Beeside Balcony in La Jolla is buzzing.
The Del Mar restaurant has expanded to the Jewel of San Diego, located on the upper level above The Spot on Prospect between Girard and Herschel streets, right in the heart of La Jolla Village. And it did not take long for locals to make a beeline to it.
PubClub.com was there on a Friday evening and the place was jumping. On the patio, a jazz band provided live entertainment. Nearly every table, inside and out, was taken and soon after we arrived, a group of about 15 people showed up and took up the remaining space.
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It wasn’t just to sit for dinner either, for the bar scene was pretty lively, too. That’s when you know you have a success. And the speakeasy was not even open yet. Yes, there is a speakeasy, a room in the back that is decorated in Roarin’ 20s parlor style.
So the atmosphere is there but the queen bee, so to speak, of Beeside Balcony is the food and cocktails. As he has proven in Del Mar, owner Chef Christophe delivers with flavor, quality and style.
For starters, the cocktails are awesome. We had the Honey Rush (bourbon, lemon, honey and syrup) and the appropriately named Sensory Overload (blanca tequila, calamansi citrus, ginger) and they were perfectly made, bursting with flavor. They are sipping cocktails and strong enough to get you sufficiently buzzed if you have a couple of them.
For food, we pretty much went through the entire appetizer menu: grilled oysters (phenomenal), very crispy cheese-flavored rice balls with a marinara sauce (sensational), lamb meatballs in a really tasty tomato sauce and ground filet sliders (as tasty as they are creative). My favorite? The octopus ceviche (awesome).
Even something as simple as french fries are unique. That’s because they come with a special truffle ketchup dipping sauce on the side. That takes a basic restaurant side dish to a whole who stratospheric level. Truffle ketchup?
“I got bored!,” Chef Christophe joked. “I was in the kitchen at Eddie V’s (a high-end La Jolla restaurant where he crafted his cooking perfection) and decided to put the two together to see what would happen.” Based on the other creative items on the menu, he must get bored a lot and the Beehive Balcony customers are the beneficiaries of it.
Beeside Balcony La Jolla is located at 1025 Prospect St, Suite 250.
It is open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Beeside Balcony La Jolla Happy Hour
The items we had are all on the Happy Hour menu, which is Monday-Friday from 3-6 p.m., with a late-night Happy Hour from 9-10 p.m. During these times, the cocktails are $9, wells and wines are $6 and beers are just $4 (yes, $4 beers in La Jolla!). The appetizers are priced from $5-8.
Website: Beeside Balcony
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