San Diego Stories: The Gaslamp Strip Club

When my mother’s petite form uttered the words, “Let’s go to the Strip Club for dinner,” I thought, for sure, that the southern Cali sun had boiled her brains.  Little did I know that The Gaslamp Strip Club is not a nudey bar at all, but a refined steak house located in what used to be the red light district of San Diego.  Now, this is not any ordinary steak house, this is a grill your own steak, steak house.  When I discovered this fact I must admit I was a little trepidatious.  I am admittedly not a grill master and was a bit worried that my steak would turn out sub-par and I would have none to blame but myself.  I’m always up for a new adventure though, so Mother and I headed out to The Strip Club for a fine meal, a few cocktails, and rousing conversation.

At the door of the Gaslamp Strip Club I was asked to present ID proving I was 21.  “What’s this,” I thought, “a restaurant that only allows people over the age of 21 through its doors, this is genius!”  After proving my age I was ushered into the restaurant which is lit by, what else, red lights.  The booths are done in a very classy black leather and the bar takes up one full wall, boasting a ladder to reach their extensive collection of liquors.  In the back of the restaurant is a walk in wine cellar encased in glass, very high end if I do say so myself.  Spaced throughout the large dining room were several permanent grills on which we would later be cooking our steaks.  My party choose to forego the interior; however, and take advantage of the outdoor patio.  There were eight of us and we took up two tables; most unfortunately the tables were cemented into the ground so we could not join them (minus 1 point for the Strip Club).

We were, in short order, greeted by our waitress (and yes, all the servers at the Strip Club are women, and no, I do not know if this is planned or just the way it turned out).  She first explained to us the situation about cooking our own steaks about which I had several questions.  What was to happen follows:  we order steaks, raw steaks are brought to us, when we are ready and at our leisure we go to grill and follow the suggested grilling time guidelines that are posted at each grilling station, when we’re about 5 minutes from completion of our grilling expedition we let the waitress know so she can time our sides appropriately, we enjoy our meal.  I was still a little antsy about the whole situation, but I figured a drink would calm me down.  The Strip Club’s drink menu contains a complete list of specialty cocktails with deliciously dirty names like Thigh High, Horny Rita, and Dirty Banana.  I chose for myself a Horny Rita and turned my attention to the menu.  All steaks are served with a communal salad and garlic bread (your grill yourself).  All the sides on the menu are also communal, made to serve 3 or 4 people.  After some deliberation my table of 4 decided to go all out and order 4, 20oz porter house steaks (the biggest steaks on the menu), onion rings, and garlic mashed potatoes.  Our neighboring table decided to go with some lighter (literally) fare which I scoffed at, but that is neither here nor there. 

Our drinks were quite delectable and had a good kick to them.  I was done with my first drink when the steaks arrived, each wrapped in saran wrap and labeled appropriately.  We took our meat to the grill and discovered that there was a whole host of dry and wet rubs available to season with; the posted guidelines suggested using the dry rubs first and then moving to wet rubs as the steak was finishing its time on the grill.  I chose a Monterrey Pepper rub and some garlic salt to start and ended with a good dose of Worcestershire Sauce.  The grilling was definitely a stand-out experience in night of highlights.  My one criticism is that there are no timers or clocks at the grill stations, so if no one in your party has a watch you are out of luck. 

After grilling was complete we all returned to our table to our waiting basket of onion rings and bowl of garlic mashed potatoes.  I cut into my steak and was beyond ecstatic to see that I had cooked it to a perfect rare.  The first bite was amazing and I soon found myself devouring it at as quick a pace as I could.  When I finally took a break for an onion ring and took look around I found the rest of my party were in similar circumstances, hunched over their plate trying to fully inhale their food.  I finished my steak and had the great pleasure of finishing half of my neighbor’s steak as she had become too full.  When asked for dessert we politely declined, but did decide to enjoy a couple of dessert cocktails which were both sinful and heavily intoxicating. 

On my way out I could not help but purchase a long sleeved shirt with The Gaslamp Strip Club’s emblem on it.  All in all, if you are ever in San Diego, this place is a must do.  Delicious food, great atmosphere, and just a good old fashioned fun time!