Meals with Friends: The Lion's Share, Okan, Savory Garden, Santouka, and Izakaya Sakura

It seems that I've been having quite a few meals with great friends of mine recently, so here's a rundown:

The Lion's Share:

Ange, Peter, and John wanted to meet up for a bite and some cocktails....not really a specialty of mine, but I thought why the heck not. I got to choose and went with The Lion's Share and new Gastro- Craft Cocktail Lounge (Gastro-lounge???)  that features a good amount of wild game on the menu. It did help that the four month old restaurant/lounge stood right around the corner from the Orange Line's Seaport Village stop. No drinking and driving for me......

I actually took the photo of the building because of the fellow in the photo to the right. He's come out everytime a trolley would stop and watch the folks getting out of the trolley, head turning left and right, then walk back in....until the next trolley would arrive! Quite entertaining.....

I usually don't post on these type of meals in San Diego, there are more than enough coverage of most of them, but what the heck, I actually took my camera out for a change while John and I waited for Peter.....

I decided to try one of the cocktails....this one was called Fernet About It....featuring Scotch and Fernet Branca....fairly strong, but nice and relaxing. Soon enough John arrived and we just chatted for a while........ Peter was running on "Peter time", so we just kinda hung out at the bar.....

Finally, we just figured to order some food....we really didn't know if Ange and Peter were actually going to make it. I ordered two starters and an entree, figuring we'd be heading somewhere else after......

First to arrive were the Antelope Sliders ($12).

Even though sliders are now kind of cliche, I gotta say these were very good. Slightly gamey, cooked to a perfect medium, seasoned, but not too heavily, the sweetness of the red onion marmalade cut any strong gamey flavors. This was the best item of the night.

Strangely, the Buffalo Bolognase with Bone Marrow ($18) arrived next before our second starter......

 I should have given this better thought and chosen better.......this was very bland, except for the cheese which killed everything...the bone marrow gave the dish a strange greasiness that I didn't enjoy. It was rich in a rather unpleasant way for me.....

While we were digging, the Potato Puffs($7) arrived.

These were basically mashed potato croquettes....which were seasoned nicely, but not crisp enough for me. The malt vinegar aioli tasted like what you'd think a  mildly sour mayonnaise would.

By this time Ange and Peter arrived and they were able to sample the food as well...before we took of to our next destination to meet up with even more friends.

Overall, those sliders were very good, but if I ever return I'll pick a different entree. I did enjoy my drinks ($11) and the guys manning the bar were very friendly. The place is pretty dark and the space gets very loud very quickly.

The Lion's Share
629 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, California 92101
Open daily 4 pm - 2 am

Lunch at Okan:

My Buddy Dennis has done a great job covering lunch at Okan and our very own Cathy has done a couple as well. I recently met Candice for lunch and we decided that Okan was the perfect spot. I ended up ordering the Buta Kakuni Lunch Combo ($9.50).

I had mentioned being somewhat disappointed in the Buta Kakuni in a previous post and wanting to try it again. Well, this just confirmed it.....a bit too tough and dry with regards to buta kakuni for my taste. It's also on the bland side. The boiled egg was also dry and the yolk way overdone.

It's time to move on to better things on the menu. The conversation was much better than the food and it was nice chatting to Candice before her upcoming trip to Paris.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch at Savory Garden:

**** Savory Garden has closed

I got another chance to meet my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) "MrZ", the Zompus for lunch at Savory Garden. Since I'd only had the Niu Rou Mian here, I thought this would be a nice chance to try something else. I went with the Pork Chop Lunchbox ($7.49).

In terms of portion size, maybe a bit more pork would help. It was fried nicely and seasoned fairly well. The best thing on the plate were the vegetables, a nice sweet and sour. The topping on the rice tasted bitter and I could have done without that and the egg was overcooked and rubbery. There were two tables of customers during our visit, during peak lunch hour....I'm not sure if this place is going to survive.

Savory Garden
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch with Ed from Yuma at Santouka:

I've been here and posted on the place too many timesto even bother.........it's the same 'ol, same 'ol.

I don't think I've seen Ed from Yuma, in a while....the last time I recalled he basically sucked down a baklava from Sultan so fast I thought the plate was going to take off! It was nice seeing an old friend. What was really interesting, was to see that Ed has pretty much hit rockstar status.....when he's not taking writers from the Arizona Republic on Taco Truck tours he's meeting with his adoring public. There was a nice woman having ramen next to us....when she got up to leave she said, "excuse me for interrupting....but are you Ed from Yuma? I really enjoy reading your posts!" Pretty soon Ed will be beating them off with a stick! Seriously, it was nice meeting you Yoshiko (please correct me if I got your name wrong!) and thanks for reading!

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Dinner with my best friend at Izakaya Sakura:

Well, you can pretty much guess who that is, right? Yes, there are times when I feel She's my only friend, so who better to spend a nice mild evening with at Izakaya Sakura. In the mood for something I hadn't had from the menu I went with the Sara Udon, which Dennis posted on here.

I love most crispy noodles (except for those that are almost powdery) and this "bari men" thin pan fried noodles did the trick. The "gravy" was quite flavorful; in fact, the Missus kept poaching stuff of my plate. The shrimp and baby squid were cooked nicely. Kind of pricey at $12, but the portion size was fairly hefty.....I'm probably going back to Gyokai Natto Don (which is now on the menu) the next time, but this was a nice change of pace. And who better to spend the evening with, right?

I also got confirmation that they are taking over the space previously occupied by Chilies Thai for a Japanese-Italian Restaurant.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go....some meals with friends...perhaps the food may not have been the best, but the company is always great. A nice way to end our Thursday and take us into Friday!

Comments

[Dennis]

Thanks for the mentions Kirk. I dropped in Viet Bakery a few days after you had and they were still out of a lot of stuff. Oh well. :(

[Ange]

Thank you for inviting us to Lion's Share. Always fun! I liked the antelope sliders and the kind of wacky decor!

[Kirk]

Hi Dennis - I haven''t managed to get back there yet......sounds like they still aren't quite ready.

Hi Ange - The pleasure was mine.

[Jason]

Kirk, you do realize that you're about a notch away from rockstar status too?

[Faye]

Antelope??!! Can you describe the taste? And OMG, what animal head is staring at you at the bar??!!

I've never tried Okan for lunch. I've seen Dennis' post on it. But the portion always seem so tiny!

[Kirk]

LOL Jason....far from it, I assure you!

Hi Faye - It was moist pleasantly gamey....I believe that is a mounted Oryx. Good buta kakuni is rather expensive to make if you use good ingredients. The one at Okan however, falls short. I will say that I wasn't hungry after my meal until dinner.