Gingham

I was looking forward to coming here, but I was a little disappointed with my meal. The food was just medicro. I asked waiter if the pork chops were good and juicy… I hate a dry pork chop and they said it was one of their favorite dishes so I took the recommendation. They were not juicy at all, very tough. Plus it was pricey.

What is with all the old people hating on everything? I work in service field and wasn’t too disappointed in my visit. My friend and I came here on a whim and felt it would be fun and catch up. I loved the menu, loved wine and drink selection. My friend loved the abundance of heaters. I would have loved to see me follow up from our server/​waitress she visited us 2 times… Once to take our order and another to see if we were enjoying our meal. She did help us and she was SUPER busy so it wasn’t a big deal. I probably come back

One star instead of no stars only to say, this place literally closed up shop the day after I left my last review… shame on you, Brian Malarkey, for even staying open on Mother’s Day to take peoples money and then close your doors!!! Gross!!!

I don’t even know where to start.
The service was so bad, we left spare change for a tip. My girlfriend and I are both veterans of the service industry so we will probably burn in hell for it, but our server deserved the proverbial slap in the face. She was inattentive, only voluntarily stopping by the table to take our order and drop the check. When I did catch her attention, she was short with me.
Me: Excuse me, I was wondering if the chili is supposed to be chunky? The menu says «beef, beans, beer», but there was hardly any beef or beans. It’s like soup.
Her: There were plenty of beans when I scooped it out. I’ll buy it for you.
Before I could say anything, she whisked the bowl away and disappeared. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the chili or wanted it to be comped. If she was going to buy it for me, shouldn’t I at least get to finish it?
She certainly didn’t seem to care that our dessert had gone bad prior to being served, though. That stayed on our table stinking up the general vicinity, and it stayed on the bill. The only consolation to our complaint there was a card for a free appetizer on our next visit. Guess what? That stayed on the table, too. We won’t be going back.

Ah, lunch in downtown La Mesa on a warm, sunny Friday afternoon…
Atmosphere: A
It wasn’t crowded, so we asked to sit at a table by the open, sliding windows. The rosemary hedges smelled wonderful, and we could people watch. I did feel a pang of guilt when I glanced across the street at my favorite burger joint, Johnny B’s. I felt as if I were cheating on JB, but we have an open relationship, so all was cool.
Service: A+
Erin, our waitress was very sweet and quickly brought us a cute, old-​timey milk bottle full of cool water and filled two mason jars for us; she took our drink orders and recommended the fried brussels sprouts. Everyone we came in contact with: the hostess, the busser, and our waitress, were all very friendly, professional and quick.
Food: A–
I know it’s a BBQ place, but I was in the mood for shrimp tacos (if you read my other reviews, you will see that I’m often in the shrimp taco mood). My tacos were really good, with three or four spicy shrimp on a tasty mango-​cole slaw combo. The only tiny thing I didn’t like was that the tortillas seemed a bit on the stale side, they were somewhere in limbo between crispy and soft tortillas. It didn’t take away from the over-​all flavor though, just an observation. My tacos came with fresh salad greens in a vinaigrette type dressing. Hubby ordered the brisket with fried brussels sprouts on the side, I tasted both, the brisket was in a nice BBQ sauce, not spicy, but not bland. The brussels sprouts were really good, with a kick of spice and slivered almonds. I wished I had my own order so I didn’t have to distract my husband while I stole his sprouts. Even if you’re not a fan of brussels sprouts (how could you not love them, they are like little shrinky-​dink cabbages, so cute!), you should try them. I’m going to see if I can make them like this at home.
Cost: B+
I thought the prices were a tiny bit on the high side for lunch, but the portions were a decent size. We didn’t order alcohol, but I looked at the drink menu. There are some interesting drink concoctions on the list, and happy hour prices (3−6pm I believe?), but I thought the $ 9 price on most of the mixed drinks was on the high side. I did use the Unilocal!check-​in app and got 15% off our lunch — score!
All in all, a very nice experience, with good food and good service, in a nice atmosphere. I’ll be back, and next time I’m ordering my own brussels sprouts.

It kind of pains me to give Gingham a 2 when it really deserves a 2.5, but I just couldn’t give it an A-​OK 3 star score.
First the pros:
* WAITSTAFF — waitress was so sweet, very helpful and attentive
* RESERVATIONS — reservation for 6 on a Saturday night was easy to get with only a week’s notice, we sat down within 5 minutes of arriving
* LOCATION — in a great downtown area with lots of bars around for a pre– or post– dinner drink
* PRICE — it’s really, really affordable — $ 150 for 6 beer drinking people!
Then there are the negatives:
* FOOD — you’re probably thinking the same thing we did before eating here, «the menu sounds AMAZING! How can they screw up fried chicken and mac n’ cheese???» That’s exactly what they did.
* OVERZEALOUS BUSSER — the busser came around way too many times to clear the table. It was like the place wasn’t busy enough (on a Saturday night!) so he just come coming back to clear plates whether we were done or not. At one point, he spilled some food on my husband’s shirt.
After we ate, we did a download on the way home from La Mesa to Encinitas (so we had awhile) to assess our meal. Here’s what we had to say about what we ordered (we ordered enough of everything to eat family-​style):
Baked Brie /​App — OK, nothing special
Chicken Drumettes /​App — Good flavor, but not hot or even warm
The «La Mesan» Burger — this was definitely the best thing we had
Fried Chicken — not crispy, breast was good and moist, leg not so great, coating didn’t have a lot of flavor
Little Mac — would seriously rather have had boxed mac n cheese, very bland
Daddy Mac — mac n cheese with bbq meat, this was the 2^nd best thing after the burger
Cornbread Muffins — good, tasted like your standard cornbread muffin, good for sopping up some of the honey from the fried chicken
Caramel Corn Sundae /​Dessert — Ok. you get a TON of vanilla ice cream, without enough caramel corn to have with every bite. And, it’s kind of weird because you have to bite into the caramel corn and ice cream at the same time which kind of hurts your teeth.
Peanut Mousse Brownie — Definitely would say skip this. Nothing special.
So, this is why I have to give Gingham a 2. It’s exactly a Unilocal 2, «Meh. I’ve experienced better [even in my own kitchen]».

When I think of culinary originality. A few restaurants come to mind. You can definitely add Gingham to that list. The food is a slap to the taste buds. Everyday not so-​fare with a twist.
First off, seasoned peanuts. Best starter since edamame. Every meal should start with those warm addictive peanuts. Just add beer and life is good.
Next, I had a dish of grits and shrimp in a thick sauce. It was awesome. Not really sure how to describe it any other way. I would definitely order it again.
For my main dish, I ordered a Gingham Burger– cheddar cheese, greens, tomatoes and carmelized onions. Yeah, I kind of wimped out ordering a burger but it’s what I wanted. What I loved about this burger is that the burger was bigger than the bun. Never been a big fan of hamburger buns so more meat and less bun was all good. On the side, I added potato salad. A perfect compliment to the burger. Also on the table were fried brussels and macaroni/​cheese– white cheddar with bread crumbs.
After all this. Being the glutton that I am. I had our server bring dessert. The peanut mouse brownie. What? Yes. Topped with candied peanuts. It was the highlight of my meal.
Overall, food is amazing. The server was friendly. Drinks are refreshing and original. Indian Summer for my wife. Karl Strauss California blond ale for me. A few hiccups with the timing of the food and the receiving of the bill. The only thing stopping me from rating this restaurant a perfect 5. Other than that, the food will keep me coming back for more. Genius.

3.5 stars for Brian Malarkey’s Gingham! Came here a couple weeks ago for dinner with my boyfriend and I’ve never been to downtown La Mesa before. Actually I didn’t even know La Mesa had a downtown! It looks like Disney’s Carsland lol
We had the blt fries with baconaise! Yes. Bacon mayonnaise which was pretty awesome but I only dipped a few French fries in it bc I was scared! It’s white in the dish but when you dip your fries in it, it melts and turns clear! Yikes! Lol!
My bf had the pork ribs which he gave me the first bite of. I was like oh. that’s really dry and tough! and Hiro said really? I like it. and I was like wtf it’s bad! bahaha but it was actually just the end of the ribs that I bit and it was was overly cooked whereas the rest was fine bc my second bite was nothing like my first. it was tender and moist. the sauce was pretty good but Hiro prefers it to be a bit more on the tangier side.
I had the (what I always order at the Malarkey fabric restaurants idk why! But I do.) shrimp and grits! It was really good! Novel flavors actually. I’ve never had shrimp and grits like that before it was sour?! Usually shrimp and grits are spicy or sweet which i looove but i loved this too!!? Like my face was puckering when I was eating the tomatoes (which by the way who puts tomatoes in shrimp and grits haah geniuses!!) lol it was fun. And I also ordered a side of brussel sprouts. I’ve only had brussels sprouts like 3 times in my life. Here at gingham, at searsucker and at my house when I replicated the searsucker ones and idk if I like brussel sprouts! They’re bitter. Well it’s not even brussel sprouts season and idk where these come from so maybe that’s why but I’m not entirely sure if i liked the sauce either. I think I liked the dish at searsucker better (the real searsucker not the searsucker recipe from the come early stay late cookbook that i have and made at my house bc that did NOT turn out and i know it wasn’t me! bc i followed those directions well)
Anyway, I would come back for the shrimp and grits. I like the cowboy theme of the restaurant too.

My bestie wanted to go here since she is big fan of Chef Brian and the place is like an upscale barn/​country style. Hence the name. Nice big open windows and cute mason jars for drinks.
Food wise, a bit on the pricey side for what you get. From the servers perspective, the Grilled Chicken was really good so I ordered it. I’m not usually a grilled chicken chick because it usually comes out dry and tough but to my surprise, this chicken was moist and tender. I has no issues chomping down on this thing. The smashed avocado was more like a spread, the bacon was two strips laid on top of each other with the cheddar melted on top of it to seal the bacon together. (really, the chedder looked oily) and a «Double Shot BBQ»…sauce? they didnt really specify and I really didnt’ care.
We also got the Baked Brie with whiskey onion lam & Lawrys potato chips. I love brie so I had to complaints about that. It was melted and yummy. The onions tasted like french onion soup with nicely complimented the brie however… potato chips? unless they turned in a baguette overnight. Maybe the menu was incorrect or I grew up believing potato chips were actually from potatoes!
Anywhoo, they do have an happy hour which we plan to try out. But yea, didn’t make much of an impression on me but it wasn’t horrible either. I could give it another try.

So, it was Restaurant Week, probably the last day, pretty busy night. We were seated about 15 minutes after our reservation which wasn’t the worst but it kinda defeats the whole reservation-​making, right? I chock that up to Restaurant Week and keep it pushin’.
Anyway, my friend and I chilled on the couch in the bar area while we waited and caught up on some girl talk. I didn’t opt for a cocktail at that time because I wanted to have everything at our table.
I can’t remember what cocktail I ordered but it was something with peach, I believe, and it was delicious! We ordered the BLT Fries which were amazing! Bacon bits, baconnaise (yes, bacon mayonnaise!) and fried kale… OM NOM NOM! Shrimp n grits– yes! Ribs, yes! Fried chicken — yes but needs salt which I wish wasn’t the case. Brussels Sprouts — heck yes! They were so gooood.
They had been steadily running out of dessert offerings until they were down to just 2 choices. We ended up getting some sort of maple pie or something amazing like that. It was very decadent and made me happy, that’s all I really know.
I ended up buying a deal through the U-​T a couple weeks or so later so I’ll be going back soon!

Garbage is usually flammable, heck most everything is flammable and it’s one of those things that happens, regardless of precautions. That’s what insurance is for. Fire’s tend to mar the reputations of places because subconsciously you feel either pity or disgust and neither motivates us to eat there. Every so often events like the recent fire have an alternate effect of either doing nothing to alter course or increasing publicity.
That’s what happened just a few short months ago in December. A garbage can fire behind their location had them closed for a little while and caused $ 50K in damages. Oily rags, go figure. Anyhow. Most people didn’t even know that. They are still interested in going and never stopped coming.
My last review was an accurate depiction, but in retrospect my opinions have been put into perspective and changed slightly. Gingam’s location has truly limited their potential to thrive. Their menu was refreshing at the time, but not something that is lasting. It’s not about changing and evolving either, it’s simply too simple. People want the Malarkey flair. I wanted a butcher gastro pub. It’s too southern and not lively enough and the decorations and theme don’t attract enough.
I still very much like their fried chicken, but don’t think they pressure cook it. They did away with the Fried Catfish and move to a more southern food, than BBQ and not Cajun.
The Sunday Brunch completely changes and the drinks need more refinement. I will drive pretty far for food, but I won’t be driving out here for just this. Instead of using it’s newness to grow it fizzled.
They say the fire and the decline in business is not why they wanted to sell to the Cohn group, but lets face it I would wait to turn their profit and cut it lose, refine the ideas more and come back stronger. I think we all knew Brian was overdoing it with so many, not everything he touches turns to gold.

It is a really quaint location with a bit of an awkward layout. When the weather is good the patio is great. The food is interesting but I would not consider it «cowboy» by any stretch of the imagination. That does not take away from the fact they have some unusual dishes.
As local places go it is a fun place to hang with friends and I would absolutely encourage trying them out.

So finally I make out to Gingham. I have been anticipating it for a while and while the menu had changed some from when it opened I think that there was plenty to choose from.
My wife and I started out with the BLT fries. I enjoyed the overall savory flavor along with the fried kale and «baconaise». The homemade tomato jam was a sweet counter to the plate and I certainly could see myself having this as a main plate but allow me to describe the other gastronomical delight I had.
My wife had the tuna fish cake which was very flavorful. My concern was that it would be dry since I have almost never had tuna fully cooked unless it was me making my old school tuna sandwiches. However, the tuna fish cake really impressed me with how it maintained a good culinary texture and was paired well with the white sauce it came with. The beauty of it was the unexpected heat of the chile that was mixed in. It tasted like jalapeño and was a welcome surprise.
I would have liked to give a little more kudos to the BBQ brisket plate, but after Coop’s I can tell you that it left me slightly disappointed. Not bad, but certainly not Coop’s. I do enjoy the fact that Gingham is a welcome business because of its creative direction on the menu and its «urban cowboy» motif. Really reminds me of a few places I enjoyed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming some time back and I cannot wait to go back and try something new.

I’ve eaten here twice, once during Brunch and once during Restaurant Week. I have to agree with Daniel S. as I, too, have mixed feelings about this place. Now, I’m a fan of Brian Malarkey’s restaurants. I love Burlap and I dig Searsucker. So, I was pretty excited about trying out Gingham.
The service during both trips was great. During Brunch our server made sure our bottomless Mimosas were actually bottomless.
The food was good, not great. I liked the menu they had for Restaurant Week because they had a few different choices. I ordered the Short Rib and I was pretty disappointed at the lack of flavor. It was good and tender, but it wasn’t flavorful. As an appetizer I had the Baked Brie which was yummy and cheesy, but after awhile it got to be too overwhelming. Not to mention greasy. I would have loved to have some apples and crostini. Kind of like a makeshift fondue, ya know. The one thing I’ll say is that the Oil Boil aka the Fried Chicken was pretty good. Very crunchy, moist, and flavorful. That impressed me. My bf told me the the BBQ ribs were pretty good, too. We finished the meal with chocolate cake, which to me, was kinda overwhelming. However, I’m not one of those die hard chocoholic people.
I’m still on the fence in my decision of going back.

Gingham makes me want to twang up my (already mixed up) accent — it’s down home country comfort cooking deliciousness in every bite! Seriously, I love everything I eat here; it’s all good.
My favorites (in no particular order):
BLT fries (baconaise, y’all, BACONaise)
Baked brie with fig jam and crusty bread
Shrimp and grits (with oxtail!)
Fried brussel sprouts
Fried chicken
They have an awesome happy hour (plus half price appetizers!) and I look forward to the food coma on each visit. Plus during summer they showed mid-​week movies out on their patio with string lights. LOVE!
The only downfall with Gingham is the service — I’ve been here on over 6 occasions and every single time the service is molasses slow. It doesn’t deter me though because now I just expect it and soldier on (although it’s the sole reason I knocked a point off the rating).
Side note: my favorite moment at Gingham was seeing Brian Malarkey at the 2011 Restaurant Week walk out from the kitchen to the side bar and swig wine from a bottle.

***This review is for the preset lunch menu for Restaurant Week only***
There are some mixed reviews here, mostly ppl who love this place or ppl who don’t. As you can see from my 5-​star rating. I dig it. Today was my 1^st visit and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Initially, I did not want to come here b/​c their menu only included sandwiches. I was going to go to Terra since they also had a $ 15 prix-​fixe menu and my mother wanted to try the Asian organic rice bowl, but they made us wait to be seated even though the restaurant was practically empty. No thanks. We opted to try Gingham instead, and are so glad we did!
I ordered the Arugula watermelon salad which had olives and balsamic vinaigrette. It was okay, but I thought it had way too much dressing. The arugula, goat cheese, & watermelon were drenched in it, so I didn’t really love it. It became hard for me to taste the other ingredients in the salad. My mother had the Caesar, which was safe.
For my entrée, I had the pulled pork sandwich as recommended by our server. Lemme first preface this by saying I do not really like pulled pork/​American-​style bbq pork anything (yes that includes Phil’s BBQ… it’s good for what it is, but I’m just not THAT into bbq I guess). BUT– eating this sandwich has officially made me re-​evaluate my tastes & re-​consider BBQ as an entire category of foods. Life-​changing? Yes, maybe? Yes.
My mother had the albacore tuna cheddar sandwich which she, to my surprise and shock, enjoyed. My mother does not like sandwiches. My mother is practically lactose-​intolerant, and despises dairy. My mother almost always eats some type of Asian cuisine and always has a pair of collapsible stainless steel chopsticks in her purse. She’s a traditional Chinese mom, what can I say? Wow. I am still in shock right now. Can you tell? Who has she become!!!
The sides of seasoned fries which were included with our entrees were flavorful and generous. The carrot blondie & the chocolate brownie w/​coffee ganache were amazing. The former was sweet, had buttercream frosting & tasted like a carrot cake brownie. I’m terrible at these types of descriptions, but it was delish. The latter was good but a little bitter, which I actually liked. Not very sweet, not very big. Perfect to finish off our lunch! Walked briskly in, waddled out. That’s how we do (at least for Restaurant Week).
The $ 15 fare included soft drinks/​iced tea, 2 courses, & a dessert. Not bad! The only other East County restaurant participating in the $ 15 lunch menu was Terra and it only included 2 courses, with no drinks/​dessert. Did I mention the portions were HUGE here?! The salad was ginormous and could practically be someone’s meal. Service was amazing as well. People were friendly, our dishes were taken away quickly, and overall everyone was very attentive. Most of all, we both got seated RIGHT AWAY, which I was so excited about, especially since we had just come from another local eatery which failed to do so.
Lovely environment, fans were on high the entire time, which kept everyone cool & the flies away (I read reviews about lots of flies, but I didn’t notice any today). I recommend sitting upstairs for a nicer view and quieter environment. There’s also a checkout counter up here as well, so the servers ring you up in a matter of seconds.
DEFINITELY worth a visit, especially if you work/​live in East County. Parking was easy for a Monday afternoon, and we only paid $ 1 in our meter, which was more than enough time.
***Shhhhh! There’s a secret restroom upstairs. It’s the first door on your right. Don’t be put off by the «Employees Only» signage. ***

Great food! Deep fried sprouts are 20x better than you may think
My gf had the salmon salad and it was simply amazing!
I had the fried chicken, it had some of the most delicious mash patatoes I’ve ever had
I can’t express enough thanks to my friend Abraham, this place definitely deserves more stars than it was given
Recommend the strawberry peach crumble for dessert
Great place can’t wait to come again!

Gingham
SD: La Mesa
7pm Friday 27 April 2012
Three and Half Stars (round up for pork belly)
Another Brian Malarkey Restaurant with Snake Oil Cocktails! We were seated upstairs immediately upon arrival at 7pm. Most of the Waitstaff actually wore gingham which made me rather happy since no one at Searsucker wears seersucker.
For Drinks: I started with a Cinnamon-​Infused Bourbon Old Fashion. It punches you in the face with cinnamon flavor, but then mellows out with the cherry and orange flavors. My only complaint with the drinks is that they use disc shaped ice which melts way too fast. For their complimentary bread, they provide us with four mini cornbread muffins, which were just smothered in buttery goodness.
For the Appetizer, we had their Pork Belly, which was an AMAZING breakfast sandwich! The butter-​crisped bread + the succulent and decadent pork + Gooey over-​easy egg was absolutely melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious.
For the main course, we decided on the Big Smoke Mac and the Baby Back Ribs. I do not under why restaurant persist to call any pasta with cheese «Macaroni and Cheese.» Here, they baked Penne in Bourbon, Cheddar, Cream and some type of tomato product. The bourbon did not show up at all. The dish was rather mediocre. The Baby Back Ribs were supposedly slow-​cooked for three days. If they were, 3 days is way too long. These 9 – 10 bone ribs were dry and ashy. The ribs came as two sections. One section was connected and were pretty tasty and relatively more moist. The other section appeared to be more like the scrap bones of another rack. The mustard sauce did a good job at lubricating these charred pieces of meat down my throat. Pretty Disappointing.
The service by our waiter Jaret was excellent.

Gingham is the trendiest thing on this whole block. It’s like an urban cowboy set up shop here and people come to see what it’s all about. Not a bad thing at all, it’s a cool concept for a restaurant. The sounds of conversations carry down the whole block since every other store there is rather quiet.
I arrived on a Friday night around 6PM and there was a 30 min wait. When some seats opened up at the bar, we decided to just eat there so we took our names off the list. The bartenders were busy, they weren’t able to give us too much attention except at the beginning to take our drink orders and then we had to flag them down for our food order. We opted for the BLT Fries and the gingHAMburger and within 10 minutes, our food had already been placed in front of us. The BLT Fries are essentially loaded fries. Good, if you like that type of stuff. Personally, I like to limit my intake of fried foods. The gingHAMburger had a very nice presentation. A fried egg on top always gets me, I just love it. As for the taste of the burger itself, it was just alright. I’m glad the egg was there or else it probably wouldn’t have tasted that good.
Although Gingham is a cool place to hang in La Mesa, I think the food could use a bit of a makeover. Perhaps I just got the wrong things though. They seem to be doing pretty well. Not sure if I’ll ever be back, but it was cool to try once.

Wow, such high demand for Gingham! Who woulda thunk it. i rarely ever saunter over to La Mesa, but i made the drive over JUST for gingham! my friends raved about it and when i finally made it back to San Diego for a break — we headed over.
We got there early, around 5:15 a.m. Early bird special is apparently the only way to get a table without waiting an obscene amount of time here. We had no issues getting seated. They were great accommodating our party of six who straggled in a couple at a time. We were seated upstairs where it wasn’t crowded or too rowdy.
Our server was friendly and caught us up on the specials. I had the kobe bone marrow to start and the braised ribs for an entrée. The marrow was BUTTERY delicious! However there were halves of bone that were just bone and no marrow. The bit we did get was yummy.
The braised short rib was DELICIOUS. melt in your mouth yumm. they were served over mash and with interesting pickled onions. I love everything pickled so i enjoyed the refreshing taste combined with something as heavy as potatoes and beef.
we had dessert and i can’t remember what it was called but it was DELICIOUS as well. it was recommended by the server and i think it’s quite popular so just ask them. i would love to come back — but if i had to wait in line to get a table i probably wouldn’t wait long. I just don’t like to wait to eat because i’m usually starving!