Before we left on our last trip the Missus wanted to have a nice dinner out. Going thru our recent "quick visits" it ended up being between Black Radish and Wolf in the Woods....and Black Radish just seemed to be priced too high...heck, we ate at a Michelin Bib Gourmet listed restaurant in Paris for much less than Black Radish. And WitW starts service at 4pm with outdoor seating, so I ended up making reservations there.
And because we had dinner early, there was actually parking in front of the restaurant and we were the only customers when we arrived.
Our service was just as good this time around. The Missus made sure to ask for a stemmed wine glass as we remembered getting served wine in tumblers. The tables are a bit on the "cozy" side, but since we're used to eating in Europe, the tiny tables really don't bother us too much.
As we'll often do; we made a meal out of just appetizers and we stuck with the one item the Missus loved on our previous visit and tried three "new" items.
Starting with the Calamari ($14). We don't often order fried calamari since it tends to be hard and chewy; but this was light and crisp.
The red pepper flakes was a nice addition....the sliced fried padron peppers and the overly strong sauce were really not necessary. We'd definitely have this again.
The Sweet Corn and Pinon Soup ($14) was just as good as on our last visit.
Lovely, great, not overly sweet maize flavor; loved the smoky-mildly spicy Hatch Pepper powder and the pine nuts just added a nice layer of flavor to the dish.
Next up; the Yellowtail Aqua Chile ($19).
The hamachi was of good quality; quite buttery in texture. I prefer my aguachile to have nice acidic-citrus tones and this was on the weak side. The avocados did well in this dish and the slices of serrano added a much needed punch to the dish.
We finished things off with the Maize and Hen of the Woods Mushroom ($17).
This was a pretty good dish. I wish it had more earthy mushroom flavor. As it was, the polenta and shaved Pecorino ruled the dish. The addition of Marscapone made the polenta very creamy. Like I said pretty good; though I would have liked more mushroom.
This was a enjoyable meal overall. I do wish Wolf in the Woods was in my "neck of the woods" as we'd be having a nice dinner of appetizers every couple of weeks.
Wolf in the Woods
1920 Fort Stockton Dr.
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 234-2597
Hours:
Tues - Thurs 4pm - 9pm
Fri - Sat 4pm - 930pm
Closed Sun - Mon
Your WitW posts are our preview. I made reservations me Bert and I for the end of my work year. Can't wait to try that corn soup. :P
Posted by: caninecologne | Monday, 23 May 2022 at 11:12 PM
that calamari does look good!
Posted by: kat | Tuesday, 24 May 2022 at 02:25 AM
Hope you enjoy it CC!
It was surprisingly good Kat!
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 24 May 2022 at 06:33 AM
I just booked this for June. Thanks for the reminder - we love tapas style meals and this looks like a good one to try.
Posted by: Dereck | Tuesday, 24 May 2022 at 11:45 AM
Awesome Dereck. Let me know what you think after you check them out.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 24 May 2022 at 12:27 PM