Where can you get the best smoked meats perfectly paired with craft beer in East County San Diego? Tyson Blake of West Coast Smoke & Tap House gives Kyle Whissel a behind the scenes tour and shows how they make their FAMOUS "West Coast Smoke and Tap House Reuben".
Website: https://westcoastbbqandbrew.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestCoastSmokeandTapHouse/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westcoastsmokeandtaphouse/
West Coast Smoke & Tap House Menu: https://westcoastbbqandbrew.com/san-diego-la-mesa-west-coast-smoke-and-tap-house-food-menu
Address: 6126 Lake Murray Blvd, La Mesa, CA 91942
Video Transcript:
We are going to do a creation that Umberto put together, West Coast Smoke & Tap House Reuben, baby.
And you're going to murder this this thing. It's going to be awesome, dude. I can't wait. Where can you get some of the best smoked meats and pair it with the best beer in San Diego? We're at West Coast Smoke & Tap House. Let's get to it. Tyson, what's up, my friends.
How you doin', my man?
I am good. Thank you so much.
Welcome, welcome. Yeah, good to have you, brother.
So, we're here at West Coast. Let's have a sip first, right?
Let's do this, yeah?
We're starting this off with a beer.
Yeah, dude.
So, beer is an important part of what you guys do here, but tell me about what's someone going to find when they come in here?
[Tyson] Oh, man, one of the most beautiful things about West Coast is the community, the family feel, how good it feels when you come in here, how welcome, which is pretty much what Larry Koger and Tom Nickel, when they first took this over, really wanted.
And it's a smoke and tap house. So, tell me about the smoke, and tell me about the tap house.
For sure. It went through a little transition or going through a little transition here from what was known as West Coast Barbecue & Brew. We have a giant smoker, so we make lots of things happen out of there, but we wanted to also allow people to think that they can come in and have great sandwiches, great burgers, great salads, something outside of the smoked menu, as well. His soups are incredible. He just won first place in a chili cookoff recently.
[Kyle] Yeah, at the VFW, baby.
[Tyson] Super huge.
And then you come in, and this is your specialty here. Why is it so important to have a good beer with a meal?
Well, we're in San Diego, and San Diego is known worldwide for its beer brewing abilities. We found and has been known for hundreds of years is that beer and food go fantastic together. But there's something for everyone, and the tap list is constantly rotating. Kristina, my wife, puts together the tap list. She's got an incredible palate, and there's a really fun camaraderie and partnership between the local breweries, as well as breweries throughout the country and internationally. So, we keep rolling the tap list over, keep playing, put together some great features for breweries and have a lot of fun in pairing food with that, as well.
I love it. I got to eat some food, man. Let's go back in the kitchen.
Let's go take a look, dude.
All right, dude, what are we cookin' today?
So, we are going to do a creation that Umberto put together called the West Coast Reuben. Umberto takes the corned beef, and we give that a beer braise, about 3-1/2 hours make it nice and tender, and then we let that thing chill out and think about what it's done, a timeout in the cooler for a day. And then we slice it up. It's in that braising period, it's taken on some of the beer flavor. It has tenderized beautifully to the point where it's just juicy and delicious and waiting for you to eat it.
[Kyle] I love it.
But what he does is takes that chilled corned beef, give that a nice, thick slice, and then he starts hitting that on the grill and giving it some nice caramelization, some nice Maillard, a nice, deep, deep flavor, bringing out some sweetness from the beer, from the meat itself and gets it just delicious and tasting good. Then he's chopping up some homemade pickled Brussels sprouts. Instead of sauerkraut, we throw Brussels sprouts into the game here.
Thank you. What kind of bread are we going with on this thing?
So, we went with a marbled rye on this thing. I think rye, Reubens, pretty quintessential. You get a little caraway seed in there to add that little extra flavor and goodness. We get that from the Cali Baking Company down in Chula Vista. So, four days a week, we get bread brought in here. We go through it. It stays fresh. It stays thoughtful and pleasant and delicious.
All right, and what are we doing for cheese?
[Tyson] We're going Swiss on that bad boy.
[Kyle] All right, what's the sauce we throw on top there?
We actually take some of our spicy pickles, and we make a thousand island of sorts, West Coast Thousand let's call it. All right, you guys. We're going with a Pliny the Elder from Russian River, double IPA, big hop pop but balanced, as well. It's not going to hit you with a ton of bitterness. It's going to have some nuances of earthy, floral, little bit citrus and some nice, firm hop character but not blasting you with bitterness, right? So the point in putting these two things together is we have an unctuous braised corned beef that we've put together in this Reuben. It's going to kind of coat your palate with lots of flavor, lots of little bits of fatty goodness and tasty bits, and that's going to taste delicious, but what you need to get ready for your next bite is a little break, and IPAs are a great way to take that little break. You're going to take a little sip after your bite. I suggest actually taking a sip first. Get your palate ready 'cause beer is an aperitif. It gets you rockin' and rollin'. Going to take that bite, and then you're going to have another sip and wash that down after you've swallowed.
Beautiful.
That first bite, it's going to be delicious. I hope you enjoy it, man.
Let's do it.
Tear it up.
All right, guys, I'm going to listen to Tyson here. I'm going to have a little bit of beer, I'm going to have some food, have a little beer, and then I'm going to share my experience about the unctuousness of this dish. That meat is so freaking tender and so full of flavor and then with the beer to contrast that, that's freaking delicious, guys. If you guys are looking for an awesome place to come get some smoked meats, some just good dishes and you want somebody who can pair anything and want an amazing beer selection, you guys need to come check it out, West Coast Smoke & Tap House. They're in the corner right at the San Carlos-La Mesa border. These guys are amazing here. Come check 'em out. If you guys enjoyed the video, we'd love for you guys to share it so more people can learn about these guys. Like it, comment on it. You will not be disappointed. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of "Everything East County".
