Self Serve San Diego
I thought my first meal on my recent trip to San Diego would be Mexican. After all, San Diego is only 15 miles from Mexico. But instead of tamales and molé, I found myself eating steak -- steak that I grilled myself.

The concept behind the Turf Supper Club on the corner of C Street and 25th is that guests order from a menu of about ten different combinations of steak, chicken, and fish and the food is served raw. Guests then bring their orders to a big barbeque pit in the middle of the restaurant and grill it themselves. There are veggie options too, but who wants to go to a place like this and order a veggie kabob? Certainly not this carnivore.

At first, I thought, "What a novel idea. I love it!" Looking over the menu while waiting at the bar, I was ecstatic. Leaving the grilling to their guests allows the Turf Bar and Grille to leave their prices low. A sirloin steak cost only $6.25 and a combination of sirloin steak and swordfish kabob (aptly called Surf and Turf) cost under $9.00. I was in heaven. So much food, such a little price.

The Waiting Game
Our promised 15 minute wait turned into 45 minutes, and by that time I was almost willing to eat my steak sushi-style. I'm not sure if this is a regular problem with the bar, but it was packed even though it was 9:30 on a Tuesday night. And there weren't nearly enough servers or bartenders. The bar was cool with an artsy, retro feel to it and drinks seemed to be decently priced (a Heinekin and Stoli Raspberry with Sprite came to $7.00.)

Another round of drinks later (martinis this time), we were finally seated and we got to order. I ordered the Surf and Turf. Our order came quickly because no one in the back had to cook it, and up to the pit we went.

Super, err... Control Freak
Here's where it went really down hill for me. Why? Well, I realized that I am a cooking control freak. People were grilling the hell out of their steaks. First, people just covered their steaks in Tabasco, Worcsteshire, and barbeque sauce. People, what's wrong with tasting your steak?

If that wasn't enough, everyone seemed to get joy from flattening their steaks down with the spatula. All those glorious meat juices just went into the pit. Where the juices go, the flavor goes. Sure it might make the steak cook quicker, but who wants to eat a flavorless piece of shoe leather.

I patiently waited for my steak to cook. And I watched my swordfish cook. And I put my garlic bread on the grill to get toasty.

Over-Under
Unfortunately, despite all of my grilling pet peeves, I'm not much of a griller myself. I over-cooked my swordfish, and under-cooked my steak (and when I say under-cooked, I mean the steak was really rare; I enjoy my steak rare, but this one could have been cooked for another five minutes.) My garlic bread came out perfect though. Good to know I could do something right.

And so, while the concept is novel, and the Turf Supper Club's atmosphere was very cool, if given the chance again, I'd pay a couple of more dollars to have my steak grilled by a food service professional.

Turf Supper Club
1116 25th Street
San Diego, CA 92154
619.234.6363