Does the crisped rice and pork sausage with skin strings ring a bell? It should because we get this dish almost every damn time we go here...
It could only be Asia Cafe. A short deliberation with TC between a burger place in the South Bay and Laotian food shows the clear winner:
She felt like beef pho (sorry, but the tai here was really bland) and I got the Nem Khao (Laotian fried rice which they're now calling "rice salad"), which is now on their menu. No more secret item.
We made sure to save some of the Nem Khao for Bert. I saved some room for another place we would be going to in North Park, but first...a short venture into a side street off University which led to our next destination.
I hadn't heard of this neighborhood before and later on, found out it was a small pocket within North Park; there were many really cute Craftsman bungalow homes here.
Santos Coffee Shop is right across this fairly new brewery, Thorn St., which is also right next to North Park Nursery on the corner.
Their font was Craftsman style, but it looks a lot like the font used for Led Zeppelin, ha ha!
Am I right, or am I right?
The coffee shop is in a quiet part of the neighborhood, far from the hullaballoo of the main corridor of 30th and University. I kinda like it that way.
You can see the nursery across the street; they were selling acai bowls (What is it with that stuff? Seem liks a popular healthy breakfast item) in the nursery.
In addition to drinks, they also sold breakfast type items and pastries, although I saw a fly in the pastry case, which was pretty gross. Well, we were here for a drink anyways, so nay to any fly-ridden pastries for us. One star off for that. Mayve two.
It's really cute in here with bright artwork against the brick walls, along with lots of seating (inside and out), along with coffee beans and hand crafted items for sale.
Our drinks - my blended mocha (dammit, I forgot to ask the gal to NOT put whipped crap) and TC's mango passion smoothie, which was super sweet to the point of being unenjoyable. She felt it needed to be watered down. Boo. On another note, the girl who worked here had the RADDEST winged eyeliner ever! I myself rock the cateye eyeliner look but not to the extreme awesomeness that she did.
Other than the whipped cream, I really liked my drink which tasted even better refrozen and spooned out of the cup.
I thought this was pretty funny...
This looks like it would be a cool event as well...
One of the performers is Quino (Joaquin McWhinny, the lead singer of San Diego based reggae band, Big Mountain) who is now a teacher in the Sweetwater District, along with still being a musician.
We liked the beautiful patio (those red tables!) here. It was like a secret garden of sorts.
The mural was also unexpected and quite striking...
There were several other businesses (one was an art store) in this area that beg for another exploratory visit. Liked the ambiance here but did NOT like the disgusting fly buzzing around their croissants and lemon bars. Note to selves, you might want to just stick with the drinks.
Previous visit to Asia Cafe:
"Asia Cafe updates their menu", May 2014
Santos Coffee House
3191 Thorn St.
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 640-3376
There is no website, but here is a review from the SD Reader:
"Santos Coffee House is a hidden gem...", May 8, 2013
With drinks in hand, we ventured out for something both savory and sweet up the street...
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