bbq duck tacos (wait, it gets weirder)

Warning: There is a Disgusting Dessert at the end of this post.  :)

This past Sunday, Bob and I celebrated our brother-in-law's fortieth birthday at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in San Diego. (Actually, it's in Escondido.) (Our San Diego brother-in-law is Greg, who is married to Bob's sister, Cheryl.)

The food was super yummy. :) Bob had the barbecued duck tacos. Yes! Duck tacos. I know! Me, too. But they were delicious! I had a bite.  That is one of the duck tacos featured above, at the back of the plate.

I had the chicken tikka masala, pictured below. I love curry, which is funny because I absolutely HATED it when I was a kid.  But now I actively seek it.  I love growing up.  

I think the protocol for lovely food photography is that you take photos of the food before it is mixed up and in the process of being eaten, at which point it is no longer attractive to anyone except the person eating it. This is probably some kind of evolutionary instinct.  But I always forget to photograph food before it is eaten, because when it arrives I think about eating it, not about taking pictures of it. :)

Greg had the Bruschetta BLT sandwich, which had a ton of B and less L and T, and looked really good. Cheryl had the Soft and Stinky Cheese Plate.  It was much less stinky than we all anticipated.  

Here is Cheryl awaiting her Soft and Stinky Cheese Plate. 

Scott (Greg's brother) had the Prime Rib Melt.  Here is Scott awaiting his Prime Rib Melt.

And here is the Prime Rib melt once it arrived. It's kind of hidden behind those Chili Lime Corn Chips, which were good. I know this because Greg had them with his meal, too, and Bob stole some off his plate and gave me a few. :)

Becky (Scott's wife) had . . . what did Becky have? I am blanking out. Becky, what did you have? Did you have a veggie burger?  I know I talked to you about it, but now I can't remember what you ordered. Ack.

We shared some starters, including these tantalizing mushroom pillows. I don't know what kind of sauce that was that came with it, but man, it was really good.  We also had some spud buds.

Then we had dessert. 

I had the Chilled Bread Pudding with a Turbinado Sugar-Rajasthani Chai Crème Anglais. I don't know the culinary significance of a few of those words, but it was very tasty. (I always order bread pudding if it's on the dessert menu, and of course crème anglais is your basic vanilla icecream when it's still soupy, before it becomes icecream, so what's not to love? The best bread pudding I ever had, and possibly in the universe, is at Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Orlando, Florida.)

But here is the part about which I regret to inform you.

I regret to inform you that Beer Floats exist. Did you know that? 

Yes. Real beer and real ice cream. Specifically, Niederfrank's Vanilla Bean ice cream served with Stone Smoked Porter.  

Greg ordered one, but did not think it was too tasty at first, so he passed it over to Bob, who thought it was great. Then, once the ice cream started melting, Greg also started liking it.

Here is Bob looking happy that beer floats exist.

For dessert, Stone also offers "Stone Imperial Russian Stout Chocolate Bacon Torte with Peppercorn Crème Fraiche." But none of us ordered that. We may be crazy, but we're not stoopid.