Cafe 222- San Diego

For our anniversary breakfast we went to Cafe 222 in the historic Gaslamp District of San Diego. Such an cute area, we walked there and the restaurant had patio seating, it was a very fun atmosphere. Like most restaurants I seek out I found out about this one on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Bobby Flay went there and ordered up their stuffed french toast with bananas and peanut butter. We thought that sounded like a swell idea, so we did the same. The dish came with three halves of stuffed french toast. They were more like french toast sandwiches, two pieces of bread with bananas and peanut butter in the middle and then griddled to perfection. They were very tasty, but quite filling. I couldn't eat my whole plate, but Brian polished his off no problem. Brian always laughs at me because when we go out to eat I'm constantly looking at the food and trying to figure out what's in it and how they made it, then I tell him, "I could totally make this at home." (I get that from my mom, she does the same thing.) And while I haven't actually perfected any dish I've said that about, I honestly could totally make those french toast at home. Not that theirs weren't good, but I don't think there were any secret ingredients, or anything too special about them. Get some wheat bread, soak it in some french toast batter of eggs and whatnot, spread some peanut butter on the inside, slice some bananas, and throw them on the griddle, throw a little powdered sugar on top, voila! I'm going to try it, and I'll let you all know how it turns out.

We also ordered their biscuits and gravy. Very tasty. The biscuits were cheese and chive and the gravy had chives in it as well. It was a totally different take on my moms classic, and Brian and I both enjoyed it. It was a very good thing we decided to walk around and check out the sites after breakfast because we were stuffed, like those french toast!

Joan's On Third

Continuing on with our LA food trip, we spend our first meal on Friday at the cutest little bakery/cafe I have been to in a long time, Joan's on Third. I heard about Joan's on Third from The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I can't remember which chef it was that was going on and on about a chocolate coconut cupcake from Joan's on Third, but I like chocolate, coconut and cupcakes, so I added Joan's on Third to my list of places to visit.

We went there about noon, thinking we'd grab some lunch and a cupcake to go. We walked in and it was the most amazing site I'd ever seen, I was in love. Off to the right was the bakery counter, cake plate after cake plate filled with everything from cupcakes, to cookies, to dark chocolate bouchons. Their cafe counter had cases of wonderful looking salads, meat, and pastas on display and you can also order their signature sandwiches, soups. Throughout the rest of the store was gourmet food market that is complete with a wide variety of cheese, olives and prepackaged pastries.




I decided to order a warm short rib sandwich that was featured on the cover of Bon Appetit magazine. It was amazing. So warm, perfectly toasted and the meat was very tender and seasoned to perfection. It was topped with just the right amount of cheese and arugula. But let's not forget the pickled caramelized onions, they made my mouth very, very happy! (I looked up the Bon Appetit article they gave the recipe for the sandwiches. That might be fun to try, but if you can go there, even better.) Brian ordered one of their newer menu items, the Croque Monsieur. It is also a hot sandwich, built with ham, gruyere, Dijon mustard and béchamel sauce. I made him give me a bite, and I would have been equally satisfied if I had ordered that sandwich. Another melt in your mouth sandwich, with some very flavorful cheese and sauce. Brian is already talking about going back!





Now that our stomachs were very satisfied, we decided to get dessert to go and eat as a snack when we weren't quite so full. I planned on just getting the chocolate coconut cupcake I came for, but the selection was too good, and I knew we wouldn't be back for a while. So, I also ordered a chocolate chip cookie and a dark chocolate bouchon, I love dark chocolate. Brian then proceeded to order a peanut butter and jelly bar, a snickers cupckate, a white chocolate raspberry cupcake, a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow filling, and a vanilla coconut cupcake. (I'm happy to report this is not all gone yet, two days later.) I made Brian give me bites of a few of his. I loved the chocolate marshmallow. It was so moist and the marshmallow was soft and gooey, not like a hard store bought marshmallow stuck in the middle. The bouchon was good, very rich dark chocolate flavor. I thought the cookie had good flavor but was a little dry, not my favorite chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate coconut cupcake was every bit as dreamy as I imagined. The cake was moist, which is my number one quality of a good cake, I hate dry cake. The coconut frosting with coconut flakes on top was super creamy. It wasn't the cream cheese type of frosting I was expecting. Just sweet and the perfect compliment to the chocolate cake.




All in all I'd say we had a very successful trip to Joan's on Third. I'm pretty sure Joan has my dream job, and I'll be back to visit her very, very soon.