Lazy Dog Cafe

After a filling lunch at Billy's we weren't very hungry for dinner but I need to run to Lazy Dog to pick up a gift card so we decided to go for a night snack of beer and a couple appetizers. I've been to Lazy Dog before a couple times with family while going to the AMC theaters right above the place. And of course, I'm a sucker for the dog décor but the place actually does look pretty cool, low light but still bright enough to see everything, cute black & white pictures of dogs everywhere, nice comfy booths.
We both ordered our own sampler of their beer which comes with five 6oz servings, a Chocolate Porter, Honey Blonde, Hefeweisen, Pale Ale, and Amber Ale. While they don't actual brew the beer themselves it is brewed for them at two Southern California breweries, Bayhawk and Firestone. Nothing too crazy on the beer front, the Chocolate Porter was surprising for such a dark beer, actually kind of light and easy drinking, just a teeny tiny hint of Chocolate. The Honey Blonde on it's own wasn't much but mixed with food or the Porter it really brought out the honey flavors and ended up being our favorite. The Hef was standard, actually a really lemony, I wished I would have tried it first before squeezing my lemon wedge into it. The Amber was a little too hoppy for my tastes which is odd because I usually like ambers. The Pale Ale was your basic pale ale, nothing too different or distinctive.

Now onto the food…We ordered two appetizers, the Ahi Poke and the Inside Out Quesadilla. Where to start, both dishes were scrumptious. The ahi is probably one of the best presentations of ahi poke that I've had. It was served on a light and crispy wonton with green onions, sesame seeds and avocado with some kind of dressing drizzled on top. It also came with something that reminded me of an Asian version of coleslaw that was alright. Next up was the inside out quesadilla which didn't look like what I expected from the name but after tasting it looks didn't matter. The only thing really different about this from your regular quesadilla is they put a little extra cheese on the outside of the tortilla and grill it up so the cheese gets that interesting flavor of being cooked but not burned. The guacamole and salsa that came with it weren't have bad either. I'm sure we'll be back here again at some point, especially if we have time before or after seeing a movie.

Brian's thoughts by dish:
Porter - Great mellow taste, not nearly as dark as it looks. Would have been interesting in a Red Stripe or Newcastle kind of way in a bottle instead of draft.
Amber Ale - Seemed more like a "Red" to me, hoppy and bitter. Lighter than its equivalent at most brewpubs I thought.
Pale Ale - Not bad, but not as memorable to me as the rest.
Honey Blonde - My favorite and the best contrast to the rest, nice mead-like taste. I could have drank a liter of this by itself.
Hefeweizen - Thick and lemony even without its lemon in it
Ahi Poke - Very very nice. Great ginger, avacado, green onion, and sesame tastes. Contrast of textures between the wonton and tuna was fantastic (even if it made it hard to eat elegantly).
Inside out Quesadilla - I liked the toasted cheese taste a lot, and thought the salsa and guacamole it came with was perfect; lots of tangy and smokey flavors I wasnt expecting.
Overall - Definitely want to go back some time for a nice real dinner.

525 Carson Street Torrance, CA
http://www.lazydogcafe.com/