Gingham

Smoked Salmon Chips: potato, chipotle creme fraiche, red onion, caper

"Local Blonde" Mussels: chorizo & fries

Venison Carpaccio Salad: white beans, pesto, arugula, pecorino

Chicken Chicharones: served with pimento cheese dip

Fudge Pretzel Sundae: brown sugar ice cream, white chocolate pretzel, hot fudge, whipped cream
Ordered per chef's recommendation... holy gluttony!

Ladies and gentlemen,

he's done it again.

Wait, what? 

Huh?

Brian Malarkey people. 

That handsome genius. 

Last night I dragged one of my girlfriends all the way to La Mesa,

so we could finally check out Gingham,

Malarkey's brand new restaurant,

known for it's "slowly smoked meats with ample sauce". 

Expectations were high,

since I'm pretty much in love with everything served at the current sister restaurants,

Burlap and Searsucker. 

And of course,

the new-comer didn't disappoint. 

Now I have to be honest,

this is not a place where I can dine on the daily.

Nearly everything we ordered was fried,

but man, was it delicious!

Highlight of the night was when the chef,

aka the Big Smoke,

came out to chat with us for a good 20 minutes. 

He told us about his experience,

(which was quite impressive considering the fact that the guy is only 26!),

his favorite dishes on the menu,

(the GingHAMburger and the Venison Osso Bucco in case you were interested),

and the fact that his girlfriend, 

Gingham's very own pastry chef,

makes the best desserts known to man.

Pretty sure he's biased, 

but he sounded very convincing.

We had such an awesome time,

that we didn't even realize that hours have passed,

until we walked back to the car,

ready to pass out into a food coma.