Shiny, luscious, even a little healthy: What $8 buys

Witty signs at least get you to stop

If you can get in through the two-ton door, this place has some surprising bargains.

It's Friday afternoon around fiveish. I have just resisted the temptations of the House of Blues and its $2 Happy Hour pints of Bud Light. But now I see this sign on a sandwich board right next door.

"I distrust camels...and anyone else who can go a week without a drink."

And on the other side: "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. (Wayne Gretsky's gotta point. Happy hour 3-7pm.)"

We have a wit among us. It's enough, partly because I was always trying to see through the ginormous door they have to check who-all hung out in this bar-eatery. It's part of the Palomar Hotel.

So I lean back and swing open this medieval portal and head for the bar. We're talking black and brown décor, stone, dark wood counter top and British droney pop thumping it out. Business crowd. And maybe one or two musicians waiting for House of Blues to gear up next door.

Karen the barkeep asks what I'm drinking. She hands me the HH menu. I go for the Saint Archer Blonde, because it's $5 in HH. Try not to remember that would've bought me 2-and-a-half pints of Bud Light next door.

But hey, food's what we're here for. They have six items in their "Munchies" section on the HH menu. Goat cheese fondue with dried tomato, olives, and crostini, for $8; roasted Brussels sprouts for $5; fries ($5); 3 tacos for $7; two pretzels with cheese sauce, honey and mustard ($7); and three lamb sliders for $8. They also have $3 off their flatbreads. Cheapest is kinda tempting, too: Yukon potato, with cheddar, chives, bacon and sour cream. With the three bucks off it's $9.

Nice long dark bar

But it's the lamb that catches my attention. Good lamb is hard to beat. If it's properly lamb-basted, baa-becued, you might say.

When they come, the sliders are in little buns with shiny mahogany-colored dome tops. The ground lamb bulges out like fat tongues. And I see they've made the meat more interesting by adding tzatziki, onion, tomato, and arugula. Taste result: a sweet pepper tomato tangy yogurt thing going on around the lamb aftertaste. It's kinda herby, lemony. Guess it's mainly the onions. Whatever, really good flavor. And not bad for $8. Even though they're little, they honestly fill you enough to believe you've had an honest meal.

"Why 'Saltbox'?" I ask Karen, about the place's name.

"Because we're honoring the style of the houses that most of the Gaslamp was built in, back in the 1860s," she says. Saltbox, turns out, was what they called those old clapboard houses that started off two stories up front and sloped down to one story at the back. And called that because they looked like the old-fashioned salt boxes every kitchen had, in the day.

Out on Fifth, I see I've spent eight plus five, plus tax plus tip, which means I'm $17 out of pocket. Yes, just one $2 drink next door at the House of Blues would have been way more sensible. Still, I'm thinking next time I'm around here with spare dingle, that $9 potato flatbread sounds pretty sabroso.