out and about: the lodge at torrey pines playing with fire series: george's, 9 - 10, & the lodge

Holy trifecta batman. When your favorite local restaurants come together to collaborate during your favorite summer series… you bet we’re gonna go.

And so glad that we did. It was fun being able to pick out flavor profiles and techniques we’ve been used to over the years.

treevana: india pale ale

When push comes to shove, jamie will always pick the west coast ipa… but this ipa, while not west coast is as light as an ipa can get. Less hoppy and more fruit forward.

summer salad: grilled corn, heirloom tomato, cucumber, feta, charred jalapeno-lime yogurt dressing

Not usually a feta fan… but the use of feta here was so understated and perfectly used to compliment the mint and purslane. That plus the tomatoes, cucumber and corn? My kind of salad.

stone fruit and kale salad: dates, walnuts, parmesan, breadcrumbs

I just love stone fruit season. And the addition of apricots here? Wonderful.

The kale? Perfectly treated so not too bitter.

Jamie in particular was obsessed with the dates.

juice press: hazy india pale ale

According to the expert. This was the haziest of all hazy ipas. In fact if one was to go to the dictionary and look up hazy ipa, this would be the picture.

chimney smoked jerk chicken: scallion soy chicken jus

There’s a jerk pork belly dish at nine - ten, that’s been on the menu forever.

And just like that dish, the “jerk” is not over powering the quality and taste of the meat that hosts it.

I am also a sucker for scallions, so the scallion jus was icing on the proverbial cake.

grilled rose snapper: kiwi, avocado, pineapple, herb salsa verde

While I wasn’t able to eat the salsa (pineapple allergy); I was told it was fantastic and worked really well with the snapper.

The flavor combos themselves reminded me of my favorite tbl3 snapper tacos - and while that is a raw/cured preparation - a lot of the same notes are in both.

The fish itself? Perfectly tender, flakey and able to stand on its own.

clever kiwi: nelson hopped pilsner

This was my fav beer out of the bunch. Light and crisp, yet not watery.

Definitely a summer bbq staple.

puttanesca tart: tomato, garlic, anchovy, capers, olives, chili flakes

This was such a cool take on the traditional pasta dish. Loved the use of caper berries v/s traditional capers, plus the whole anchovy filets. Way to punch up and elevate the flavors.

And let’s take a moment to appreciate the flakey crust. So, so, so good. Could have just eaten that by itself and called it a day.

coal roasted yams: jimmy nardello and pecan relish

Not typically a fan of yams… but I’ll eat my words for this dish. The bite of the peppers, and the crunch of the pecans, perfect compliment to the chicken and snapper.

old fashioned bread pudding: smoked cherry ice cream

Bread pudding is my most favorite dessert.

But bread pudding with cherry ice cream? Put a fork in me.

This was an incredible combo. And another reason why this summer series never gets old.