{"id":233185,"date":"2015-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/spring-break-in-the-fall\/"},"modified":"2015-11-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T08:00:00","slug":"spring-break-in-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/spring-break-in-the-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring break in the fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Dr. Ink<\/p>\n

Setting foot inside Rockin\u2019 Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina is like being instantly transported to some coastal party bar in the Mexican tropics. But it works just fine for Old Town, too, where the establishment has remained anchored in a spacious alcove on Twiggs Street since 1995.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The raspberry Rita and the blueberry Rita (Photo by Dr. Ink)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lobster<\/a>
Lobster bites at Rockin\u2019 Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina in Old Town (Photo by Dr. Ink)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additional locations reside also in the Gaslamp District and in Oceanside, although each offers slightly different specials during happy hour.<\/p>\n

In Old Town, visitors are greeted with splashy wall colors, surf board d\u00e9cor, neon beer signs and music videos playing loudly throughout a series of dining sections. Even on low-key Monday afternoons, you get the feeling the place is about to be taken over by busloads of college students on spring break as the bar churns out one \u201cfrozen Rita\u201d after another while patrons cluster at the salsa bar loading up on free, unlimited chips and marinated veggies.<\/p>\n

The icy cocktails come in assorted flavors, not excluding vibrant blueberry and raspberry, both of which we ordered. They\u2019re usually $8 apiece, but only $5.50 during happy hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, this is strong,\u201d my drinking companion said when taking his first sip of the blueberry Rita. I seconded him after drawing from my raspberry Rita. No amount of the supposedly fresh pureed fruit could mask the generous tequila pours sitting in these slushy libations.<\/p>\n

\"Lobster<\/a>
Lobster tacos (Photos by Dr. Ink)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Screen<\/a>
Click to enlarge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fruit flavor in each was robust; almost candy-like but without tasting overly sweet. Our waitress insisted that no syrups or liqueurs are involved. But given their extraordinarily bright colors glowing through our tall glasses, I wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n

Happy hour also signals price drops in domestic and Mexican beers, fireball shots, Jack Daniels cocktails, Long Island teas and red sangria \u2014 everything your palate would demand if painting the town red on some warm-weather getaway.<\/p>\n

All appetizers are $3 off during happy hour, except for oysters. We tried the battered, deep-fried \u201clobster bites,\u201d which rocked less than the Jimmy Buffet, U2 and other music videos playing on multiple flat screens. The batter was salty and the lobster wasn\u2019t so fresh.<\/p>\n

A trio of $4 tacos we ordered, however, were far better, especially the surf and turf. The taco encased plump shrimp and the most tender carne asada I\u2019ve had in a while. The others, filled with grilled chicken, were also satisfying, and all three included generous doses of avocado.<\/p>\n

But money isn\u2019t the only thing you save when visiting Rockin\u2019 Baja Lobster during happy hour. The restaurant offers free, ample parking on both sides of the structure, a precious rarity when rolling into Old Town with a thirst for tequila.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Ink Setting foot inside Rockin\u2019 Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina is like being instantly transported to some coastal party bar in the Mexican tropics. But it works just fine for Old Town, too, where the establishment has remained anchored in a spacious alcove on Twiggs Street since 1995.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":233186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11557","_seopress_titles_title":"Spring break in the fall","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11557,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-valley-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}