Cake de Partie - the last stop for TORC's birthday crawl

When searching for a dessert place for TORC's birthday crawl, I wanted to go somewhere that we all hadn't been to before. Here's my "drive by" shot (I was the passenger mind you, not the driver).

There were a couple of choices in this area, but Cake de Partie seemed to be the most versatile since it offered not only desserts, but snacks and drinks (soda, teas, and coffee).

Cake de Partie (only two weeks new at time of writing), is located at the site of the now defunct Tea Garden and next to the now empty Pangea Bakery storefront...

A bit of info on the name, when we asked the owner she told us that Cake de Partie was a play on the words, "Chef de Partie". Acording to the definition on wikipedia:
"A chef de partie, or station chef, is a cook in a restaurant who is in charge of a particular station (area of production); for example, a pastry chef or saucier. The chef de partie may be the only person working in their particular station, or may be in charge of one or more underlings."

Cake de Partie may look plain from the side entrance...but once you walk in, it's a different story.

There is a display case featuring cake slices and other desserts. Their menu is at the counter and also above on the chalkboards.






As you walk in, you will see bar height tables alongside the handpainted wall which says, "Drink Triple (not shown), Eat Double, Act Single". In the middle of the space are circular tables with curved sectionals. The seating arrangements would work very well for large groups or even just a few people, if you don't mind sitting closely next to others. This was a pretty cool looking seating area.



First thing's first, we all ordered the Refresher Craft Sodas - Rose Lychee, Watermelon Ginger, Mango Passion Fruit and the curiously named  and very purple Butterfly Pea Lemonade. Prince would be proud.

The sodas are all flavored with natural fruit syrups and in the case of the butterfly pea (a type of flowering vine, more on this later), with real flowers which give it this unique hue. By itself, the flowers give off a dark blue color but when lemon or any citric acid is added, it turns purple. It turns out that this particular flower is one of the few in nature that gives off a bluish hue. It has an extremely sensitve pH level, so depending on what is added to it, changes color from dark blue to purple to purplish magenta.

We originally came for desserts but D wanted to order some appetizers with the intend to send the leftovers home with the birthday girl. Below, Ham and Cheese egg rolls with two types of sauces (one mayo based, the other a sweet chili), BBQ pork with sliced cucumber ad sticky rice balls (it came with a tamarind sauce), and French fries.


All of our drinks, by the way, were quite delicious and intensely flavored. They were true to their name and refreshing to look at and to sip and savor.

Another savory item we ordered came out a tiny bit after the appetizer trio. This was the Spaghetti Tom Yum which was so very tasty. It had loads of flavor (dare I say, 'umami', ha ha) and the shrimp within were plump and juicy.  This was quite the interesting dish. We found out from talking to the owners that they are Thai, which explains this dish as well as another offerings (the bbq pork, plus satay and the intriguing basil crab pasta).

I must mention that while we were here, we bumped into Kirbie and Mr. K! It was such a coincidence that we were here at the same time.  Actually, my gf's spotted Kirbie from afar and remarked that her purse (Tokidoki of course) looked like mine. When I glanced quickly, I didn't see her face but noted that her bag had a different print. I didn't realize it was Kirbie until she walked in with her husband to order.  Her post is linked at the end.

Back to the food - while everything looked great, I only had a tiny bit of each because I was saving room for this...the desserts. Yes, plural. This is why we pace ourselves during food crawls. We actually held back too, ordering only three desserts instead of four, what!

Triple chocolate bavarois (the French term for Bavarian cream) garnished with lacy sesame tuile wafers. A bavarois is a cold and molded dessert. Here you can see the different layers - white chocolate, chocolate and dark chocolate mousse. I first heard of this pastry term from my visit to Le Parfait Paris downtown two years ago via their raspberry and white chocolate rendition.  Bavarois is pronounced, "bah-vah-wah" (NOT bah-varr-roys).  Tres French...oui oui.

TORC specifically chose this, the dark chocolate mousse cake with raspberry gelee. I loved seeing the different layers; this was a rich tasting dessert, but light in texture.

The dessert we were all curious about was the green tea lava cake. As emphasized on their menu and when you order, this particular dessert takes about fifteen minutes to prepare as it is served warm. The cake was paired with vanilla ice cream which rested on top of sugary crunchy crumbs. When sliced into, the green tea filling poured out.


The green tea flavor wasn't as pronounced as I thought it might but. This was a neat twist on the now ubiquitous-to-the-point-of-being-mundane, chocolate lava cake.

Kirbie and Mr. K ordered a couple of the appetizers as well as the purple and the pink drinks. They even ordered a third drink for the road. Kirbie was gracious enough to let me photograph (crappily) their last drink, the Hibiscus Pomegranate. Just look at her instagram, it's much clearer and prettier than this.

In the car on the way home...

See those flowers in my beverage (or what millenials call a 'drank'; I'm sorry but is this some sad attempt to sound street or ghetto but when you're really not?)?  These flowers are also known as Asian pigeonwings, bluebell vine, and blue pea. Well, it is a good thing Cake de Partie calls this flavored drink  'butterfly pea' rather than the actual Latin name for these flowers due to its resemblance to...well, hmmmm...discover for yourself here, heh heh.

Well now...ya learn something new everyday.  
0 _ o

One other new thing, according to one of the owners, the elk depicted in their logo is due to their admiration for the elk's revered status in Japan. The culture views elk as a spiritual force and here, I just thought it was because it was a popular "hipster" image along with foxes, owls, and hares. It does have a regal appearance doesn't it.

If you've ever watched the Studio Ghibli film  "Princess Monoke", there is an elk like creature named Yakul,  which looks like a cross between a red elk and an ibex.

Another elk like creature in the same movie was the Forest Spirit (called a spirit-elk) who had a monkey like face and multi pronged horns.

I can't believe that movie is almost twenty years old!

Who else went to Cake de Partie?
You can read Kirbie's post on her recent visit here (hot off the press!)

Cake de Partie
3685 Convoy Ave
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 987-0033

www.cakedepartie.com; their fb page + reviews from you know where (16 at the time of posting this)

My friends and I enjoyed everything we had here as well as our little chats with the owners. It was also cool seeing Kirbie and Mr. K!  I definitely have to come back here with Bert and TC to try some of those other Thai influenced savory items as well as those other soda flavors.  I'm already trying to find an excuse when we can go again...