Bruski Burgers and Beer

Some people's names just fit too perfectly with what they do, like Carrie Anne-Moss playing annoying women that slowly grow on you, or Salman Rushdie writing bombastic historical fiction about hurried freshwater fish. For a resto-pub just opened by an appropriately named clan: Bruski Burgers and Beer.

Serving its namesake from a massive marble bar backed by wine racks and lorded over by huge flatscreens, BB & B is family-owned by the Bruskis of Scripps Ranch and represents their effort to provide the 'hood with a "casual dining place where everybody knows your name", at least until Kirstie Alley hears about the buffet and they're forced to become more exclusive. The meat half of their promise is delivered in the form of ten mouth-watering patties, like the fried egg/American cheese "Humpty Dumpty", the kielbasa/ caramelized onion/ Bruski-sauced "Monster Burger", and the smoked ham/dill pickle/chipotle aioli "Cuban" with Swiss cheese -- appropriate, as the sandwich's attribution to a singular ethnicity is totally full of holes. Saturation comes via a beer list with 17 bottles like Lagunitas' Hop Stoopid and Russian River's Damnation, and 24 taps gushing craft pints (or 1/2 priced "tastes") from Coronado Brewing's Idiot IPA, to Ballast Point's Yellowtail IPA, to Alesmith's brown ale dubbed Nautical Nut -- a steal at $6, considering getting it normally requires buying a boat.

Though thankfully the wine list doesn't also include Yellowtail, they do have around 20 moderately priced selections sourced from everywhere, from Australia, to Chile, to Napa, an entire region appropriately named for what it does to you.