Max and crew were getting romantic today with the menu:

Organic Heart Skewers: Pastured organic berkshire pork heart (Becker Lane Organics), Taza organic chocolate mole

Baked Pacific oysters (Sol Azul), guanciale lardons (Becker Lane Organics), house preserved San Marzano tomatoes (Munak Farms), Grana Padano, parsley (Suzie’s Farm)

Grilled 7oz grass-fed top sirloin steak (Open Space Meats), organic Yukon Gold potatoes (California Organics) beet green gratin (Suzie’s Farm), fried local quail eggs (Wingshadows Hacienda), house cured bresaola (Open Space Meats). I think there are very few restaurants in America that can offer a dish like this, it makes me grateful to be working with farmers and chefs like these. I also tasted it tonite and it’s awesome.

Not necessarily Valentinesy, but still delicious: Handmade lasagna, kohlrabi and gold beets from Suzie’s Farm, local Nasturtiums, queso fresco, béchamel, tamarind

Every now and then, if you’re lucky, a dining excursion turns into one of those clean, well-lighted moments. It’s like when the light falls on you through a stained-glass window—rare, and a little bit transformative.

Last Friday, I got to watch a couple of guests have that experience. It’s hard to dissect, as an observer, when the transformative part kicked in—did it happen as soon as she sat down? When her friend arrived? When the semolina bread sent up steam from the table?

Anyway, when I saw her pull out a Polaroid camera with the size and gravitas of a Luger pistol, I figured something special was happening. So I asked her if she’d send us the pictures she took. And she did. Have a look. (And not just at ours, but at her whole site. It’s lovely.)

Here’s a secret: servers always hope for those moments, too.

Back in June I posted on my trip up to Intelligentsia in Venice where I talked about the many wonderful qualities that makes their coffee so desirable. One of the things I talked about was their “syphon brewing”. I posted some pictures, but recently my good friend who lives up in Seattle and works for a big coffee company sent me a link to a video of the “syphon” and  I just had to share. I wont bother explaining the brewing process as  Chris Owen, Coffee and Tea educator at the Venice Coffee Bar and kills it. Click here for an absolute coffee purist viewing pleasure. Maybe Jay will get us one of these if you send him email after email about it. Drink great coffee everyone!

Here’s how we roll on V-Day: full menu (not fixed), no reservations, everything’s the same price it always is, it’s casual, we try to make sure everyone has a good time. Neighborhood restaurant style.

This year it falls on a Sunday, which means we open at 10am and stay open 13.5 hours for your Valentining pleasure. (That’s till 11:30pm).

It’s Smokehouse Sunday, and Max told me he’s going to add some grass-fed Prime Rib to the smokehouse in celebration of it being a luxurious holiday. Also, you can figure we’ll have some oysters on hand. Beyond that, it’ll be another Sunday at the Link.

As for the first-come, first-served factor: we’ve got lots of tables. if I recall correctly, last year we were busy but accommodated everyone with minimal waiting.

Anyway, we like Valentine’s Day, everyone’s out and having fun.

Both of our pairings tonite are tied to 30th Street.

Cask-conditioned Green Flash 30th Street Pale Ale
paired with
Sunburst Manila Clams, kohlrabi, fennel, and pastured lamb confit

Cask-conditioned Sea Monster Stout with coffee from Caffe Calabria
paired with
Ballast Point fried ice cream: house made Sextant Stout ice cream, almond streusel, Sea Monster Stout tempura

Starting this week, we’re pricing each pairing individually instead of always having the same price. This is because, as some cask price have risen quite a bit while others have kept steady, the difference between cask beer costs can be as much as 50%.

Tonite, it happens that each pairing is $9 for the food and the half pour of cask-conditioned beer. Enjoy!

As far as I can tell from seeing all the ads that reference “the big game”, you’re not allowed to say “Super Bowl” or the NFL licensing people will hunt you down and take all your money. Well, I’m not too flush, and I’m curious to ask some New York lawyers their opinion on Sixpoint versus Brooklyn Brewery, so whatever.

Anyway, there’s apparently this football game on Sunday, during which much of America goes to someone’s house and ignores the television while drinking, talking, and eating unpleasant amounts of mediocre party-platter food.

Our public service to you on Sunday is that we’ll open at 10am with some really nice food you can eat (and nice drinks too), so that if you end up going to someone’s house, you won’t be hungry and won’t feel you have to eat the 7-layer dip from Costco. (I know, I’m a sucker for that stuff. Fake food or not, it tastes really good to the lizard brain.)

The real, good food we’ll be serving on Sunday includes:

* Hangtown fry
* Croque madame with house cured country ham
* Breaded pork loin sandwich
* Hot boudin

Oh, and a Berkshire pig from Hilleman Family Farm cooked over local oak for Smokehouse Sunday.

Our other public service is that you can buy some cured meat from us to take to your friend’s house, too. Warning: because our meat, unlike the party platter kind, is from pastured animals and is cured by real people, it is in a different price league than the supermarket stuff. (We think it’s also in a different quality league.) If you bring it, you might just want to stash it somewhere only you know, so you don’t waste it on people who don’t care anyway.

We’ll also be open during and after the game, too, in case you either (1) don’t care about the game and want to enjoy a nice meal, or (2) would rather eat some Linkery food while you watch the game in our place, with the sound off. We’ll of course have some Louisiana-themed food, mostly because we’ll take any chance we can to make and serve boudin. (If T-Mac still worked here, we’d undoubtedly have some Indy food too. Maybe Ritual has that taken care of.)

We are proud and grateful to have been selected this year by the Paso Wine Country Alliance to be one of a handful San Diego restaurants to host an event for their Grand Tasting Tour this year. Our event is on Tuesday, February 23rd, from 6pm to 11:30pm.

This an outstanding event and a great opportunity to get to experience some very exceptional wines. The Paso Wine Alliance is very well organized and they put a lot of resources into this event, to make sure that we in San Diego are aware of how many great wines are made in Paso Robles. Which means that we will be pouring some very high-end, very well made wines that would typically be too expensive for a neighborhood restaurant to carry on their wine lists.

As you probably know, we’re big fans of the Central Coast and we have a lot of friends there who provide us great food (not to mention family that rocks the clippers). So, in celebration of Paso and the Central Coast, we’ll be pairing each wine with a dish featuring pastured Central Coast meat. (Vegetarian options will also be available, featuring our local farms.)

Each pairing will be $9 for the plate of food and a 2 oz. pour of the wine. You can get whichever ones you want, or enjoy them all in order. I’ve been tasting these wines as the samples arrive all week, and they are superb. I am really stoked that we get to offer them for you.

Additionally (”But wait, there’s more!”) all the winemakers (or owners/GMs) will be in house, pouring their wines and available to talk about the wines, their wineries, and Paso. (Did I mention that we’re really pleased to be able to host such an event?)

Here are the wineries who will be participating:

D’Anbino Vineyards & Cellars
Carmine Rubino, Owner
2007 Sauvignon Blanc

J. Dusi Wines
Janell Dusi, Winemaker / Owner
2008 J.Dusi Zinfandel

Silver Horse Winery
Stephen Kroener, Winemaker / Owner
2007 Sage (Malbec, Petit Verdot , Cabernet Sauvignon)

Tablas Creek Vineyards
Jason Haas, General Manager
2008 Cotes de Tablas (Grenache, Syrah, Counoise, Mourvedre)

Zenaida Cellars
Eric Ogorsolka, Winemaker / Owner
2007 Zephyr (Syrah, Zinfandel, Viognier)

Look for more details on the pairings soon. This dinner is the day before our 5th Anniversary celebration starts, so it should be quite a week!

To the amazement of many far and wide, our little cookshack turns five freaking years old this month. I can’t believe it either.

But it’s true. We first served food for money on 4 February 2005, and our Grand Opening was 25 February 2005. (We always officially celebrate our anniversary as the 25th, because that was the official opening, and also because it’s also my Dad’s birthday. Which is fun.)

Five year is the “wood” anniversary, and that seemed right up our alley, no? Here’s what we have in store for our anniversary week:

Wednesday 24 February: Barrel Aged Beer Nite.
Special on draft
* Green Flash Superfreak
* Alesmith Boubon Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Special on cask
* Green Flash barrel aged stout
* Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale 100% oaked
* Rock Bottom barrel aged barleywine

And more beers by the glass including Russian River Temptation, Firestone Walker 12, Firestone Walker 13, and (we think) Russian River Supplication

Thursday 25 February: Anniversary Beers and Santa Maria Barbecue.

Cask Beer specialties made just for the Linkery 5th birthday (and Hop Porter’s 70th birthday):
* Green Flash “Hop Porter” world debut
* Stone Levitation special edition with 5 Hops

Special on Draft
* Stone 2005 Old Guardian

Smokehouse Birthday
Santa Maria BBQ over local red oak, featuring local grassfed beef from Rancho Allesandro

And cask beer pairings, German Chocolate cake, and more.

Friday & Saturday 26-27 February:
* Smoked oysters paired with Magnolia oyster stout on cask
* Steakhouse weekend with local grassfed steak
* More details being arranged

Sunday 28 February: Smokehouse Sunday and 30th on 30th, short-month edition
* small plate of smoked meats for $2
* half-pour cask beers $2
* half pour Linkery cask wine $2
* spit-roasted whole pig!

Awesomely, or perhaps overwhelmingly, our big wine dinner event with the Paso Wine Alliance, which I think is a pretty big deal, is the day before this all starts — the wine dinner is on Tuesday the 23rd of February. You might just want to get an apartment nearby for the month.

I’m grateful to note that the Linkery, and our approach to food, is featured in this month’s San Diego Magazine. The magazine is on newsstands now, though I haven’t yet seen any online links to the specific piece.

Maya Kroth, the article’s writer, spent a lot of time talking to us and to Matt Rimel (Zenbu, Homegrown Meats, et al.) about the industrial food system, and how and why we go about circumventing it. Maya is very talented and really gets to the heart of the story. It’s flattering and fun to be the subject of such a piece. (I’m sure we’ll brag about it nonstop when she’s a rich and famous author.)

I strongly encourage you to check out the art installation at Sea Rocket Bistro right now. I was there last nite and loved it. I don’t want to try to describe it because I don’t think I could capture it very well.

My meal was outstanding, too.

I just noticed that I forgot to tell you that we tapped a cask of 30th Street Pale Ale last nite. I love this beer, and not just for the name — also because it’s great. And even more amazing on cask. If we still have some left tomorrow (Thursday), we’ll include it as one of our pairings.

Our other pairing, also on cask tonite too, is Ballast Point Sea Monster Stout, brewed with coffee from Calabria roasting on 30th in North Park.

So that two 30th Street related beers on cask, at once. Or, alternatively, 60th Street.

Look for pairing details, and probably photos too, tomorrow.

The aforementioned dishes…I’ll let you guess which is which.

And a bonus: handmade spaghetti with local broccoli cream sauce, local fennel, roasted garlic, Grana Panado, and local parsley. Vegetarian and delicious!

Back in early January, Ana brought in La Rosca de Reyes for everyone, and Steph, Joel and Juan ended up with the plastic babies. Nobody choked.

And nobody choked on their Día de La Candelaria duties either:

* Steph made shrimp ceviche
* Juan made champurrando
* Joel will be making tamales (that’s the rumor anyway).

All on the menu tonite, of course.

We started our charity-of-the-month program over 3 years ago, and since then you’ve donated well over $10K to dozens of different charities in town in many different areas.

This year, we’re narrowing how we choose our charities a bit. I think we can increase the positive change we effect, if we focus our energy on one issue and devote our efforts to it. Our passion here, of course, is reforming the food system: for our health, the sustainability of the environment, to build better communities, and food justice (i.e., to increase access to real food for everybody).

So, we’re going to focus now on organizations which are working to improve and/or revolutionize our food systems in San Diego. Additionally, we’ll keep each charity longer, with the intent of raising thousands of dollars for each project rather than hundreds. In this way, we hope to really make a difference, sooner rather than later, in improving the food system that serves all of us.

Or, I should say, we hope to help you make a difference, since of course it’s all of you who are giving more than you have to, to help make our community better.

Our first charity is San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project. We’ve worked with them before, particularly on Growing Places, and they are doing a lot to improve things at the community level, particularly with community education. Everything from workshops, to the Seeds @ City community college urban farm, to an inspiring film series, they are constantly applying energy for positive change.

I think one of things that particularly moves me about San Diego Roots is that everything they do is fun. In a situation where the reality of 99.9% of food is terribly depressing, it’s so important for me to be constantly reminded that food, and community, done right, is an opportunity for enormous joy. I hope that by working to help them with their mission, we can create more joy for everyone in San Diego.

Thanks, as always, for letting us coordinate this charitable giving that you do. It is a true privilege.

The beers with bubbles are as follows….

Green Flash West Coast IPA. Probably actually a double IPA, but who really counts any more?

Craftsman Heavenly Hefeweizen. Creamy, citrus-y, wheat-y goodness.

Anchor Bock Beer. Getting ready for spring by drinking a great seasonal brew from Anchor in SF- a dark, slightly smokey lager. The style is usually brewed to welcome spring in German parts of the world, its a little lighter than winter brews but stronger than those made for summer sessioning.

Ballast Point Three Sheets Barley Wine. Aged in French oak Syrah barrels, brilliant.

Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin. Oatmeal stout, 25% aged in bourbon barrels,  only 5.5% abv, do have it with dessert.

 On the cask front, well we only have two. We plowed through cask beer last night for 30th on 30th like…um, something that goes away really really really fast. The good news is that what we do have for this evening and tomorrow night are two delicious brews…

Ballast Point Sea Monster Stout. Imperial Stout brewed with Cafe Calabria coffee. Ballast says this monster is your friend. I say he is strong as hell so be nice to him. Either way, he tastes good.

Rock Bottom La Jolla Old Curmudgeon Imperial Porter. Old Curmudgeon rules the underworld of imperial porters, if you haven’t had it, change that. You can get it here or at the brew pub in La Jolla and sometimes at other places too.

Today I wanted to be two places at once — at the Linkery for 30th on 30th, and in the Guadalupe Valley putting together a new olive oil blend, since we are running low on the current blend.

I gather that the response for 30th on 30th was way beyond anything we expected, and we quickly sold out of everything we prepared, along with the series of substitutions that followed. I apologize to those of you we couldn’t accommodate, we are flattered and stoked about how many people wanted to check out our neighborhoods’ restaurants, and next month we will definitely make more of everything!

As for where I would be, well, we couldn’t risk running out of world-class olive oil, and we always like to take the opportunity to develop our own blends when we have the chance. So off we went to see Tito Cortes of Rancho Cortes, who makes the best olive oil I know of. He lets us taste from among the oils he’s pressed in the last couple seasons, and to develop our own blend among them which will become a signature for our menu in the next few months.

In addition to pressing olive oil from all over the Ensenada area, Tito also makes amazing artisan cheese from the milk of his cows, and raises grass-fed beef and lamb. The cheese, beef and lamb are available at some great restaurants in Mexico, notably Laja in the Valle de Guadalupe and Merotoro in Mexico City.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story from here. The only things I can think to add as narrative are: 1) Rancho Cortes grows the oats and grasses that they feed their cows and lambs, on their large parcel of land in the Valley, and 2) the bar with the cheese grater lights is Mescalera, on Calle Sexta in TJ.

Jay swiped the camera to get some cool pics of olive oil blending at Rancho Cortes (pics & post forthcoming), so my cell phone pic will have to do.

Technically, our contribution to the “30th on 30th” event starts at 5:30pm, but we’re actually secretly doing it all day. Just bring it up to one of the servers or bartenders, wink twice, and knock on the underside of the table three times. Or just mention it.

Update: a few folks have been asking what time the event is, sorry for forgetting to say! It’ll be at night/dinner, which for most places here starts between 5 and 6 (for the Linkery, for example, it’s 530)..

We are announcing a new monthly event this year: 30th on 30th.

On the 30th of each month, a bunch of restaurants and bars on and near 30th Street will be offering specials such as a feature appetizer for $2. That will make it easy for you to go on a restaurant crawl and check out all the amazing places on the 30th Street Corridor.

Last I heard, here are the restaurants that are offering a special this month. As everyone decides on the specifics and I find out about it, I’ll update it here.

Alchemy: $2 each or $5 for all three: cod & mango ceviche, Estancia beef & ginger pot sticker with ponzu reduction, poached pear wrapped in ham stuffed with queso fresco; $2 tasting pour of Alchemy Private Label wine

The Station

The Whistle Stop

Sea Rocket Bistro: 1 free tapas with every draft beer, all nite long

The Linkery: $2 for plate of grassfed beef and Berkshire pork skewers, with an optional $2 half pour of cask Levitation. Also, $2 half pour of Linkery’s own blend of red wine.

True North: $2 Absolut drinks

Urban Solace: - $2.00 order of 4 biscuits; $2.00 half pour of Urban Red signature blend wine; additional unique special items to celebrate the day!

Ritual Tavern: $2 for Niman Meatball in Roasted Tomato Red Sauce

Jayne’s Gastropub: Spiced Niman Ranch Lamb on Puff Pastry with Creme Fraiche for $2

This morning, thanks to the Infrastructurist, I read about Long Beach’s quest to become “The Most Bike Friendly City In America”.

Financially, it’s an absolutely brilliant move by Long Beach, for 3 reasons:

1) For people deciding where in the L.A. area to live, Long Beach differentiates itself from all the other cities in the region, and specifically in a way that is particularly likely to attract Xtracycle/REI/bike commuter/outdoorsy types with reasonably high-paying jobs and expendable income. Thus increasing the residential tax base of the community.

2) By making biking easy in the city, it financially entices many households to reduce car ownership and become single-car families (or to go from 3 cars to 2), freeing up several thousand dollars per year for those households — dollars likely to be allocated for discretionary spending and/or for higher real estate values (either way, the city benefits).

3) By encouraging residents to use bicycles for shopping, dining, or entertainment, it makes it highly likely that their money will be spent inside the city limits: at places they can bike to, rather than at a big box store in Norwalk or wherever. So the city captures a much bigger portion of sales taxes.

Unfortunately, these factors only matter in a metropolitan area comprising multiple cities competing with each other for residents and commerce. In that situation, quality of life and quality of transportation can make a big difference.

In San Diego, by contrast, which has a sprawling footprint and is surrounded by municipalities with limited commercial magnetism, there’s basically no competitive incentive to improve the quality of any specific area, or even the region as a whole.

Local quail from Wingshadows Hacienda, tempura’d up and served with baby broccoli and pickled kohlrabi from Suzie’s Farm, citrus from Rancho Del Sol, and sweet and sour sauce.

And also, lamb. I watched Max work on this for a while today, and then I tasted, and I can say it was a very good day’s work. Pastured lamb from Christine Maguire topped with house cured pastured lamb proscuitto also from Christine, baby parsnips from Weiser Family Farms, preserved Sorrento lemons from Rancho Del Sol.

Pairs with Rock Bottom Old Curmudgeon Imperial Porter (not pictured).

Tonite’s cask beer pairings:

Stone Cali-Belgique
paired with
House cured local swordfish belly, local raddichio, bacon-avocado dressing

Rock Bottom La Jolla “Old Curmudgeon” Imperial Porter
paired with
Organic Taza chocolate brownie, house cured bacon caramel, chiogga beet ice cream

As always, each pairing is $8 for a half pour of cask-conditioned beer and the matching dish.

Local yellowtail, cardoon from Seeds at City, grilled radicchio from Suzie’s Farm, Meyer lemon from Rancho Del Sol, potato gratin.

Pun, and dish, courtesy Joel.

We’re testing out ideas for the new place. Michael made this candle from the kidney fat of one of our pigs. I think it’s pretty nifty — what “nose-to-tail” is all about.

Burning 3 hours and counting so far…

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton, having trouble putting it down even though it requires (and rewards) a little extra focus. It opens:

Two centuries ago, our forebears would have known the precise history and origin of nearly every one of the limited number of things they ate and owned, as well as of the people and tools involved in their production. They were acquainted with the pig, the carpenter, the wever, the loom and the dairymaid….We are now as imaginatively disconnected from the manufacture and distribution of our goods as we are practically in reach of them, a process of alienation which has stripped us of myriad opportunities for wonder, gratitude, and guilt.

And proceeds, in an touchingly indirect manner, from there. With lots of great photographs, too.

Meanwhile, Tom Philpott posted a simple and excellent explanation of how we as a community can create a ton of jobs by choosing to consume - and thus produce — our own food and drink.

In today’s cities, food is mainly a means through which wealth is extracted from neighborhoods. Even in the lowest-income areas, people spend at least $1,000 per capita on food every year. The great bulk of that cash leaks out of neighborhoods and into the coffers of distant entities like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart. The only thing left behind is low-wage, low-skill jobs—and health-ruining food.

Investing in local food economies can create other, more hopeful outcomes.

Grilled skewers tenderloin and house cured guanciale from organic Berkshire pork

Grassfed, house cured pastrami flatbread

Tonite’s full menu here. I’d say get the haggis.

Also on the menu tonite: house made Berkshire pork hot dogs, made from organic Becker Lane pork, wrapped in house cured Blue Butt bacon, made from Jim Neville’s California pork, and served Mexi-dog style.

These hot dogs were made with various cuts of pork including heart, so they’re really heart dogs.

I heart heart dogs.

Introducing the sculpin double-double: fresh wild sculpin, battered in Sculpin IPA, and paired with Sculpin IPA on cask and Sculpin IPA on draft (your choice). Available tonite.

Sculpin

Sculpin

Sculpin

Sculpin

Sculpin

Sculpin

Sculpin and Joel

One of the great things about operating a farm-driven restaurant in southern California is that we always have interesting and delicious fruit available to us. I mean, I like root vegetables as much as the next guy, but winter is better with citrus.

Limequats from Rancho Del Sol

One of our friends — a former Maine organic blueberry farmer — brought us some oranges

Brandon was making some sangria

Tamarind is more regional than local (I believe ours comes from Mexico), but it was a great opportunity to make some Tamarindo drink, which goes on the menu tonite.

The sun has returned, the great flood of ‘10 has passed, and everything is back to normal. We’re open till 11:30pm tonite. (Sun not guaranteed the whole time).