Hubcap

How did this place close?!
Amazing burgers, cool wait staff, cool atmosphere, great location.

Oh dear Hubcap … such a short relationship but it was beautiful!
My friends and I LOVED your grass fed burger, house made pickles, and so much more. Salt and pepper wings, grilled veggies, and the cocktails! Oh my goodness! The Happy Hour — $ 5 cocktails.
I hope I can sneak in one more visit before the 30^th of July!
Wishing you all the best and I hope to see you around at great places like Small Bar perhaps?

I went with my friend and I thought that Hubcap was just okay. I am pretty critical of my burgers and the service I receive, and based on those alone I know I probably won’t come back here.
BURGER: I ordered a very simple burger (just the patty and avocado with their «housemade mayo») and it was very mediocre. What I found odd was that the bartender who took our order asked us if it’s okay that it’ll be rare, because that’s how they cook them. I said that that was fine, but it wasn’t actually rare. It was probably between medium rare and medium. Weird.
My friend ordered the Hubcap burger and said that there was so much going on that he didn’t even know what the «fluffy cheese» tasted like. His was not cooked rare either.
We did agree though that the buns were pretty good. It’s thick enough that they don’t get soggy from the patty, which is always nice.
ONION RINGS: I heard they’re fried in pig fat, which I thought might enhance the flavors but that wasn’t the case at all. Their onion rings were very mediocre and unmemorable.
BAR: This bar is shaped so oddly. I feel like the taps should be placed in the middle, so if it ever gets super crowded, two bartenders could have easy access to the taps. Where they are now doesn’t seem convenient nor efficient.
The bar consists of a slab of metal, which is pretty porous. Looks kinda cool but would probably be difficult to clean. If you just wiped down the bar, all the crumbs would go into these little holes and it would look gross. I think they should’ve thought about this more.
BARTENDER: Our male bartender was so strange. He actually annoyed me a lot, and I did not enjoy talking to him. He would start conversations with us and then would tend to another customer or zone out while we’re talking to him. Very rude and disrespectful. He seemed unintelligent.
There was a female employee working at the same time, taking orders, bringing out food, etc. She was nice but not friendly by any means. She did not put any extra effort into her job. I think Hubcap needs to train their employees.
HAPPY HOUR: During HH, all drinks are $ 5/​glass. This includes cocktails, beer and wine. They serve beer for $ 5 when they’re normally $ 6. That’s not a great deal by any means, and I highly doubt that that would drive anyone to come here for HH. It would be a better deal if they decided to take $ 3 off every drink, so cocktails will be $ 4 instead of $ 7. No wonder it was empty when we stopped by.
OVERALL: Unless the level of service and food quality improves, I will not come back here and would probably deter friends from wasting their money here.

juicy (and bloody) burger, tasty fries, good beer, good service.
only complaint being that i tried the uni pâté for an extra $ 5 and i couldn’t tell you if it was on there or not because i could not see it nor taste it…
$ 5 off pitcher of harlot during HH = delish!

We have a new contender for best burger place in San Diego!
And it’s hubcap if that wasn’t clear enough.

Underwhelming as one critic put it. My wife and I both agree. We both had the cheese burger and were hugely disappointed. It was not bad but it was not great, especially for $ 8. I was not won over by the house version of their cheese spread on the burger. I asked for a side of mayonnaise and was given the house version which tasted like homemade thousand island dressing. It was good as thousand island dressings go; call it anything, just don’t call it mayonnaise.
When you consider the caliber of burgers in North Park, I couldn’t even put this in the top five:
1. Lefty’s
2. True North
3.Carnita’s Snack Shack
4. Western Steak Burger
5. Crazy Burger
Expand the radius to five miles and I am not sure if it even hits the top ten.
The fries were great and the service was quick and staff were friendly!

Grass-​fed burgers cooked to perfection, craft cocktails and a patio to people watch and bring your dog — what more could you ask for??? I stumbled across this place thanks to Unilocal and we had dinner here last night. The generous happy hour starts at 4 and ends at 7 — great deal. The cocktails are creative, thoughtful and very well put together — I stuck to the Paloma which is their version of a margarita. They are owned by the same folks that have The Linkery and El Take it Easy so there’s still a real focus on quality ingredients and it shows. We had 2 picky eaters in our group and they both said the burgers were the best they’d had in San Diego. The grilled local squash was a great alternative to greasy fries. Loved the chocolate brownie for dessert.

Not a bad place for a burger and a draaank. For being a fairly new spot in North Park it has potential to be a hit. I love the food and the atmosphere in North Park and when there is something new in this area I try to make my way there. The service here was friendly. It wasn’t too busy, the tables were clean, and the atmosphere was nice and chill. I enjoyed the simple decoration and steel walls.
Let’s talk food!
I had to get the Hubcap Burger. It was a bit pricey ($ 9), but the meat (grass feed) was real juicy and flavorful. It’s a thick burger, with all the veggies on top of the meat and the bun being pretty thick itself made it hard for me to bite, so I had to smash it down a bit. I’m all about ratios and I felt that the veggies were taking over the burger, so I simply just took out some of the veggies. The bun they use is a little dry for my liking. I like soft buns. Buns they use at Burger Lounge are perfect. I had a side of their fries and my batch was really oily. The texture reminded me of In n Out fries, which I love. These ones are a lot thicker than In n Out fries. They are good though and I did enjoy them more than my burger.
My friend ordered the salt and pepper wings ($ 9). They were delicious, a little too salty but good. For the price I wouldn’t have gotten them. I’m glad my friend did, but I wouldn’t pay that much for them, even though I ate more than he did.
I had my burger with a Blonde Saint Archer. I’m a big fan of Saint Archer, it is a new brewery in SD and I highly recommend you try this beer/​brewery. They have good drink specials: Happy Hour daily until 7 it’s $ 5 for their cocktails and $ 5 off of their pitchers and bottles.
I do have a sweet tooth and I was a little disappointed they didn’t have any dessert, but I was in North Park so finding dessert isn’t hard. Quick fix.
They have some kinks to workout and I’m sure they will fix it. I will be back to try this place!
If you eat good food, then you will never have to eat bad food again — @DmagicP

It’s new so I’ll probably give it another try.
I probably just had the worst (spicy) grilled cheese sandwich of my life here. I’m not quite sure of the concept, but if you have an idea of what a «grilled cheese sandwich» should be, let me explain what this place did wrong…
It’s simply called «Spicy Grilled Cheese» — which made me think of a grilled cheese sandwich since it’s a burger joint. There is no description, just $ 7. I think 99% of people will agree with me here in thinking it’s a sandwich. I was wrong.
The «Spicy Grilled Cheese» was some sort of cheddar and possibly Gorgonzola (it was blue cheese tasting), melted on a hamburger bun. Of course I ordered it with tomatoes, as I thought grilled cheeses are the best with — it already came with tomatoes so plus marks there. It also came with jalapenos, which I despise, so I order it without.
A friend of mine had the sandwich as is.
When it came out, I was shocked. That’s not a grilled cheese I thought. That’s basically a cheese burger without meat and lettuce. No fries. $ 7 bucks.
My friend said the best part was the jalapenos. The food sat very heavy in our stomachs.
I then read some of the reviews that said if this was In-​N-​Out but better — looks rigged. In-​N-​Out doesn’t have shitty grilled cheese sandwiches.
Note to the owners or chef. call that shit something else because if someone orders a grilled cheese, they’re expecting a grilled cheese sandwich, not melted cheese on a bun for $ 7. This is a menu fail. — conversely, you could also train your waitstaff to let customers know what the sandwich is.
The wait staff was friend, however, and though the service was a bit slow for having only a handful of people in the restaurant, and what looked like 5 people on staff on a Friday night, I feel like this may have been a fluke.
I will be back to hopefully try something else, but first experience there was very lacking and disappointing. I don’t want to discourage people from trying new things, because everyone should try it out for themselves, but as a veteran of the restaurant industry and celebrated eater, wait until this place gets there legs up – that’s my opinion.

I had never been to El take it easy or whatever it was that is in this places… place. But I read somewhere that they were trying to make a top notch burger and if there is one way to win my heart it is through a burger… through my stomach.
So the thing with this burger is that it is good. They have like a 3 cheese ooze on top of it. I like the buns. I like the veggies. I like the beer selection. I know they have good mixed drinks as well but I’m not really all about those. It is unfortunate that I must also factor in value as well. I feel that value for this burger is not that great. Still a good burger. For $ 7 I feel it’d be a great burger. But for $ 9+ (more if you want jalapenos or avocado or w/​e) it’s just a good burger. I don’t know that i’d ever go there again.
But when someone says they make the best burger I see it as a personal challenge. Given all that I’ll still give it 4 stars based on taste: D Deduct half a star for price. I can only imagine if we didn’t go during happy hour lol
Edit: also bartenders were very friendly despite me and my friends being extremely inappropriate. :/

WARNING FOR VEGETARIANS: Their fryers only contain pork fat. They fry everything (french fries, onion rings, anything that is fried) in pork fat. This is not on the menu anywhere, and thankfully I found it out by chance.
After a long day of studying, my friend and I needed some comfort food, and decided to go to Hubcap. I had been once before and they had a delightful veggie burger. Unfortunately when we sat down, I found out they had just run out so it would be awhile until they made more. When I said, oh it’s the only thing I can eat so we will just order the fries as an appetizer, the server told me everything was fried in pork fat. Whoo — saved from that one! I ended up going with the almond green beans, which are basically the only vegetarian side, and they were delightful.
Luckily the cook was able to catch up and made a special veggie patty just for me, which was delicious, if not messy. The previous time I had gone here the veggie patty held together nicely, and all you vegetarian people who eat veggie patties know what I mean when the veggie patty stays together. Apparently they usually bake them before grilling them, which helps them stay together, but to save on time, they didn’t this time.
So, our server was friendly and helpful, and the food was good. I really wish they would add the disclaimer on the menu, because most people would not expect a kitchen full of pork fat fryers, and I did have some fries the first time I was here.
I almost should have known to ask though, because the previous restaurant that was in this spot, El Take It Easy, also fried with beef fat, which is no where on the menu, and luckily our server told us that time before I ate one.

I went to Hubcap during happy hour last night and was pretty pleased with my experience. I had the happy hour special– a veggie burger, fries and St. Archer. Everything was really great, but there was one thing that really bothered me. Each additional topping on the burger is $ 3. I got avocado and jalapenos, which tacked on $ 6 more dollars. The amount of avocado and jalapeño that was in my burger was miniscule, so I think it’s a bit ridiculous to charge that much, especially since you can buy a beautiful, organic avocado at Whole Foods for $ 1.50. To charge $ 3 for a couple thin slices is a bit offensive. And $ 3 for jalapenos?! That’s even worse.
I will definitely be back though. Based on the reviews I am reading, Hubcap is still a work in progress. I hope that they reduce the prices of some of their add-​ons. I can understand that uni pâté may be worth $ 3, but not things like fritos, jalapenos and avocado.

Hubcap
SD: North Park
7pm Tuesday 21^st May 2013
Four Stars
Hubcap replaced El Take It Easy. The place looked very similar but the felt much more laid back. We ordered some $ 5 HH drinks: Mezkey Ginger, Paloma, & Beachcomber (until 7pm). They were not spectacular but got the job done. We ordered a couple hubcap burgers and a House Made Veggie Burger. The burgers were great! The sesame bun was fresh and flavorful. The Grass Fed Beef was cooked a nice medium rare. The Fluffy Cheese glued all of the toppings together. The fresh shredded Lettuce, Tomato, and crispy pickle slices made for astonishingly balanced and delicious burger. The service was a bit inattentive but not bad. The server couldn’t really explain what «red eye gravy» was. I was told «it’s a type of gravy with ham, I think.» So, I wikipedia it and Red Eye Gravy is a thin sauce made from the droppings of pan fired country ham and deglazed with black coffee.
Overall, that burger was a greasy confection of perfection.
*They have a TV but no cable, so you cannot watch the basketball game.

Saw the mixed reviews, saw the pedigree, so I decided to go on the Friday night of the official opening week. Parking is typical of North Park. Nothing new here and you’ll need to be creative or be willing to hike. The locale is quirky with a sushi joint adjacent as well as the dive bars way overpriced. While I was eating, It was funny to hear more than one party sit at the bar and say they were chillin for cocktails while waiting for a table at sushi-​land next door (it looked not so worth the wait).
The interior is kitschy-​cool. An upscale dive with a touch of automotive motif. Definitely set up to sit and talk. The ambiance puts you at ease on entry. The serpentine bar has lots of odd angles for F2 °F chat with your booze buddy. The bar is half the magic. Expertly crafted libations made precise, made right. Yup they have Leblon Cachaca for magical caipirinhas. (Note to management: please consider carrying Yprioca Ouro — a much higher quality Cachaca.) The waitress was clueless, but the BT was all over it, in a really good way! Ice manually crushed to order in a sack by mallet. True attention to detail here and it showed, but drinks are expensive.
If you’re looking for a vast foodie bill of fare, go elsewhere. If you want a crafted mega greaseburger done right, stay. No Kraft singles are offered on that bad boy. A beautiful concoction of artisan cheeses please! And the effing UNI pâté was bonerific! Such decadence and bliss! Perfectly assembled (I had UNI and avocado on mine), served fresh, hot, juices running and get this — rare! No incinerated tasteless charcoal briquettes here. Delicious. A destination excuse alone!
Their poutine offering was a great concept — fries, red eye gravy, magic cheese mix and what seemed like sliced speck bacon. Should have been great, but not quite yet. Maybe Hubcaps needs to do some tuning on that particular power plant because it wasn’t firing on all cylinders. More like an AMC pacer than a 69 Chevelle. The fries were soggy, like in n out style flaccid, which could be ok solo, but not for poutine. Crispy please. The gravy was watery, which intensified the fry sog factor. The speck and cheese were perfect. Crisp the fries and make the gravy gloppy and then — bingo.
Now for the clincher — the original «gone in 60 seconds» playing behind the bar in full cheesy SoCal cult glory. Those dudes in ’74 still look bitchen today! Alternate that with Stevie McQ’s Bullit and hell, I’ll camp out at the bar! Total man cave from that perspective. Hell, throw the original Italian Job with Michael Caine into the bar movie rotation and I’ll change my mailing address to 30^th street & University.
This will be fun to watch as it gets dialed in and mature. Hopefully it won’t lose it’s retro vibe. Service was ok, bar service great. Food was mega fast once ordered.

This place is still «new,» so I’m hoping it’ll improve. Jay Porter does not disappoint and food is still AMAZING. The sauce served with the fries tastes like an elote+mayo+queso+Valentina. Wow! Have the hubcap burger, you won’t be disappointed! It took us about 30 mins for someone to finally take our order and after our food was delivered no one came by to check on us. It took us another 15 mins to flag someone down for our check.
Food 5+
Service –1

Just got back from the grand opening of Hubcap. The grassfed burger, excellent! The fries, thin cut were tasty but I am a fan of the crispy french fry. The vegetables in the salad were kinda dated (iceberg lettuce, tomato and thinly sliced onion), but it was totally saved by two dressings (house made ranch and some kind of herbacious greek dressing). The Paloma, my favorite cocktail from El Take It Easy, survived the transition.
The service was friendly and helpful, and for those of you down on Jay Porter’s built in tipping policy you’ll be happy to know that gratuity wasn’t included.
While I will miss El Take it Easy, Hubcap is a huge win. Go now.

Ambiance: Decent hipster spot with odd chinese restaurant style chairs, odd angles everywhere, didnt notice the music, overall space just doesnt seem right though…
Food: wings and onion rings were spot on for drinking food
Service: pretty good
its a hubcap.

First let me say R.I.P. El Take It Easy…
I visited last Saturday and the décor is different inside– they’ve added a jukebox and turned up the lights. I sat at the bar and had two servers/​bartenders help me– Ethan and Eddie– they were both outstanding! I had excellent service.
The drink menu is cheaper and pitchers are now offered for beers AND cocktails. I enjoyed the Kir Royal, followed by the mezkey Ginger and Southside. Good prices and strong drinks!
Now for the new menu: The «spicy grilled cheese» is $ 7 and a total disappointmet. It came on a flattened hamburger bun covered in sesame seeds accompanied by slabs of jalapeño that were NOT spicey. The cheese was great, but I wanted more!
However, the hubcap burger was DARN GOOD! It sells for $ 9 and is SOOOO worth evey penny! Their secret sauce was divine and the meat was plump and juicy, and screamed «grassfed beef»!
I’d really like to see other items on the menu that aren’t fried or smothered in gravy though… maybe something to cure the munchies while I drink… and something that won’t give me heartburn.
The burger is good, I gotta give them that. Hubcap is new so I’m sure things will be tweaked here and there to fit the palate and ambiance of N.P. guests.

This place represents a significant improvement over it’s predecessor. The food was good, but kind of a finger painting of flavor. The portion size has become enormous (at least for the burger and fries I had). The staff was attentive, but a somewhat spaced out — I think that for this place to be really be successful, the waitstaff needs to be more alert and present for their customers. Example: when you pass by a customers table and you see an empty glass, ask them if they would like a refill (on refillable beverages) or another round. Be friendly and engage your customers more — North Park is a sociable neighborhood, so get to know your customers.
The dining room is quite similar to El Take It Easy, and is well decorated. The white paint on the back wall makes the place seem nicer. I hope this place will be successful, and I think it will be if they work out the kinks early.

El Take it Easy, bless their heart for trying.
Thankfully, the powers that be, made the decision for a sneaky turnover into a burger joint in two days flat.
Good news, for now, most of their cocktails remained on the new Hubcap menu, and if you ask the servers, even the ones that didn’t make the menu can be made as well, like the «Easy Daisy» which was always my favorite.
The new menu fits in much better than the previous modern mexican menu. The trick to surviving in North Park is to pick one thing and stick to it, whether it be pizza, beer, or burgers. The ‘Hubcap Burger’ is a good burger, the beef is grass-​fed and served at an actual rare-​medium-​rare, which is a nice change. The burger comes topped with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and ‘house-​made fluffy cheese spread’. For those curious/​weary about the cheese spread, it’s cheddar, blue and one more type of cheese I can’t recall. Two little criticisms about the burger, which probably change from cook to cook and might change over time, the pickles were a little too fresh for my liking, they still had the texture and slight taste of cucumbers. Secondly, way way way too much lettuce on the burger, and less mayo would keep the burger from slipping off the bun, please :)
Other than that, the bare bones are still El Take It Easy, with a fresh coat of paint and metal on the exterior. Though they did remove the DJ booth and opted for an old-​school Jukebox in its place.