On my way back home, I traveled down the 5 and remembered a place I'd read about...
and figured I would make a quick stop here before going to another appointment on the same street...
Cool Down Coffee took the place of the former E Street Trolley Station Information Center. The owner of the coffee shop had previously owned another coffee place in Eastlake (which I never had a chance to visit when it was around). His new shop opened in Spring of last year.
His menu:
The dining area...very roomy with lots of seating.
Interesting reclaimed wood - lots of colors which was neat to see.
I saw that he offered a cortado (it's on their IG) but that the sizes were 12 oz and up. Usually the cortado is about 4 to 4.5 oz. When I asked if he could make a proper cortado, he said "sure" and when asked why the 12 oz and up sizes were offered for this drink, he said it was because most Americans like their coffee to be in big sizes (which is sad but true). I also saw that he had real ceramic cups so asked if my drink could be in a cup instead of paper.
And here it is...
A very well made drink. Real milk this time too. Beans from a good place, Cafe Virtuoso, the only certified organic roaster in San Diego.
Decor was interesting. Lots of bible verses and religious Christmas music playing.
This trolley station is lucky to have a decent place to come in rest, have a cup of coffee or a snack or two. Plus they also had decent bathrooms.
During a more recent visit the other day, I had Bert and TC along with me as well. We had some errands to do in this part of town...
We were here early enough for breakfast. We ordered two different breakfast sandwiches plus one offered during lunch (which he said he could make it for our breakfast, nice guy).
Our drinks - Bert's cappuccino (the humongous size), my mocha and TC's hot chocolate.
All of our drinks were good but I felt that my mocha was on the "thinner" side. I know it's not "required" but I was hoping that the owner would put some latte art on our coffee drinks (I know he can do it; it's on his IG and FB pages) but they were on the plain side. Bert and TC enjoyed their drinks which were perfect for this rainy morning.
Our breakfast sandwiches:
The Out of Bounds - jalapeno bagel with a fluffy egg (with diced red and green peppers), Monterey Jack cheese and spinach. Very filling and tasty.
The original Cool Down - turkey ham, eggs and mayo on a bagel. Not a bagel fan and ended up deconstructing my portion of the sandwiches.
Pavo's Run ("pavo" means turkey in Spanish by the way) - wheat bread with sliced turkey (cold cut, sad face), spinach, cheese, and a very nice cilantro sauce plus a side of chips. It was weird having chips for breakfast but remember this was actually a lunch item. The cilantro sauce is what saved this sandwich, otherwise, it was kind of just normal.I think the sandwich could have used more meat slices too. This was kind of skimpy.
Articles:
"First boutique coffee bar on trolley system makes debut in Chula Vista" San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, April 23, 2015
"Trolley system gets boutique coffee bar in Chula Vista" Times of San Diego, April 23, 2015
Cool Down Coffee
750 E. St. (at the E Street Trolley Station)
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 882-2531
www.cooldowncoffee.com/fb page + the mixed bag o'reviews from you know where & tripadvisor
A nice stop if you are in the area, using the trolley or not. The coffee is good quality and the drinks that we enjoyed were good. The owner is a very nice man and very accommodating.
No comments:
Post a Comment