While in San Diego for a trade show a couple months ago, our company just happened to stay at the same hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter that my wife and I stayed at when we took a vacation to the San Diego area a little over three years ago. I pretty much knew that most of the restaurants and shops up and down 5th Ave. were touristy places. But just around the corner from the hotel was a new place that definitely caught my eye - Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. Well, I like cold beer and like cheeseburgers. It seemed like a match made in heaven for a guy like me. For a late lunch/early dinner one day while we were there, two of my colleagues went with me to first have some beers, then some food at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.
Actually, Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers is a small sports bar chain that originated out of the Phoenix area. It's parent company - Square One Concepts - has developed a number of concept restaurants throughout the Southwestern part of the U.S. for more than 20 years. Restaurants such as Bourbon and Bones, The Funky Monk and Waisted Grain are mainstays in the Phoenix/Scottsdale and Tucson areas, while Square One Concepts has also developed Pacific Beach Shore Club and the Bootlegger in San Diego. The first Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers opened in north Scottsdale in November of 2011 with a second location opening in downtown Scottsdale in January of 2013.
From there, two more CB-squared (get it? CBCB. Or, some call it CB&C) locations opened in the Valley of the Sun before Square One Concepts set their sights on a San Diego location in the Gaslamp District. When the owner of Acqua al 2, a Tuscan-inspired restaurant, sold his business in early 2016, Square One Concepts immediately turned it into the fifth Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers location. Today, there are 11 CB-Squared locations with another one opening in late 2018 and one more in early 2019 in the greater Phoenix area. Square One Concepts has plans to open at least three more Cold Beers and Cheeseburger locations in the San Diego areas in the coming months.
It was just after 3 p.m. when I walked out the back of my hotel and just around the corner to Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. (see map) The front windows of the restaurant were open to the patio along the sidewalk out front. Large flat panel televisions were hanging throughout the place giving nearly every seat an opportunity to see multiple games if they were on. I ended up seated at the long rectangular bar and was greeted by one of the bartenders, Scott. I ordered up my current favorite beer - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - one of the over 3 dozen beers they had on tap. (They also have over 40 beers in bottles and over 20 beers in cans.) Scott served the beer in a 19 ounce chilled mug and I quickly downed that one before the first of my two colleagues showed up about 20 minutes after I arrived. By 3:30, my other colleague showed up. Both like their beers and they were immediately impressed with the beer selection at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.
We sat around for about an hour before one of the guys mentioned something about getting food. We didn't have lunch during the day and I said that if I get something to eat there, I won't be going out for dinner that evening. My co-workers didn't seem to have a problem with that.
Looking through the menu, well - of course - they have cheeseburgers at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. They had over 20 burgers on the menu, all starting out with a half-pound of certified black angus ground beef. From there, they had burgers such as the Ring of Fire topped with pepper jack cheese, Buffalo-wing sauce, jalapeños, and spicy mayo; the Denver burger topped with ham and cheddar cheese, along with grilled onions and peppers and finished with a fried egg; and there was the Rocky Point that had pepper jack cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeños and sour cream on it. They had a peanut butter, jelly and bacon burger (uh...no, thanks), a mac & cheese burger, and their own interpretation of the Twin Cities-style "Jucy Lucy" cheese-stuffed burger. They also had a Steakhouse burger with gruyere cheese, bacon, garlic aioli and a white truffle oil. They also had a ground Prime Rib burger on the menu. Appetizers (including mozzarella sticks, tater tots topped with beef chili and a roasted pepper sauce, and Parmesan truffle fries), salads, sandwiches, different variations of mac & cheese dishes, and char-broiled hot dogs were also available on Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers menu.
I contemplated building my own burger before I ended up getting the All-American burger with onion rings as a side for an upcharge. (Chips normally come with the burgers.) The burger was topped with American cheese with lettuce, tomato and onion slices. For good measure, I had Scott throw on some bacon onto my burger. Pretty basic, I know - but sometimes too many toppings detract from the overall taste of the burger meat.
The burger was thick and juicy, cooked to a perfect pink middle. The taste of burger was also very good - juice was dripping with each bite. It was definitely a multi-napkin burger. The lightly toasted bun held together very well with the juicy nature of the burger. The onion rings had a thick breading and were delicious, as well. This was a top notch burger through and through.
My colleagues went the healthy route - one got the chicken Caesar salad, and the other got the ground turkey burger. The salad featured chunks of grilled chicken on a bed of greens topped with a house-made Caesar dressing, reggiano cheese, and croutons. He thought the salad was very tasty.
My other colleague wasn't so lucky with his turkey burger. It was pretty mushy and tasteless to him. "Horrible," he said when I asked him how his burger was. He still ate it, but he wasn't happy at all. "That's what I get for trying to eat healthy," he told me at the end of the meal.
We stuck around for another beer and I was getting ready to head back to the hotel after numerous beers. However, our boss called one of my colleagues and inquired as to where we were. After my co-worker told him where we were, he turned to us and said, "He's coming to join us!" I decided to stick around and have another beer with the group.
My boss showed and being that he's not much of a beer drinker, he ordered a Hendrick's gin and tonic. He also ordered up the pastrami reuben on toasted sour dough bread to eat. We stuck around with him having a few more beers while he ate his sandwich and a couple of gin and tonics. He said his sandwich was also very good.
I'm glad I didn't have far to go to get back to my room from Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. After four and a half hours of mainly drinking beers, but having a very tasty cheeseburger along with the beer, I was feeling little to no pain. While it's more of a sports bar than anything else, they do have cold beers - a lot of different beers - and cheeseburgers - also a lot of different types. But there's other things there other than beer or cheeseburgers. But having a name like Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers, well, they do both very well.
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