O’Brien’s Pub is kind of a classic, old school, pub. Seems like it is usually full of thirsty guys. My wife always comments that there are over 90% men there. There are places that have a fancier decor, no doubt but NOBODY pours better brew on a regular basis than these guys do. Their tasting events are legendary. You can sign up for their email list at their website. I read every one!
A couple of my favorite events this past year have been the Russian River “Tion” tasting and the Alesmith Stout tasting.
For the Russian River “Tion” tasting, they feature all 17 of the RR brews whose name end with “tion”. For example, Damnation, Supplication, etc. Most of these are sours. I’ve attended this even for about 3 years now and it took two times before I became addicted to this style. Now I am seeking them out everywhere I go.
One other thing they had at one of these events was a cask version of their Porter. That was totally awesome. Imperial styled, this was the best Porter I have ever tasted. Wish I could get it more often!
The other event that was awesome was the Alesmith Kopi Luwak Speedway Stout release tasting. This is a coffee bean Stout made from some of the most expensive coffee beans on the planet. Wild stuff, look up Kopi Luwak in Google, if you don’t know about it. Anyhow, along with this, they had some older cask versions of the Speedway Stout there too. As a special treat, I pulled out a bottle of some aged Speedway that had about 3 years on it. I think it was the beer of the night, which is saying something!
Anyhow, O’Brien’s rocks for having the best beer. Oh, and they have some decent food. Gastropub style. They make a darned good hamburger with stilton blue and bacon. They do specials all the time and keep a board menu out front, as you walk in. If you are hungry, don’t forget to check it out.
They are located in kind of a strange place. Right in the middle of the Oriental section of Kearny Mesa on Convoy Street.
First off, let me say that I shop at the store located off of 43rd Street in National City. It’s hard to do this place justice without just going there. This is an awesome store! I found it when I was on a search for fresh Chilauca Chili’s. They ALWAYS have them in stock. I love to add these in strips to my homemade chili, especially when they are ripe. They are hard to find ripened, even here, but I get them here and am happy to find any at all.
I’’ve been on a hunt for great Pho’s and heard about this Ramen spot. I know it is not Pho but I figured it would be worth a try. Amazing soup!! They have the richest broth base of any soup place I have been to. I would like to know more about how they prepare it. It seems to be pork based and must be cooked over a fairly long period of time. ??
I am hooked on their salt ramen. Which is just sliced pork in their fairly plain, unspiced, soup base. Recently I learned about the shio ramen. That is a special cut of the pork from the cheeks. Super tender, melt in your mouth, pork that approaches butter in richness. It is also considered a salt ramen.