Week 62: The Presley

Week 62: March 3rd-9th, 2024

This week, my friends and I wanted to participate in San Diego Restaurant Week, a "foodie extravaganza" meant to highlight trendy food spots in the San Diego area. After a bit of deliberation, we chose to try The Presley in Liberty Station. Despite being directly under the main flight path for the airport, Liberty Station remains one of my favorite places in San Diego because there is always something new to explore there.

We decided on an early dinner, so the sun was still out, but it was still pretty cold outside. I once again found myself thanking the inventor of the heat lamp. (Wikipedia has informed me that a German-British astronomer is the one who discovered infrared in 1800. Thanks, Sir William Herschel.)

The Presley shares a courtyard with Moniker General and Pigment. It was pretty busy in Liberty Station since it was a nice weekend evening. There were many tired-looking parents, chasing after their kids running around in the last bits of sunlight. I once again thanked myself (not Sir William Herschel this time) for not having children. At the moment, I prefer to spend my free time watching basketball. Having kids would ruin that, I think.

Most of the seating is outdoors

On top of their regular menu, because of San Diego Restaurant Week, The Presley was offering a special. For $50, you could pick an appetizer and a main course, with mud pie as dessert.

I decided I wasn't hungry enough for a three course meal, so I opted out of the special and ordered the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. As far as fried chicken sandwiches go, this one was pretty standard. I consider myself to be a bit of a fried chicken sandwich connoisseur, because when in doubt, I will default to ordering that off of any menu. The mark of a good restaurant is their ability to create an acceptable fried chicken sandwich. Thankfully, The Presley passed. I think my only note was that the entire thing was way too big for my mouth, and the ingredients all kind of turned into a slip'n'slide as I attempted to bite into it. I guess it was meant for someone Shaq-sized, not me-sized. (Side note: I think I say this because I have a newfound love for the TNT team, Shaq, Kenny, Ernie and Chuck. Nobody compares to Kelenna and Fitz for game coverage, but the TNT guys are my preferred basketball halftime reporters.)

My monstrous chicken sandwich

The service at The Presley was a bit slow (I had to crane my neck around to catch someone's eye to take our order) but our servers were still very nice.

Next time San Diego Restaurant Week happens, I will try to go to more new places. I mean, twist my arm, I'll eat some good food, you know? It's the least I can do. The deals for some of the multi-course meals are too good. One place offered three courses for $30 at lunchtime!

I also can't wait for the sunny weather to continue, especially as days slowly start to get warmer. Fueled by good basketball, good company and good food, I feel myself defrosting from the cold grasp of winter.

See you next week.