Karl Strauss Brewing Company – Costa Mesa

After having my iPhone replaced at the Apple store in South Coast Plaza we decided to head over to Karl Strauss Brewing Company in Costa Mesa for a bite to eat. This isn’t my first experience with Mr. Karl Strauss, I’ve drank his beer on occasion, and I’ve even had his fries at the ball game, but I’d never ate his meals. First thing you notice as you enter the restaurant is that it pretty much looks like most Brewery/Bar/Restaurant places, which isn’t a bad thing; it’s dark, filled with HDTVs playing sports, and has the required beer making area. Once again, this isn’t a bad thing; I like my Oggi’s and BJs so Karl just adds to the mix. Beer is a big focus at Karl Strauss, they even have a Cask Night on the first Thursday of every month at 5:00 PM that I’m planning to hit some time soon.

Since beer is the focus and I usually like beer, I got myself beer. Not just one beer, not just two, but SIX BEERS!

Ok actually I just got the Taster 6 ($6.95) which is a 2oz. tasting of 6 of their beers, but it’s still six beers (and they even gave me two more because of the food I bought!).

To go along with my beer I got the Big Beer Burger ($11.95) which I can only describe as their menu does

“Basted with Karl Strauss Amber Lager, topped with Red Trolley Ale onions, I.P.A. mushrooms, Woodie Gold brined seasoned bacon, gruyere, tomato, lettuce, and fries. Served with I.P.A. steak sauce.” The burger was good, nothing really stood out, and the patty was huge (1/2 lb. I think), I think it would stand up better as a 1/3 lb.

I couldn’t really taste the steak sauce which meant the burger was a little on the dry side, but all the toppings mostly made up for that. Sticking to tonight’s burger theme (oh you thought the theme was beer?) Mrs. DanGarion got the BBQ Cheeseburger ($10.50) that comes with, Red Trolley BBQ sauce, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, crispy onions, and fries.

She liked it and was enjoying it till she got close to the center and realized that her medium well burger was actually medium rare, so she tossed out more then half the patty and ended up just eating the toppings and bun. We both enjoyed the fries, they were thin and crunchy, just the way I like them.

Service was good, the waitress explained what the numbers meant on the beer tasting sheet and explained that I should drink from light to dark (which I already knew), it’s nice to know they at least are acting like the know what they are serving. Overall it was a good meal, except for the fail on the one burger patty, unsure how it didn’t get as cooked as mine since they were ordered together, but I’ll give them a pass since this was our first visit.

Visit on 10/28/08 @7 PM