Duet Coffee

From La Mesa to the Rolando area of El Cajon Blvd..

It was weird driving this stretch of ECB...A lot has changed since I attended State eons ago.

On the northeast corner of ECB and Aragon Dr. is  Duet, a new coffee place...

It's not really surrounded by nice scenery; the strip mall next to it has an old Tiki looking diner which probably used to be a Love's and is now a Sushi joint. There is no parking lot but you could probably park in the neighboring strip mall lot if you had do if street parking is nil.

The interior is very clean lined, white with wooden and chrome accents.

It reminded me of several coffee places we visited in SF's Sunset District. They had a cute set up for their sugars with tongs(mini glass domes!) and simple syrup (bonus points for that).


Very nice in here and the service was also warm and friendly. No pretentious b.s. here.


Our caffeinated drinks and a rogue malasada (we sat by the front window with our backs to everyone; the better to shield our unlawful consumption of outside foodstuffs, heh heh).

Astroboi had the passionfruit iced tea while I tried the honey orange cappucino (with almond milk). Our drinks were presently so nicely - the hipster mason jar and a lovely ceramic cup (not a fucking paper cup mind you) with an insanely cute heart shaped spoon.



This was really delicious - it was not overly sweet but no bitter that I needed to add anything. This was a beautiful drink for sure.

The haupia malasada which was unceremoniously torn in half and surreptitiously eaten...

We liked all of the flavors but if I had to choose a favorite, I would pick the mango.

My gifts from Astroboi, four CD cases (with 2 CD's each) of Prince tracks including Extended Versions and another featuring Prince proteges.  All songs were chosen by Astroboi and range from his first album up to the mid 90's.

This was one of the best gifts ever (except for the Sheena Easton tracks, cough).  Prince provided the soundtrack of our teen and early adult years and Astroboi's choices were spot on.  I was especially happy that he included "Lady Cab Driver" from the 1999 album as well as "The Beautiful Ones" from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack.  Songs that until lately, haven't heard airplay in decades.

As we headed out to Point Loma for our next stop, we passed by the old location of one of our favorite record stores, now defunct, "Off the Record". This was one of the original locations, then it branched out to 5th Ave in Hillcrest (where Nirvana once played before they made it big), then closed and relocated to University Ave in North Park.  The store changed hands over the years and is currently a music store called Apex. Okay, my bad. I confused the Apex building with the old Off the Record, a used record store. It's actually a few buildings west on the same street. It's now known as the Pink Poodle, a grooming salad for dogs. It's in between the tire store and a barber shop.

I miss my favorite record stores. They're all gone now, Tower Records on ECB, Blue Meannie in El Cajon and Off the Record.

Duet Coffee
6526 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 230-5787

There is no website but here are the reviews from you know where.

"When Doves Cry" (hopefully this won't get pulled from youTube), one of the most iconic videos of the 80's.

"How can you just leave me standing...alone in a world that's so cold"

Bert, TC and I will have to make a visit to Duet to try other drinks on their menu.  This was a nice first visit with Astroboi.  Our next stop was a diversion before our very last stop in Point Loma...