then morphed into Cali Baguette several years ago. As you can see...
it is now another Vietnamese place, local chain, Pho Ca Dao.
Here's an older pic:
(photo from March 2017)
Parking is on the side and behind as well. You no longer enter from the back entrance but from the actual front facing Broadway.
Gone is the old decor. This place is now slick and hipster looking with the faux succulent wal, laminate floors, a new bar and some flat screen tv's.
Gone is this:
(photo from my first post of Cali Baguette & Pho, Chula Vista", Dec. 6, 2015)
Oh dolphin fountain sculpture, we will miss you!!!
(photo from my "Egg anh mi sandwiches from Cali Baguette Van Hoa"post, June 5, 2016)
This is what you'll see now. This first visit was earlier this month when they had finished one week of their soft open. TC was at a school function but was with us for the second visit.
Fried egg rolls (full order is 6/half is 3). The rolls were ok. Never had them with pickled carrots before. The mint sprig was lonely though.
Garlic butter wings - $6.95 for 6 pieces. The pieces were average size. Not battered as much as Phuong Trang's version. Garlic pieces were verging on burnt and bitter. One of the drummette's skin had peeled back and wasn't as juicy as the other pieces. I couldn't taste the butter in these wings. I wasn't a fan of the nearly burnt garlic pieces.
Their Surf & Turf roll - shrimp and grilled beef. This was pretty good. Rolled on the loose side. At least you knew it was rolled fresh. Sauce was the nuoc cham. I was expecting a peanut sauce. Cali Baguette used to serve their grilled beef rolls with peanut sauce. But out with the old and in with the new right?
Bert's bun with pork - nice and juicy pieces.
On a more recent visit, we had TC with us, savoring the last few weeks of her high school and enjoying time with her.
Many flowers were on the front reception desk as gifts for their grand opening.
Ordered the fried rolls again. Had asked for the half order. Was brought out the six. After explaining we wanted only three, they took it away (and hopefully didn't spit in it) and it came back awhile later with just three. While eating our dinner, another server (an older Vietnamese man) came by to give up a plate of three fried rolls. I explained we had already gotten our order and he seemed confused. He had to talk to our original server who explained that she already fixed our order. As pleasant as she was, she didn't write anything down and got several things wrong with our order. First, this, and then TC's drink was subbed as Thai tea when she had asked for milk tea. We had that replaced as well.
TC's bun with shrimp wrapped in bean curd plus grilled beef rolls for me (alas, no peanut sauce). She liked her dish. The bean curd thing had a wierd texture to me. The beef rolls were good but next time I will ask if they could serve it with peanut sauce instead. There were too many side bowls of the same type of sauce it seemed.
We tried another wing appetizer, the Glazed wings, which were glazed with fish sauce. They were meaty and sticky and tasted much better than the garlic butter wings from the previous visit.
Bert had pho with grilled and marinated beef, served on the side, which was nice. The vegetable/herb plate was sparse though. The pho broth wasn't as clarified. We could still see particles of the beef floating around. The broth was nice, but light and shall I say, sweet? Not as beefy of a flavor. As Kirk would say, maybe this was "pho not to offend"? Noodles were in a clump too. That being said, Bert did like his bowl of pho. The meat was pretty good.
Clientele here is mixed which we like. This is west Chula Vista so expect a lot of Mexican, white and Filipino folks here. For our first visit, we bumped into some neighbors who happen to be Indonesian. For our second visit, there was a young white couple next to us. After pondering the menu for quite some time, they ended sharing a plate of fried rice. Yes, that's it. Fried rice. Damn. Talk about adventurous and going out of your comfort zone. Going to a VN place to eat...fried rice. Anyhow, to each their own.
Articles:
"Popular Vietnamese restaurant Pho Ca Dao to expand to Poway and Chula Vista" SanDiegoville, Oct. 2017
and the more recent, "Vietnamese Eatery headed to Chula Vista" San Diego Eater, May 4, 2018
Pho Ca Dao
303 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 737-9553
www.phocadaogrill.com + the current 11 reviews from you know where
Cali Baguette had become our 'go to' VN place on the west side of CV. Despite the few snafus we experienced, it won't be a deterrent. The folks here are nice and want to please. The new owners brought in a whole new staff (I missed seeing the lone white homie from the Cali Baguette days). The interior is really nice and modern looking (including, thank goodness, the bathroom). I'm glad Pho Ca Dao is here in CV and we hope to visit many more times in the future.
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