Need a great compliment to your beer? Taco Tuesdays at Ballast Point (4pm to 9pm) are served up by local catering company, Root Cellar (Founder Marie pictured)! Root Cellar Catering Co., is a San Diego-based family owned and operated catering company specializing in fresh, made from scratch, locally sourced recipes, and has partnered with Ballast Point Brewery to provide guests with a truly local Taco Tuesday menu, using Ballast Points brews in each recipe.
As you can see from their menu, this isn’t your ordinary taco. Root Cellar prides themselves on thoughtful and creative ways to amp up their flavors. We were excited to try the 7-Hour Smoked Brisket Taco cooked with Ballast Point’s Black Marlin Porter and the Bubba Taco made with a Habanero Sculpin IPA.
Pictured above are the Bubba taco and the Indra Kinindra (Lemon Grass Chix) taco. The meat in the Bubba taco is a special blend of grass-fed beef (you can taste this!) and chorizo made especially for Root Cellar. Darren liked the curry chicken one best.
They also have fresh salsa and pico de gallo. The salsa is made fresh with smoked tomatoes, although I did find it a touch too sweet for my liking.
Pictured here are the smoked brisket taco and hidden underneath is the pork belly banh mi. I’d say hands down the pork belly taco won. While I think there are on to something with a 7-hour braised brisket taco, the execution today wasn’t quite there. I found the brisket a bit dry and lacking flavor.
In a positive contrast to the brisket, the pork belly banh mi was bright and full of flavors. It held the perfect balance of savory and sweet. The pork belly meat was tender and well seasoned.
Overall, we felt that the tacos were pretty good, but at a price point of $9 for two it seemed a bit steep for Taco Tuesdays. Nevertheless, sometimes you just need some good home cooking with your beer! (Thanks to Gisela and Marie for arranging our visit).
Taco Tuesdays by Root Cellar at Ballast Point Brewery 10050 Old Grove Road San Diego, CA 92131 [google-map-v3 width=”580″ height=”350″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”10050 Old Grove Road, San Diego, CA 92131{}restaurant.png{}Root Cellar Taco Tues @ Ballast Point” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]
The tacos look really good – and I love how they come with chips. Are they only located in that one location?
Yeah, that’s the only location I’m aware of. Marie did mention they do a lot of catering events and occasionally appear at farmers markets.
GAH! The misspelling of “banh mi” on their chalkboard grates me like…nails on a chalkboard! The food does look pretty fantastic. I’ll check them out sometime.
What great looking food! You’re right, those definitely don’t look like any “Taco Tuesday” tacos I’ve ever seen; they look incredible! I’ve been hearing great reviews of local breweries lately, I’ll need to check this out soon.