I tried one of their pork porterhouse steaks and it was outstanding. I also purchased a NY strip and it was excellent, but the pork was better
I had a huge (better part of 3 lb) 2 inch thick Porterhouse steak (all natural grass fed) and a huge tomahawk pork chop. Both were outstanding!
How did you cook that Porterhouse?
I got 4 meals out the 2 pieces of meat that I bought for about $20. For the quality of what I got, I thought the price was more than fair.
The porterhouse itself (2.9 lbs) was almost $30 ! And he gave the pricing for 2.5 lbs.
I aged it and grilled it over Manzanita wood using the reverse sear method. Amazing! Fed three of us including my ravenous 20 year old son. Still had leftovers for two more meals.
Plus he gave me the Pork Chop gratis.Super nice guy.
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Had a nice time at LPM today. Went down mid-afternoon, and while there were a lot of people there, it wasnât jammed. I headed straight to BottleCraft and got an 8 oz Modern Times amber ale (âBlazing Worldâ) to go. Which was definitely the right thing to do, because when I then went over to Mastiff to order a brat, they gave me a buzzer and said it would take about 10 minutes.
So I placed my order, and then proceeded to check out the steaks at the Meat Shop. I had planned to buy a steak on my way out, but he butcher said I could purchase what I wanted and theyâd hold it for me in in the chiller until I returned from Mastiff. So I bought a gorgeous-looking NY Strip, which the butcher sliced into two equal pieces for me. Alas, the butcher sliced the steaks length-wise. I was thinking cross-wise, to preserve the nice 1-1/2 inch thickness. Gotta be specific! Iâm going to freeze them for the next time my companion and I are in the mood for steaks.
From there, I went to Fishbone and scoped out the fresh fish. They werenât busy at all, so I chatted a bit with one of the people there. He said that all of their fish was local, line caught, fresh and never frozen. It looked very good. Iâll buy some sometime.
I also noticed the Louisiana-style food place (Cane Patch Kitchen), and talked to a person there as well. She claims (of course) that their jambalaya beats anything you can get in New Orleans. Well, we shall see sometime. I also want to try a Po Boy there.
Now my brat was ready (buzzer went off), and so I picked it up from Mastiff and took it and my beer back to a table at BottleCraft. Sigh, the brat was a bit of a disappointment. You get two toppings and I got sauerkraut (of course) and hot peppers. The brat was ok, but it canât hold a candle to those at Salt & Cleaver.
Finally, on my way out, I passed by Venissimo, noticing in particular that they had a number of snack trays (maybe 3â wide and 9â long, 1â deep) with various cheese slices, plus hard salami, olives, etc., for $10. There were also some âcheese conesâ with just cheese cubes in them for $5. Definitely want to grab one of the bowls or cones and take it over to Grape Smuggler. Maybe next time.
P.S. Suggest instead of a second topping for the brat at Mastiff, you ask for double-sauerkraut. The amount on the brat I had was miniscule and almost unnoticed. To me, a brat is a bratwurst on a bun, with lottsa sauerkraut and punchy horseradish mustard. And nothing else. They put a tiny amount of mustard on the brat when prepared, but thereâs a big bottle of it at the pickup counter, so you can slather away.
Last night we grilled the steaks that I got from Liberty Meat Shop a few days ago, and in spite of them being relatively thin (about 3/4"), I was able to get a good sear on the outside and a solid pink inside. I think they might have been a little juicer had theyâd been thicker. Nevertheless we both thought the meat was excellent. Very pleased and will definitely stop by again for more, when at and ready to leave Liberty Station.
Went to Liberty Station this past weekend. We really enjoyed ourselves. The parking was fine and it wasnât as crowded as people mentioned in previous posts. We prefer Liberty Station compared to the markets we have in the OC (4th St and Anaheim Packing) based on the larger outdoor patio, quality of the food and Bottlecraft.
The beer selection at Bottlecraft is the best weâve seen for these type of markets. 26 very good drafts on tap ( lots of great selections from Societe, Modern Times, Pizza Port and other local drafts) and a few hundred bottles you can open up and drink on the patio. There is also a much larger selection of wine available next door. You can buy bottles and theyâll provide stemware and a bucket of ice.
The food we had was very good
- pad see ewe and spring rolls at Mamaâs Thai. It was Renu Nakorn or anything to call home but solid fare.
- the tacos and quesadilla at Ceciliaâs were great. We especially liked the home made tortillas. Fish taco was fresh and had good contrast from the slaw. The quesadilla was cheesey and the hot salsa helped make for some very nice bites.
- chocolate chip cookie was extra chocolately but not overly sweet
- we saw somebody get fries or potatoes from the sausage place that looked fantastic
The food was definitely on the expensive side which was expected. I think itâs a great spot if you can get a table outside on the patio, let the kids run around while having a few brews and some good food.
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Thrillist put together their top 15 items to eat at Liberty Market. Mostly itâs a best of from each of the food vendors there. Interesting list nonetheless.
Thanks for the link. Weâll try some of these when we go back down in May.
Both the Whoopie Pie and chowda at Wicked Main Lobster are outstanding.
Finally made it to LPM. Really liked it overall. The food we tried was fine, nothing special but we did not get a chance to try Fishbone or Mess Hall. The âhallâ itself was great, crowded but not nearly as bad as Anaheim Packing District or similar type places in LA. The prices were kind of high but not unexpectedly so. Particularly great, was how kid friendly the place is with so much space outside to put down a blanket and umbrella and get to work on whatever Bottlecraft is serving that day while the kids run around. Great addition to San Diego and expect to visit often, particularly when we have visitors in town.
Great addition to the SD scene, but just back from SF where we visited the Ferry Bldg., and while Ferry is linear (boring) and ours has âislandsâ (much more European/Latin), it was huge and the vendors damn impressive. My gawdâŚif only we had a market like that. Maybe someday ours will grow into adjacent buildings? Meanwhile, Iâm glad we have what we now have. LPM is a wonderful new venue here.
Ferry Building in its current iteration has been around for nearly 20 years (since 1998). LPM is barely 2 months old.
Give it time.
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I believe you are off with the year. I lived in Marin till the spring of '99. There was no market in the ferry building while I lived in the Bay Area. I think the market originated sometime post millennium, perhaps in 2003.
The way I heard it, after the Bay Bridge was built, the Ferry Bldg. was first converted into office space, but that floundered. In any case more recently a huge sum of money (something like $200 million) was spent on converting it to the current market. I donât know the dates, but Encinitanâs estimate of 2003 sounds about right. Which isnât that far from ânearly 20 yearsâ in the whole scheme of things.
Our market in SD also represents a fantastic job of preserving the original character of an historic building, while â relative to Ferry â providing a more interesting âislandâ layout (vis-Ă -vis the linear layout at Ferry). Iâm glad we have it.
And yes, ipse, Iâm happy to give it loads of time to see what develops.
I think what disappointed me most at the LPM compared for example the Ferry Building (especially in older days) is that it seems to be foremost a food court (with average vendors) and then a place to buy ingredients whereas other places are the other way around. The produce options (especially with the farms in SD) are laughable at LPM, local meat options are not great, same with bread and coffee roaster options. Places like Ferry Building have captured the essences of many similar European Markets whereas LPM seems like an Americanized version with much more emphasis on processed/cooked food. I went today for the first time to the Boston Public Market - very similar size, concept and layout as LPM but majority of vendors, even though they had some cooked items, were there to sell ingredients, e.g. three local meat vendors, two places for local produce, three places for local cheese and milk. I would have no problems to buy evetything at that place to make multiple dinners, at LPM I would have problems to get everything. And thatâs what I donât get at LPM especially with the local options for all the ingredients
Agree with both doc and Honkman. I wish there were more variety and quality. But still really liked LPM as a fun, family friendly destination, similar in concept to Anaheim packing district which also has pretty pedestrian offerings. As ipsedixit pointed out, hopefully with time it will grow. Judging by the crowds it seems SD is embracing it which is a good sign.
Second trip was more successful than the first. Mastiff sausage was really good as was spicy chicken sandwich from stuffed and charcuterie and cheese from venissimo. Family had lasagna and pasta from pasta place which also was pretty good. Bottlecraft and mess hall were also big hits with the extended family. Went at 4:30 today and not too crowded and had a really nice time. Tons of families and hipsters and hipsters with families.
I myself wasnât as impressed with Mastiff as Iâd hoped Iâd be. Have you had a brat at Salt & Cleaver, perchance?
No, havenât tried salt and cleaver. Am certainly no expert when it comes to judging Mastiff but found it really good as did others in my group.