Spread This!

Today after church, we drove up to:

so we could eat here at Spread, on University Ave near Granada. It's near the North Park sign, across the street from Claire de Lune coffee shop. Here's another link with more reviews.
Parking was at a premium so we parked several blocks away.

It was very mod inside. A bright white interior with cool plastic chairs. We also got one of the "bubble chairs" by the front window (sorry I dont' have a photo); TC took that coveted spot. The only downside was that the chair, which is suspended fromthe ceiling, banged into our table at times. Since TC is still pretty small and short, she can't stop the swaying with her legs firmly grounded, as an adult would. Another downside to sitting up near the front door was that whenever someone would walk in (and it did get quite busy here), flies would also come in and the flies would gravitate towards us! It sucked having to shoo them away and flail our hands like manic seals.

You can see the bar with their handmade nut butters. I remember meeting the owners, Andrew and his wife Robin, a couple of years ago at the now Chula Vista Farmers Market (Southwestern College parking lot location). They no longer sell their spreads at the farmers markets in San Diego, but instead shop at farmers markets and share their creative and tasty inventions through this restaurant.

They had one menu written on a chalkboard, which the waiter Ben (and owner Andrew) would cart to the diners and one of them would explain each item in great detail on the menu. They only serve Brunch on Sundays and dinner on the weekdays. Unfortunately they no longer serve lunch (past reviews mentioned 'lunch' items) on weeknights. The menu also changes daily depending on what the owner picks up from the market. Each brunch item was $14 (I felt the sting later when I got the check); we shared three items. Click on the photo if the print is too small.

I hardly ever buy drinks, but today I decided to splurge on the Strawberry Chocolate Mint bellini ($9). If I had known how expensive it was going to be (I didn't even think to ask), I wouldn't have ordered it. But, damn, this was a very tasty drink! You could just taste the freshness - the strawberry flavor mixed quite well with the chocolate mint. That was different, using chocolate instead of regular mint leaves.

For TC, we ordered the freshly squeezed orange juice ($4 -- a bit too much, I tell ya), which was indeed quite fresh and delicious! Oh yeah, their water is steeped with the essence of various fruits, flowers,herbs and sliced vegetables. I wish I could have taken a photo of the pitcher which was filled with (and I know I'm missing a whole bunch from this list) lavender flowers, blueberries, grapes, cucumber slices, purple African basil, dill or fennel?, and a whole lot more! It had a very 'green' or 'herbal' taste to it. TC didn't care for it, but I'm glad she tried it. I noticed that at most places we go, she is usually the only kid there.

At our waiter Ben's suggestion, we ordered three items. The entrees are served separately and are meant to be shared by all at the table. The first item to arrive was the Fresh Fruit and Flower Salad with fresh ricotta and whipped honey. The strawberries were tiny and had their stems attached. There were rosepetals and sprigs of lavender as well as fresh raspberries, mint, and slices of apple, nectarine, and plum (or pluot). The ricotta cheese and honey was buried underneath the mound of fruits and flowers.

We enjoyed this salad very much. It was so very light and was perfect as a starter. TC ate flowers for the first time and thought it was kind of 'wierd', but she was a trooper and didn't try to spit it out. She liked the apple slices the best. I didn't really like the taste of the lavender flowers. It was also hard to chew - yes, I did spit mine out (bad role model I am).The second course was the Breakfast Bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes, fire roasted fingerling potatoes, lightly scrambled eggs and arugula (although the menu board said 'purple basil'). There were rose petals (from Andrew's garden) sprinkled on top as well. The bread was just fabulous - it was an olive oil crusted asiago artisan bread with herbs baked in the bread. The cheese flavor was so intense and flavorful. TC liked the eggs and potatoes (which were a bit firm) the best so Bert and I shared her bread portion. Oh my gosh, this was sooo good!

The third course came during the tail end of the second. Ben, our server brought us fresh plates for this, three pieces of Chocolate Chip Challah french toast served with berry compote on top of lemon verbena and maple syrup. Again, this beautiful creation was sprinkled with rose petals from the owner's garden, and topped off with a sprig of mint.

We could not leave without getting one of these nut butter spreads - we chose the dark chocolate peanut butter ($7 --- I remember they sold it for $5 at the farmer's markets). Apparently, they've gotten so much press from these that they are on back order due to the tremenous amount of publicity. Since each batch is made by hand, it takes a lot of time to fill the mail orders. I guess they had to jack up their price as well to make some sort of profit.

This was definitely one of our more pricy lunch (brunch) outings. I noticed that we were the only 'ethnic' (i.e. nonwhite) folks in the place. That tends to be the case. I notice that most of the trendy restaurants tagged by local food bloggers, are populated by a certain clientele - well heeled yuppies and/or urban hipsters. Ain't nothing wrong with that, but it would be nice to see some 'color' now and then! I know I don't see those same people at Conching's, JNC Pinoy Food Mart or Los Chavos!

The food at Spread was not only beautiful to gaze at, it was healthy and it actually tasted as good as it looked. The owners and server were so very friendly and made us feel comfortable and at home. They certainly take great pride and care into their dishes and because everything is fresh and from a local farm, their prices also reflect that. I respect what they're doing, but most common folk couldn't afford going to a place like this. We'd go broke if we tried to eat here everyday. It was worth going to at least once and I'd go again, but next time for dinner.