. I have to say that for $4.95 (1/3 lb burger) it is very good value. However I do not mind paying a little extra for something more exciting, like the lamb and red beet burger at Bare back Grill, or the burger with prefectly melted onions in Cass Street Bar.

So if all you want is a just a burger for a good price, go to Rocky's. For anything beyond that you might have to look elsewhere.

Bare Back grill

This new bar/burger joint opened a couple of weeks ago on Mission Boulevard in PB. The inside looks very inviting: the walls are covered with light polished wood, with matching collective wooden tables and chairs. The whole thing looks like the inside of a refined beach hut, with a lighting that makes everybody looks tanned and gives a nice warm glow to the room.
They have a couple of beers on tap, including their own Bare Back beer (some kind of amber lager) and Karl Strauss Woodie Gold.
Since most of the tables are big, collective ones you have to share with other patrons, which is conducive to starting conversations.
On the food side they serve mostly burgers, with Angus beef, lamb, fish or tofu. The lamb burger was pretty good, with blue cheese and, unexpectedly, beet roots (nice combination).

Bonny Doon California Ca'del Solo Big House Red 2003

On one outing to Rafaela (see one of the previous posts) I decided to bring a bottle of Bonny Doon California Ca'del Solo Big House Red 2003. I had bought it because I was surprised to see a Bonny Doon bottle with a screw top, so I wanted to give it a try.
The party included another French guy who was not at all happy about the screw top ("What kind of wine is this ?" he sneered, scrutinizing the label and pointing at the screw top). We opened his wine first, which was fine, and then we moved on to the Bonny Doon bottle, after I begged him to set all his cork-related prejudices aside. He swirled the wine in his glass, sniffed it, took one sip, then another appreciative sip, then had to admit it was "pretty good".
This wine has spicy, fruity flavors. It is not complex but it is fun and easy to drink and goes well with spicy food such as cajun-style pasta.

Rafaela

A restaurant where you can bring your own wine without a corking fee ?

Yes it does exist (in PB at least).
Rafaela (5119 Cass St) lets you do just that, and incidentally also serves Italian food. The word has spread quickly since as you approach the restaurant you can spot flocks of locals walking down the street with numerous wine bottles. The restaurant consists of a regular beach house and the adjacent patio (part of it covered) all lit up with Christmas lights (as they like to do all year-round in Southern California). It is a bit like having dinner in your own backyward, with your own wine, only you don't have to cook.
The food is average, but everything mentioned above more than compensate for this. Plus it is quite cheap, and two out of three nights we went there we got free dessert (one time lemon pound cake, the next time lemon cheesecake) for no particular reason. The rapsberry salad and the chicken tequila fettucine are the best dishes we have tried so far.

Just Fabulous Kensington

This is a good restaurant on 4116 Adams Avenue. It started out mostly as a dessert place but they now also serve food and wine. They have a terrific cheese plate with a good selection of domestic and foreign cheeses - manchego, goat cheese, munster, petit basque (?? I could not match that one to anything I have eaten in France) - as well as candied figues, quince paste, sliced pears and apples, grapes and an array of artisan breads. At $18.95 it is more than enough for two. You can pair it with wines by the glass. The Viognier they offer is pretty good, and so it is the Sauvignon blanc from New Zealand (forgot to write down the name).
Regarding the main dishes we have tried the duck and ricotta raviolis (not bad but nothing like the cheese plate) and the spicy shrimps with rice noddles (a bit bland looking but quite tasty with a nice lemony flavour).
Their desserts have a really good reputation too but the only time we tried one (home-baked cookies with assorted ice-cream) I was a bit buzzed from all the wine before and thus only have a very fuzzy (althoug agreable) recollection of it.

It is right next door to the Landmark Ken movie theater so it is a nice way to start the evening before seeing a movie (plus the wine wears off while you are watching it).