I’ve been here in San Diego for three months and I feel like I’ve Happy Hour’ed my way through town. On my last weekend, I decided to eat a real meal. I chose Donovan’s Steak and Chophouse in La Jolla. Donovan’s is one of those dimly lit, fine dining establishments with a lot of staff and prices that clearly reflect all those people milling around (as well as the quality of the food). Join me for dinner!
Turns out that they actually have happy hour seven days a week at this location. It’s 4-6 pm Mon – Thurs and 3-6 pm Fri – Sun. They have a number of cocktails, beers and wines on special as well as a selection of small bites, prime burgers, steak sandwiches, etc.
I decide to go for a dirty martini. The house vodka is Green Mark. I’d never heard of it, but my bartender Brice insisted I’d be happy with it. A Google search tells me that Green Mark is a Russian vodka named after the seal of approval for good vodka that the Glavspirttrest (the government agency that regulated vodka production) used to apply to bottles between the 1920’s and 1950’s. Cool, I’m in!
He makes me my martini and adds house stuffed blue cheese olives. He also revealed the secret to stuffing them yourself, which doesn’t involve me trying to use a fork to stick blue cheese crumbles into a pitted olive, FYSA.
I start with an ahi poke martini from the happy hour menu while I have my cocktail. It’s pretty standard shoyu poke with a little wasabi aioli across the top, served with wonton chips. I was missing some of the more Hawaiian touches like the slivers of Maui onion and the seasonings, though.
I peruse the small plates happy hour menu for the rest of dinner, which looks great, but I remind myself that I was here to eat a real meal!
There’s a nice looking prix fixe option with a soup/salad, steak (filet tip) and dessert. I ultimately decide on an 8 oz center cut filet, Oscar style with crab, asparagus, and Bernaisse, served with a baked potato. Unlike other high end steakhouses, each cut comes with veggies and a choice of potato. There are additional sides available à la carte. I also order a cup of seafood chowder from the happy hour menu, and I’m pretty glad it was a smaller portion as it was really rich.
The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare, and I chose a glass of the house Cabernet from the happy hour menu, which was ok, but I’d definitely splurge on a better wine next time.
I pass on dessert, and decide to take a walk down to the water instead to see the sunset. I walk down a set of steep steps right next to one of the rival steakhouses and arrive right at the caves. After walking out to the edge over the caves, I walk along the road to see the seals on the beach and the sunset.
All in all, a nice evening, I’d definitely go back, and I’d recommend going during Happy Hour to capitalize on the drinks and apps on special before ordering dinner.
So, I liked my first visit so much that I took a friend back for drinks the next evening. After a little service slipup (which they rectified with free drinks!), we enjoyed sitting outside on the patio watching the seals (and the tourists). Be forewarned, it smells like wild animals (seals, birds, and fish) on the patio, but the view might be worth it. Happy hour is available on this patio as well.
