To celebrate Dru’s (the “stud among pansies”) visit some of us got together and went to a cool new restaurant in North Park called Urban Solace. Here’s a small blurb from their site:

Urban Solace was created out of a desire to bring a new and exciting neighborhood dining concept to San Diego. With a straight-forward dining and service experience, our guests’ comfort is our absolute priority. The menu features a unique combination of American dishes, both classic and cutting edge, and an intriguing wine and crafted beer and cocktail list. All at a great value!

We sat outside at a dimly lit, propane torched, area on a very cool night. The waiters and servers were very kind and I have nothing ill to say about them or their service. Urban Solace’s menu was simple, yet some had very unique twists to their dishes. I started out with some warm, garlic-cheese biscuits with orange-honey butter. These little things were fantastic and at $4.25 for 5, a very practical and tasty starter. My main course was the “Duckaroni.” It was a bleu cheese and mac mixed with spinach and duck confit. Other than the fact that it was insanely rich, the flavors melded together perfectly and it was a unique mac-n-cheese experience I’d do again in a heart beat. The dish was about $16 so for the quality and quantity of food I got, I think it was fairly reasonable.

Other menu items included beef cheeks, cinnamon-brined pork chops (really good as well), ground lamb meatloaf, and four-cheese grilled cheese (hmm is that repetitive?) with a fennel-tomato soup. All in all, I highly recommend Urban Solace. The dinner experience was a good one and I would not hesitate to go back.