Union Kitchen and Tap - hosted event by Dreamhost

Dreamhost is our hosting server and Dennis had received an invitation (as a customer) for a meet-and-greet with company staff at Union Kitchen and Tap gaslamp. Hosted appetizer and drinks? Sign us up already! We were also curious to see how the food would be following our San Diego Restaurant Week visit.

The event was in the large backroom of the restaurant and after checking in, we were handed two drink tickets well as a raffle ticket.

We were drawn to the long table in the back... a meat and cheese platter included black truffle salami, caramelized onion cheddar, dried spanish chorizo, nilano italian salami, wisconsin cheese, etc!

Next to it was a roasted vegetable platter with zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, etc and the housemade hummus, which was especially delicious!

Four varieties of flatbreads were available too! Starting left and going clockwise, we sampled bacon tomato flatbread, italian sausage flatbread and bbq chicken flatbread, and fig & goat cheese flatbread. These were all wonderful!

Desserts were at the other end of the table! There was no dieting allowed that night! 

 Of course we had to have a little bit of everything...petite coffee eclaire, mini cheesecake bite, and opera cakes, my favorite of the bunch!

Servers began passing additional appetizers around. Our eyes widened as we realized how much food was available at this event! Could this be the best hosted event ever?

The house sliders were amazing, a juicy beef patty with melted cheese on soft fluffy buns. We may have had several rounds of these...

We loved these eco-friendly looking cones that these apps came in. On the left is Ahi Tartar with avocados. On the right were french fries that came with aioli on the bottom of the cone. It was a little too strong though.

Mmm, caprese basil tomato with balsamic on a stick! Nothing wrong with these!

How about more "healthy" food? Prosciutto wrapped asparagus works of course!

We used our drink tickets for muddled and mint drinks. Most came with a super cool ice cube that lit up and had the dreamhost logo on it.

All guests were enjoying the event. Dreamhost staff were walking around introducing themselves and answering all kinds of questions, professional and otherwise. Dennis was also able to get some in-depth answers to his hosting questions.

Each of the tables had games for guests to play including jenga and the imfamous Cards Against Humanity! Even the staff joined in... They were super fun to hang out with and may have been a little TOO good at this game. Here's one of my rounds from Cards Against Humanity! Some answers blurred to protect the innocent!

There was also a presentation about some newer Dreamhost features.

So how did the night end? With this...

My raffle ticket was drawn as the first winner of the night!

$25 american express giftcard! Whoo-hoo! The prizes got bigger after mine but I'm still happy with my win.

It was a great night between the food, company and surprise raffle win! We've been with Dreamhost for quite a while and I am impressed that the company holds events like these! As for Union Kitchen & Tap, Dennis and I are grateful that the appetizers turned out to be much better than our previous dinner experience. This place is always packed so I'm sure there's a good reason for that! Maybe we'll pop back in for more flatbreads or sliders...

Disclaimer: This post is in no way sponsored by Dreamhost. All opinions are our own.