Thursday, 09 February 2012

• Sublime Ale House

  This is a guest post from Kirbie's Cravings.
  
  

  

  Sublime Ale House opened its doors a few months ago, specializing in gourmet comfort food and craft beers.

  The restaurant strives to use fresh ingredients, making everything from scratch in-house, with no use of freezers. Even the pizza dough is made with a poolish starter which requires several days to finish proofing.

  
  
  I was recently invited to check it out for myself. The restaurant is located in San Marcos, which is quite a drive for me, so I was a little hesitant to accept the invitation. But after viewing the menu, which includes 10 different macaroni and cheese dishes offered, I was sufficiently enticed enough to make the drive.

  We arrived a little before 6 and the restaurant was already packed with about a 30 minute wait time. The restaurant normally does not take reservations, but since we were invited, we got ushered to a two person table right away. Unfortunately, it was in a very dim part of the restaurant, so my photos aren’t the best quality.

  
  
  We were presented with two different beer menus, bottles and craft beers. We decided to stick with the craft beers but I was overwhelmed with the large selection. Luckily after speaking to our server, he recommended two he thought would suit our palate.

  

  North Coast PranQster (Belgian strong pale ale)
  

  I favor the Belgium style ales so the server recommended this strong pale Belgian ale. It suited my tastes perfectly. Strong, but with sweet overtones.

  Anchor Liberty
  

  This was the recommendation for FH, but neither of us it really liked it, preferring my selection better. It was a little too hoppy for me.

  Based on the owner’s suggestion, we started off with some truffle fries which comes with a choice of two house-made aioli sauces (we chose garlic and red pepper).

  
  
  We were really surprised with what a huge serving of fries was presented to us. It was more than we could possible finish. The truffle oil aroma was intoxicating and I really liked the aioli sauces which are made from scratch every morning.

  
  Here are the house-made aiolis and some ketchup.

  

  First Date (Spinach, Mushrooms, Parmesan with an olive oil garlic base, topped with truffle oil)

  
  
  The restaurant offers two sizes, and we chose the smaller size of 12 inches. After learning that the owner also owns a pizza restaurant (Sublime Pizza) and studied bread making with a culinary chef in San Francisco. I was definitely intrigued by the poolish starter that takes several days for the pizza dough to be ready.

  
  
  I adored this pizza. The fresh ingredients and bold garlic flavor was apparent. The dough was thin, crispy, chewy and you could definitely taste of mix of flavors in the poolish crust. I normally am not a pizza crust person but I ate every bite of my crust.

  Sublime Macaroni and Cheese (Roasted chicken, mushrooms, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar, bechamel sauce, truffle oil)

  
  
  As I mentioned before, they offer 10 different kinds of macaroni and cheese so it was hard to choose just one. The macaroni and cheese dish comes in three sizes, so you can get a large if you’re starving, a medium, or a small as an appetizer size to share. We chose the medium.

  
  
  The macaroni and cheese dishes are made with a creamy bechamel sauce including sharp cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese and topped with a parmesan, breadcrumb crust.

  
  
  We enjoyed the crispy breadcrust crumb. The macaroni was quite creamy. I did think the chicken and mushrooms didn’t really compliment the cheese sauce, so I didn’t quite enjoy this as much as the pizza. I’ll have to try another macaroni and cheese dish next time.

  The portions of food were quite hearty and we ended up with a lot of leftovers.

  Overall, we had a great time. The prices here are very reasonable (everything is under $20), which is even more impressive given the generous portions and high overhead cost to use fresh ingredients and make things in-house from scratch every morning. Even though this place is a little far of a drive for me, I’d definitely come back. This is a great place to eat at with friends.

  Disclosure: Our meal was complimentary, but my opinions are my own.

  Sublime Ale House
  1020 W San Marcos Blvd
  San Marcos, CA 92078
  (760) 510-9220
  www.sublimealehouse.com/
  

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