It actually wasn't so bad, now that Cafe 21 has taken over Croce's spot at the Keating Building. Parking is free (for three hours at least) at Horton Plaza and walkable...
This location of Cafe 21 was actually my Plan B; it turns out that Adams Ave (where Cafe 21, our Plan was) would be closed off for the Adams Avenue Unplugged Festival. Well, sheeyit, we didn't want to deal with closed streets, crappy parking and such, so we made this outing an early "dinner".
Happy Hour is from 3 - 6 everyday and we got there at 4:40'ish...not bad, eh.
We sat outside without realizing that we were next door to Coyote Ugly, a bar where scantily clad bartenders "dance" (gyrate?) on top of the bar. I didn't see it myself, but my friends did. Uh, can you say, "trashy"?!!!!?
I barely remember how the old space looked. The last time I was at Croce's was when I got my master's and my friends and I had a celebratory drink here eons ago. I like the look of the interior space. It's so uch bigger than their previous Gaslamp space (from what I've read). There is even a mezzanine level here which is cool.
One big difference with the Cafe 21 downtown and the Adams Ave prices is that their tapas are $1 more. I was expecting it to be the same at $4 each, so boo to that.
They have more flavors of sangria here (not remember all of them) so we got the flight so we could try them all.
The view facing 5th from our table...
This plaque was near the Coyote Ugly Saloon, right next to the historic Keating building.
Our sangria flight - each glass held about 4 oz which we all shared...
There were several fruity one and one that had cucumber and jalapeno. THAT was the worst! Ugh! My favorite was the strawberry rhubarb sangria.
Our happy hour appetizers were served on this wooden board. I forgot I was dining with the "uninitiated" since my gal pals didn't know the proper etiquette when dining out with a food blogger. One of them committed a major faux pas by taking several of the avocado fries before I could even take a picture!
Hmmm, I had to lay down the law after that, ha ha. Seriously, I did but in a nice way. From the left: crostini with three types of dipping sauce (avocado, spicy hummus, beet), avocado fries, beef skewer, and potato pancake with beef shortrib.
Out of everything on that wooden platter, the potato pancake with beef shortrib was the BEST and totally worth $5. The only thing I didn't like was the Gorgonzola cheese, but I made sure to get pieces that didn't have the offending cheese.
We actually ordered a lemon chicken skewer, but were happy with the beef.
Aother set of appetizers: crepe with chicken and apricot sauce and thick cut Kennebeck fries with bacon and cheese (I'm giving you the "basic" description).
Both of these appetizers were quite substantial. We really enjoyed pretty much everything we ordered.
A last minute order was the Turkey Kufta (meatballs) and another attempt at the chicken skewer. Now does that look like chicken to you? I thought so. Maybe the chef can't translate the Roman numerals from the menu but, WTH, we liked the beef...again!
Not worth $5.
The Harissa sauce was good though.
Despite the spotty service with the botched skewer order, we liked our witty waiter. He complimented me on what he called my "David Bowie" earrings. Later on during our meal, this young hipster guy passed by our table and complimented me on my earrings as well, exclaiming, "Oh my Gawd, I just LOOOOVE your earrings! It's so David Bowie"!" . Our waiter was nearby and he said, "Yeah, I know, I bet she'll be hearing that all night", haha!
Of course, I knew what they were referring to...
The album, "Aladdin Sane" (a play on the words, "A lad insane" was Bowie's followup to "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars") was released in 1973. A couple of popular songs from the LP include, "Jean Genie" and Bowie's superfast cover of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together".
A more recent pop culture reference was seen in the 2010 film, "The Runaways", a movie about the formation of the early 70's all girl rock band (with Kristen Stewart playing my heroine Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie). In this scene, Cherie is performing Bowie's "Lady Grinning Soul" (also from the same album) at the high school talent show...
Nice ending! Flip that bird Dakota!
The androgynous look was "IT" back then, inspiring many a future rock star/musician such as Morrissey and Boy George.
Here are my big lightning bolt earrings:
Only $1.00 from a cheapo accessory store at the mall! They need to be red and blue to be totally Bowie-d out, but I still thought it was cool that two separate people made the same reference that night!
Cafe 21 (the new one!)
802 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 796-0821
cafe-21.com
With the new location so close to "free" (3-hour) parking at nearby Horton Plaza, I would most likely go here again with Bert. On second thought, if we want to avoid the crowds and save $1 per tapa, we can always stick to the Adams Ave location as well!
2 comments:
I pretty much only go Downtown if the parking will be easy, aka, I can park at Horton! The appetizers look pretty good - I like that they have sangria flights here so you can try all their different flavors.
hi mary - well, now horton is even closer to this new location of cafe 21. the sangria flight is pretty cool, except for that jalapeno spiked one. that was not fun to even taste! i would get that potato pancake with the beef short rib again. totally worth $5 unlike the 4 meatball rip off!
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