(my awesome 'drive by' exterior shot)
at the newly opened Kouch Espresso Bar & Lounge in Hillcrest, a neighborhood I haven't been to in awhile...
It's right across from Arriverderci. We were able to snag street parking around the corner. I was glad I wasn't driving because parking in Hillcrest totally sucks.
Despite the name of this place, there is NO couch, heh.
There is a foyer wuth seating and then a counter filled with pastries (rugalachs and a triangular shaped pastry called a Hamentaschen) and a bar. There are only a few bar height tables inside. The foyer was completely packed with folks and their laptops.
There were two guys ahead of us. The gal working the counter was making their drinks and we had to wait quite awhile before we got helped. It also took awhile for our items to be ready, but more on that later.
As we were waiting, the owner came by to give us some complimentary rugalachs (chocolate!), fresh from the oven. We actually had ordered one chocolate and raspberry rugalach earlier but later boxed it up for TORC.
We shared the pao de quiejo (Brazilian cheese bread) served with a spicy olive oil dip (too spicy) and my espresso con panna. That was coffee #2. Remember my lattes were shared and they were not full sized either. I was craving the caffeine that morning as you can tell.
These were cute and bite sized. We all enjoyed the cheese bread but the dip, not so much.
My other drink, the Marrochino, because I wanted to compare it with the version I had at Pappalecco's in Kensington. This looked different but tasted just as wonderful as Pappalecco's, nice, rich, chocolatey and with a bit of Nutella. Yes, Nutella makes everything taste better.
Both KD and D got the Mexican mocha.
Lovely glasses they had here.
I really enjoyed my espresso con panna (the whip is housemade), which is now my new favorite drink. The coffee portion is tiny but potent and made sweeter with the whip.
Cheers!
While the pastries and drinks were good, the service was a bit slow. We only had an hour on the meter since we didn't think it would take that long. We nearly depleted it. More than half an hour was spent waiting for our order. I felt rushed when we did get our food and drinks because I didn't want the meter to expire.
I do have to say that the owner was a friendly guy, offering all of his guests fresh rugalachs. It was crazy busy after we got there and it seemed almost like a hassle to ask for to go cups and boxes. Maybe we got them on an off day or something.
Articles:
"Kouch to give 75%..." SDGLN, April 14, 2017
"Dining and donating" April 2017
plus a short blurb from the "Foodie Flashes" section Gay SD, April 14, 2017
The Kouch Lounge (I shortened the name)
3852 4th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 255-4817
www.thekouchlounge.com/fb page + reviews from that four lettered site
I'll have to come back here again to try those triangular shaped pastries...
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