Le Smoking Goat est incroyable (f*-ing fantastic)!

Neighborhood: North Park

Price: $$$

Vibe: The rustic decor of this neighborhood bistro offers a cozy and inviting atmosphere inside, and for those warmer days the outdoor patio is an incredibly charming place to enjoy a meal.

The Smoking Goat is one of the best restaurants in San Diego. It’s been around for a bit (2010 to be exact), so it doesn’t get the spotlight as much as some of these newcomers on the restaurant scene, but it should be talked about in every “best of” or “top restaurants” list in the city.

Chef Fred Piehl amazes with his perfection of some of the more challenging proteins to cook, and he does so with such ease that you can tell this is what he’s always meant to be doing — putting out some of the best modern, California-style French dishes that one has ever tasted.

The menu is small, which means that everything is thoughtful and delicious! We sampled some small plates and entrees and its honestly hard to choose a favorite. This is one of those meals that I can’t wait to eat all over again — is anyone free for dinner tonight?

We started with the Duck Liver Pate, something that I absolutely LOVE that doesn’t appear on many menus in San Diego. Pourquoi pas? This was one of our favorite dishes, in fact, I couldn’t even get a picture before one of our party dug into that luscious pate. The accoutrement was just perfect for this rich and savory pate, served with Pt. Reyes blue cheese, fig jam, fresh pear, blackberries and a perfectly toasted baguette.

Duck Liver Pate (at least what I could finagle a picture of once this landed at our excited table)

To continue the amazing vibe de Francais, we also ordered the
Escargots à la Bourguignonne - which translates to garlic, buttery goodness. Just a divine start to our meal, can it get any better? Yes, yes it can.

After demolishing our appetizers, we went on to try Chef Piehl’s famous Duroc Pork Chop. I must emphasize this here — this is a dish that Smoking Goat has been known for since they opened over a decade ago. I don’t care if you don’t like pork chops, it’s because you haven’t had THIS pork chop. Get it. The pork is cooked to perfection! Our party was fighting over every last morsel of this chop. Served with a red pepper and ham (I’ll call it relish) that just bursted with flavor, potatoes and broccolini. YUM.

Duroc Pork Chop is a must order at Smoking Goat!

We rounded out our meal with a gorgeous bowl of Wild Mushroom Linguini. It was creamy, savory and loaded with beautiful morels and other wild mushrooms I probably don’t know the name of.

Wild Mushroom Linguini

I can’t believe that after these dishes we had room for dessert, but we somehow found room. We decided to try something new and different, so we ordered the Goat Cheese Cheesecake. I’m not usually a cheesecake fan, but this was different. The goat cheese added a different texture, and the fruit whip served on top was light and airy and balanced each bite.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake

The Smoking Goat never fails to delight, and I implore you to visit if you haven’t been lately. I love the cozy nature of this neighborhood bistro, with such high-quality ingredients and care put into each dish, you really can’t go wrong with anything you order. Oh, and don’t forget about One Door North, his second restaurant located right next door. More to come on that!

The Smoking Goat

3408 30th Street San Diego, CA 92104