Our next stop was for coffee...
at a place we hadn't been to in over a year...
In my quest to try actual coffee instead of the iced shit, it's been a compulsion/obsession of mine to make some revisits...
See the guy in the yellow? He and his dog (a handsome German shepherd) were both sleeping when we arrived and sleeping when we left.
Cafe Virtuoso's coffee is served at many coffee shops around San Diego, including the coffee kiosk at Southwestern College. It's in Barrio Logan which seems to be on its way towards gentrification. I won't get into the politics of that here though.
Their cheerful coffee grinder and roaster...See the exit sign? Bathrooms are down there as well as a "secret" sushi bar (more on that later).
Last time I was here, I had an iced mocha which tasted too much like chocolate milk spiked with a tiny bit of coffee. This time, I had the cortado while Bert had a dark chocolate mocha. Like me, TC knows what she likes and sticks to it...she had a chai latte.
Our trio of drinks. Bert's drink (with the faint heart design) was pretty thick and smooth. I almost didn't mind that there was soy milk in there. My cortado had regular milk in there. The amount isn't so much that I would have, uh, gastric distress later on. As mentioned in my previous coffee posts, my favorite hot coffee drinks tend to be the smaller and more potent drinks like the macchiato and cortado (or Gibraltar) due to the coffee and milk ratio being pretty equal. Too much milk just doesn't sit well with me and I can never finish those big ass drinks anyways. Just 4 oz is fine with me, eh.
TC really really really likes chai lattes now. I don't like spices in my drinks and much less my coffee, but this is one of the few hot drinks that she likes besides hot chocolate.
The mochas at Cafe Virtuoso can either be dark chocolate or Mexican chocolate. Dark for Bert.
My Cortado which was served in a glass with straight sides all the way down. Unlike the Gibraltar glass, there wasn't a "cool point" near the base to hold the glass comfortably. As the drink isn't served too hot, it cooled down enough to be able to drink it.
Lovely this was.
With a cortado from Virtuoso scratched from my list, I have to say that this was one of the better one's I've had.
As for the secret sushi bar in the back? I asked one of the gals working the counter what it was and she said it was a dining venue (also used for sushi making classes) by Sushi on a Roll, a local caterer. Their entrance outside is on the right, if you are facing Cafe Virtuoso); there is no signage. They are only open Wednesday nights but when I was walking down the hallway to their bathrooms, I noticed a few people sitting at the bar.
As we crossed the street to get to our car, we heard screaming sirens. Two cop cars whizzed by and stopped not even a block down from the coffee place. Two more cop cars arrived with officers running out and jumping the fence. There was a lot of commotion and yelling. We didn't know what exactly was happening but if there was going to be any shooting, well...I just wanted to get outta there.
Mural at the apartment building around the corner.
Here's a video with footage from what appears to be some sort of latte art throwdown (filmed at Cafe Virtuoso).
Damn, they were really getting into it here!
Previous visit to Cafe Virtuoso:
March 2014
We bought a relatively inexpensive (and compact) espresso maker off Amazon (it's by Krups) and so far, we like it. It only makes a few cups which is fine since it's just us two. The other coffee gadget we bought this past summer was the Aeropress which is also pretty simple and easy to use. I like the actual espresso maker and need (okay, want) to buy the mini milk pitcher so I can use the frother on the machine.
Now that I've started work again, I only drink coffee on Friday and Saturday morning. I can't handle it during the weekdays and on Sunday. I need to get some sleep ya know. Anyhow, I've come a long way from drinking just iced or blended drinks and appreciate the skill it takes to make a really good tasting drink.
There are a few more places on my list to revisit to satiate my macchiato/cortado/Gibraltar obsession...
2 comments:
We passed by here on Sunday morning but didn't stop; we will though, soon. Trying cold brews and regular coffee and sharing a sweet everywhere is fun.
Give it a try Cathy. It smells so good in here and I like how open everything is. Seating is kind of limited though.
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