To help you celebrate Valentine's Day, we'll be offering a 3-Course Prix Fixe Menu for just $30 from Friday, February 12th through Sunday, February 14th. Menu includes a complimentary glass of champagne. Reservations are now being accepted for the entire weekend, dinner only. Here's the menu that Chef Christy is planning:

Starters
Seaweed salad with citrus dressing & poached sardine fillets
Beet & Carrot Soup (vegetarian & vegan)

Entrees
Poached Market Fish Fillet in saffron/clam sauce
Beef Short Ribs with root vegetable and potato galette
Green Curry Tofu Stew over California brown rice

Desserts
Tangerine & Coconut Milk Rice Pudding
Chocolate-filled Crepe Flambe with Rum Sauce (finished with fire tableside)

And for those of you not interested in getting all lovely-dovey with anyone this year, join us at the bar for a Stone Brewing bottled beer special! Our friends at BottleHood are so eager to get their hands on more of the cool etched Stone bottles to make into glasses and vases and such, that they've offered to put $1 towards every bottle of Stone beer that you buy all weekend! We're chipping in another buck so that means you get to pay $2 less for every single bottle you buy. We're calling this an "Anti-Valentine's Day" celebration, sporting specialty beers such as Arrogant Bastard, Double Arrogant Bastard, and Cali-Belgique just to name a few.

Either way, we hope you'll join us for a lot of fun and romance that weekend! Call 619-255-7049 in the evenings or 619-997-8043 during the day to make a reservation.

Tuesday, February 16th is Mardi Gras' Fat Tuesday! Celebrate with us and sample some great New Orleans-inspired fare. Chef Christy studied and worked in the Crescent City for over 8 years, so you know this is going to be some authentic Nawlins food!

"Since I won't be able to make it to Nawlins for Mardi Gras this year, I'll be sharing some of my favorite Looziana dishes with you. Please come and celebrate with us! With the Saints going to the Superbowl, it is going to be an extra special Mardi Gras. Geaux Saints! Who Dat!"

---Chef Christy

These specials will be available either a la carte, or as a Prix Fixe Menu for $25:

Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade Sauce (a spicy red creole mayonnaise)
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Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage and Cathead Biscuits
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King Cake (a sweet cinnamon and cream cheese filled yeast roll cake)

Joining us for the occasion will be djs Johnny Tran and drdiggs, spinning the sounds of New Orleans including funk, zydeco, blues & dixieland. We'll be stocking up more than usual for our regular $1 Oyster Tuesday deal as well, so come on down and have a good time, New Orleans style! No reservations necessary.

Greetings and Happy New Year to those of you we haven't seen since we entered this new decade!

New Sources & Services
We found a great new source recently to kick off the new year on the right foot. Dennis, Christy and I went to visit Suzie's Farm recently down in South San Diego. Robin and Lucila Taylor run the farm and Lucila gave us a great video tour. We now buy produce from them such as beautiful little cherry tomatoes, cabbage which we use in our fish tacos at lunch, radishes and greens.

Speaking of lunch, here are some tasty photos of our lunch plates, along with a special offer you might want to take advantage of...before February 28th!

Special Events
Coming up this Wednesday (Jan. 20th) is the second ever DrinkAbout. It's great to see the community of restaurants and bars come together to arrange for a free bus to drive you around to eat and drink great food and beer. The DrinkAbout bus was organized by Lee Chase at Blind Lady, so a big thanks to him!

And speaking of the community coming together, the first ever 30th on 30th is coming up at the end of this month. Restaurants up and down 30th Street will be offering a special on appetizers and drinks, most in the range of $2. So eat and drink your way up and down 30th street without breaking the bank.

Although it's still a month away, people have been asking us what our plans are for Valentine's Day. So, if you're the type to plan ahead, know that we'll be offering a 3 or 4-course Prix Fixe Menu Friday, February 12th through Sunday February 14th. No menu details yet, but definitely save the date(s)! We will accept reservations all weekend to help you properly celebrate with your romantic other, and menu specifics will be published here on our blog at least a week or two beforehand.

And for those of you who are not planning to get all lovely-dovey this year, we'll also be hosting an "Anti-Valentine's Day" event at the bar featuring specials on a bunch of great Stone Brewing beers, such as Arrogant Bastard, Double Arrogant Bastard, Cali-Belgique, and whatever Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, and Holiday Ale we've got in the fridge when the time comes.

In the News and On-Line
Something that we're really proud of is having been named one of the top 10 most sustainable seafood restaurants in the U.S. by Fish2Fork. There are a lot of seafood restaurants out there, but few that take into account the environmental impact of their fishing decisions. We're glad that more attention is being paid to this and that an organization like Fish2Fork can provide recognition to those restaurants that are serious about their commitment to the environment.

We also received special mention (and the only photo!) for our Sea Urchin Bisque in a nice review of winter soups in The Reader published 1/6/10.

Don't forget that Sea Rocket is active on Facebook and Twitter so if you want up-to-the-minute updates about our cask beers, specials, special events and other fun news, add us to your list!

Some of you might have taken advantage of last month's Thursday DrinkAbout bus which shuttled you, free of charge, to the various beer bars and restaurants up and down 30th Street. Well, this new monthly event has been tweaked a bit so here is the updated info for you. The "beer bus" will run again this Wednesday, January 20th from 7pm until about 11:30.

Here is how it will go down. Each month, 2 lovely buses (by Brewery Tours of San Diego) will cruise a loop, stopping repeatedly at eight different craft-beer bars and restaurants. You are free to hop on and hop off wherever and whenever you desire, and ride as many times as you want, at NO COST TO YOU!

For our part, we'll have the following beers on tap:
* Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale
* Lightning Elemental Pilsner
* Ballast Point Victory at Sea Imperial Coffee Porter
* Airdale Altitude Pale Ale
* Ballast Point Calico Amber
* Ballast Point Sculpin IPA ON CASK

Here are links to the participating beer establishments.
Blind Lady Alehouse
Small Bar
Livewire
Toronado
Sea Rocket Bistro
The Station
Hamilton's
Ritual Tavern

And here are some more details for you...
*Buses will start running at Starting at 7pm and go until around 11:30, or whenever the last bus has reached the end of it's route.
*There will be 2 buses running consecutively, with no freeways involved.
* Buses will run on a set schedule in both directions (see below), rather than stopping and waiting for passengers to come out of restaurants in response to a bell like last time.
* The route is a loop going southbound from Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights to Hamiltons Tavern in South Park, stopping at all stops except Ritual on the Southbound. Ritual will be the only Northbound stop, in order to keep the bus on the right side of the street.

Also, check out the DrinkAbout Website and Facebook page.

Wine Smarties will be hosting an event at the Rocket this coming Wednesday. Feel free to join in and see what they're all about (wine enjoyment, education and consulting in a nutshell), starting with a champagne-sipping hour at 6pm and followed by a 4-course tapa tasting and wine pairing menu of signature bistro fare. Cost is $30 per person. Seating is limited so please do RSVP if you can!

Here is the menu we've got planned:

Winchester Gouda Cheese and Temecula Avocado Honey on Fresh Ciabatta Bread
Paired with Roshambo Scissors

Steamed Carlsbad Aqua Farm Mussels
Paired with Core White Wine blend

Pastured Meatballs
Paired with Martellotto G.S.M.

Chocolate Porter Cake with tangerine syrup and whipped cream
Paired with San Pasqual Winery Tawny Port