Alchemy and Eclipse - Belated Birthday Dinner and Dessert

April was a pretty damn good month. First of all, it was my birthday month and it coincided with my two week spring break. I went to so many places last month with Bert, TC and my friends. It was great being out for lunch instead of being cooped up in my office. 

By tradition, the Educator GF's celebrate each other's birthdays, so of course, it was finally my turn. Last person was KD's at Eastlake's Pho Hiep. After me, it will be D in August and TORC in September.
I wanted to go someplace we hadn't been to before. After much research and also curiosity, I decided on Alchemy in the neighborhood of South Park (near Fern St.).

The design under the logo is the silhouette of the brushed silver tree sculpture in the middle of the restaurant. We got there a little before 5:30 before they officially opened for dinner.

I asked if they had an chocolate flavored beer and our server gave me a "sample" of the Mad River Scotch Porter...

I'm normally NOT a beer drinker but I've grown fond of the dark beers - the ones that taste like chocolate, like Rogue's Ale or Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I've developed a taste for Guinness and Newcastle too as well as the Airedale Imperial Stout - Dark 'n Stormy. Oh wait, now I sound like a fking raging alky! I've only had sips okay, not guzzled whole bottles of these things!

Our server was really great - friendly, attentive, and gave us some good recommendations. The vibe her is casual. Parking is street parking and free.

There's that metal tree sculpture...Cool isn't it?

The Executive Chef is Ricardo Heredia.  I liked how he had different types of cuisine represented throughout his menu which was separated into Street Food, Tapas, Standards, and also offers Vegetarian options.  Please click here to see their online menu.

This was calamari sauteed in white wine and butter with ham, served with bread on the side. I liked how the squid wasn't fried too. This would have been a good entree for one; this dish was under the "tapas" section of the menu.

We needed this bread to soak up the broth - the mini Batard of bread served with olive oil and butter. There was a small dish of goat cheese on the side; it was for the salad and I'd asked for it to be separate.

This was the Radicchio Salad - very minimal...Served with thinly sliced butternut squash, candied pistachios, thinly sliced pear and some pubey sprouts. The salad was lightly dressed with olive oil. Loved the salad but wished there was more on the plate!

One of the gals ordered the Huarache - it was a masa pocket filled with black beans, beef, diced nopales (cactus), cascabel (a type of chile), topped with lime crema and cotija cheese. Not sure what the greens were that topped the dish though. I liked the slight spiciness of this dish; everyone else liked it as well especially KD.

Overview of our dishes so far...

WTF!!!FTMFW - "Chicharon Manok" (aka FRIED CHICKEN SKIN!)! Had to have this! Nicely fried! Not heavy or greasy at all like at some of the Filipino food joints. But, I can still get fried chicken skin for $7.99 a lb. at the Filipino food place next to Oasis Ice Cream Parlor! The dipping sauce was a chile garlic seasoned vinegar. I normally don't like vinegar at all, but I liked it with this. In the Philippines, this type of snack would be called a "pulutan", something small (and usually fried) that you can pick up with your fingers to eat with your beer.

When I saw this on their menu online, I knew that we had to try this. Even if no one else liked it, I planned to have it all just in case. Ha ha. Roasted bone marrow with thyme and served with lemon pugliese bread (a type of rustic southern Italian bread). I was expecting a thick cut shank bone which is crosscut instead of the long cut. I wished there was more marrow in that bone. Bone that my friends.

Dinner is served...

This was so heavenly - buttered and toasted bread, garnished with parsley and spread (partially) with bone marrow fat!!!

This was the Pan Roasted Sea Bass served in a lemongrass broth with yellow beets and bok choy. Also in the dish were two "dumplings" stuffed to the edge with shrimp. The fish was perfect - nice and cooked through with a crispy skin on top. My regret was not asking for a spoon to drink the soup.

This was the Flat Iron Steak (cooked medium) served over a tower of fried yucca, topped with grilled baby onions and sitting on top of chimichurri sauce.

Ooh, look at that...Humminah! The meat was pretty tender. If I could choose just one entree to eat, it would have been this one.

D chose this dessert for us to share, which was brought out with a candle while they sang "Happy Bday" to me. This was the Cranberry Bread Pudding topped with buttermilk gelato, housemade ginger caramel and garnished with pepitas (pumpkins seeds).

D is a big fan of any kind of bread pudding...KD and I didn't like the pepitas. They have a bitter taste. Perhaps they were chosen because they provided a colorful note to the plate? I think maybe candied pecans or pistachios might have been better instead of pepitas.

I just had to try this!

This was called, "Donuts, Coffee and a Cigarette"! The tiny fried donuts were so light and airy. The "cig" was chocolate wrapped up in phyllo while the "coffee" was a mocha creme brulee topped with whipped cream. I loved the "dirty ashes"!

I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, so pardon my lack of "technique"!

I was showered with awesome gifts that evening. Among my favorites, the iTunes giftcards from D (must get more Simpsons episodes for those long car rides), a beautiful handmade ruffled scarf hand- knitted by KD, and an "Amoeba" records shirt from TORC, which was housed in this fkg cool "rocker" gift bag. Dude, bang your heads!

Before leaving, TORC told me to check out the bathroom because the sink was "shared". There is a slit at the bottom of the wall (above the sink) which, if you bend down, you could probably peer through and see someone on the other side (at crotch level no less) washing his hands. If you were so included, you could reach out and grab someone too. Or vice versa. It felt kind of creepy to me that the sink was shared. Looked cool but didn't like the "open" feeling of the shared sink.

Done with dinner for now...We wanted a little more dessert!

My first choice for dessert was at this new place,The Smoking Goat which was further north on 30th in North Park (just down the street from Eddie's). Unfortunately, TSG was not open on Monday so...FAIL on me. Although we went here last year after my bday lunch, we ended up going to our mainstay Eclipse  Chocolat on El Cajon for even more dessert!

This was TORC's cupcake - the Salty S'mores. What I love about Will's cupcakes are the quality. They are always dark chocolate and covered with chocolate ganache but what makes his cupcakes stand out (to me at least) are the inclusion of artisanal ingredients like spices, herbs, fruits, and purees. I'd rather spend $ on a cupcake from Eclipse than from any of those other frou frou cupcake boutiques.

This was my cupcake - dark chocolate cupcake filled with raspberry, topped with dark chocolate ganache and garnished with pink peppercorns, which looked so lovely. I liked the "bite" they provided in contrast to the rich chocolate and the sweet raspberry filling. I only had a few bites and saved the rest for Bert and TC...

This was a surprise - this was a chocolate brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and a housemade marshmallow topped with chocolate, which as you can see, we all dug into. Chocolate overload!

D ordered the cheeseplate for all of us. I passed on eating the cheeses but had a few of the rosemary salted almonds. They were the Marcona almonds from Costco but pan roasted with rosemary infused sea salt. Also on the plate were the Philippine dried mangos (also from Costco, I've seen their stock since they have an open kitchen; good choice of mangos!), and dried cranberries. I don't remember the names of the cheeses but one of them was Goat (uck) and another had dried apricots in them.

Who else ate at Alchemy?
Clayfu went back in April 2009 when they just opened.
 As did the girls from Chicks Who Chomp back in July 2009 where they had the Absinthe Service.
The newly married and lovely Leanne from Three Dog Kitchen visited earlier last year...and
The Delighted Bite went here recently last Fall

As usual, the mixed bag of Yelp reviews here.

More on Alchemy and Excutive Chef Ricardo Heredia:
"What the Chef Eats" (SD Reader Feb. 3, 2010)
"Alchemy Dining Review" (San Diego Magazine July 2009)
The Feast.com

All in all, a fab evening out with my very best GF' sampling good food and sweets...