After a recent visit to Chick-fil-A last Friday, my boyfriend, Jake and I have determined that we are now official lovers of Chick-fil-a. We really liked the chicken sandwiches from before (when I got some free coupons to try their Spicy Chicken sandwich last summer) but our recent visit made us love it even more. Jake’s son, Thackery, had just had a tooth pulled the day before and was not able to eat a chicken sandwich. We were standing at the counter looking at the menu, trying to determine what he would be able to eat from the menu. The manager was at the counter and asked us if she could help suggest some items from the menu and we explained our situation. She suggested their chicken soup or a milkshake and emphasized with him and pulled tooth. We ended up getting both the soup and the milkshake for him and she gave us the milkshake for free since Thackery was being a real trooper and healing up from his tooth surgery. How awesome is that? Good service like that always makes you want to go back to a place and now we totally love Chick-fil-A even more than before.

We also found out that Chick-fil-A is running a special this month: every Friday in March you get a green receipt with your meal. You can come back any day during the month of March and get your order duplicated for free when you show your green receipt. You just have to come back in March to get the free items! Be sure to visit Chick-fil-A on a Friday in March to take part of this awesome deal.

I wasn’t sure what to try exactly. You can see they emphasize a few things on their exterior sign, but I wasn’t quite in the mood for ribs. I wanted something small and quick. I decided to try one of their personal sized pizzas and I got it with roasted chicken. I also had to try some of their Bread Bites since it’s in the name of the restaurant. Well that and I “loove” bread.

Service was fairly quick – though I must also admit that the place was quite empty (it was Saturday around lunch time). I sat and watched some of the Olympics on TV (men’s curling) while I waited for my food. The first thing to come out were the bread bites ($2.50 for a half dozen – though you can see I got an extra one) – little freshly baked bites flavored with garlic and butter and a pinch of salt. They were really good and it was hard to not eat my whole basket of rolls. They reminded me a lot of Pat & Oscar’s bread sticks, but in little roll forms. Very excellent.

The roast chicken pizza ($5.95 for Individual 7″ Pizza with One Topping) was very good. Served pipping hot, the cheese all nice and melted and the juicy chicken pieces made for a delectable meal. The crust was evenly cooked and crisp and a little on the thick side – just how I like it. I’m not a big fan of thin-crust pizzas since the crust is usually my favorite part, so this was an excellent pizza for my tastes. The pizza sauce was sweet and well balanced as well. Score!

This family owned restaurant does remind me a lot of Pat & Oscar’s with their choice of offerings – pizza, chicken, ribs, and bread rolls – but it doesn’t have that corporate-chain feeling. It feels a little more homey with their TV’s and service and is a nice place to take the family for an afternoon meal.

Bread Bites & Moore
7845 Highland Village Pl
San Diego, CA 92129
(858) 780-2501

A few weeks ago I purchased a Groupon for Haute Pink Cakes. It was a stellar deal – $8 for half a dozen cupcakes. Being the baker that I am, I couldn’t resist the lure of cupcakes. I traveled up to  Rancho Penasquitos to visit the shop and see what cupcakes they had available that day. The shop doesn’t open until 12PM so I had to kill a little time before it opened.

The shop is just a small place – there’s no seating inside even though it looks like it could be a little eatery/bakery. Just behind the counter you can see the array of ribbons and in-process cakes they have, plus a few of their cupcakes sitting out. They have mini cupcakes ($1.50 each), regular sized ($3 each) and jumbo sized cupcakes ($4.50 each). I had the option of getting mini or regular sized cupcakes and I went with regular sized.

The flavors I got were (from top, left to right): Oreo, Vanilla with Whipped Cream Frosting, Chocolate with Nutella, Coconut, Red Velvet and Haute Pink Velvet (their signature flavor).

I shared the cupcakes with my boyfriend and his kids, so I did at least get to have a bite of every cupcake. One of the first ones I had was the above: the Chocolate with Nutella cupcake. It’s got a Nutella buttercream and a small sprinkling of nuts on top. The cake was moist and almost creamy like and the frosting was really tasty. I like the extra little crunch from the nuts, too. So good!

My boyfriend, who doesn’t really like chocolate, opted for the Vanilla with Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting. I had a couple of bites of it, and it too was very good. Soft and moist and the frosting was creamy and not too heavy or too sugary.

Their signature flavor is the Haute Pink Velvet cupcake – which is pretty similar to red velvet but it’s – you guessed it – bright pink instead of deep red. This is topped off with a cream cream frosting which is pretty darn tasty as well.

The only thing I really noticed is that the cupcakes tasted a lot better in the morning then later that day, but you can say that for just about any baked good. The Oreo cupcake and the Coconut cupcakes were eaten later in the day and somehow didn’t taste quite as good as the first ones I had. My favorites were the Nutella cupcakes and the Vanilla. Haute Pink Cakes has different daily cupcake offerings, so you can call ahead and ask or place an order for your own creations.

Haute Pink Cakes
7835 Highland Village Place
San Diego, CA 92129
858-538-PINK (7465)

Cali Baguette Express is another Vietnamese sandwich shop that popped up in Mira Mesa in the last couple of months. They’re across the street from Bale French Sandwiches, setting up a little competition for the other small Vietnamese shop. There are some differences between the two stores though, including the variety of foods served and the type of sandwiches they offer. Let’s explore!

I entered into the little shop, noticing right away that they have a larger menu. They offer American type sandwiches in addition to their banh mi’s (such as Turkey with Pesto, Black Forest Ham and Tuna). They also have a different selection of sandwiches and they also offer vermicelle noodle and noodle soups, porridge, rice platters, and appetizers. Their selection of smoothies is also a much smaller menu that Bale’s and again you can get boba added to any smoothie.

Since the other shop didn’t have it, I decided to go with the Spicy Cajun Shrimp sandwich ($4.50). I inquired as to whether or not this sandwich was really spicy and was told that it wasn’t, so I went for it. I didn’t order anything else because I only had about $5 on me and this place only accepts cash (sad face). No sandwich is more than $5, so this is a great place if you’re on a budget (like me!).

This sandwich has the same stuff that any banh mi has – I took out the jalpenos and reduced the amount of stem on the cilantro before eating. I liked that the carrots were smaller pieces and therefore weren’t totally overwhelming. The cucumber is also a little smaller sized in this sandwich. The shrimps were good until I was 3/4 of the way done with the sandwich. It seemed the spices on the shrimp weren’t really evenly distributed across the shrimps/sandwich, so there was too much spice going on for me near the end of the sandwich. It wasn’t spicy hot, it was just too overspiced for my tastes. The bread is always one of my favorite parts and these french breads never disappoint. While I was waiting for my sandwich to be made, an Asian woman came in and bought just a loaf of bread. I didn’t know you could do that! It’s not listed on the menu, but it makes sense.

If you’re looking to try more Vietnamese dishes, than Cali Baguette Express is yet another option in Mira Mesa to satisfy your daily lunch yearnings.

Cali Baguette Express
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #106
(between Rickert Rd & Black Mountain Rd – near Santana’s)
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 695-8888
Cash only

I’ve been to Keith’s Family Restaurant more times than I can count. This place used to be a regular haunt for Alyssa and I back in the day when she used to live in San Diego. We loved it because they have cheap breakfast specials in the $5-$6 range and it was open 24 hours. There were many nights that we visited Keith’s late at night, eating breakfast, doing the Reader crossword puzzle and playing a game of Scrabble in between bites and scribbles. The waitresses there knew us and we stay for hours finishing our games and crossword puzzles. I have no idea why I haven’t reviewed it until now, except to say that I somehow forgot to. In any case, it’s better late than never.

One of my favorite breakfast specials is Breakfast Special #5 ($5.99): Biscuits and Gravy. You get two biscuit halves covered with sausage gravy, one egg, hash browns, and a drink (coffee, juice or milk). Biscuits and gravy is a personal weakness of mine and paired along with Keith’s hash browns, I can hardly ever resist it. The hash browns are hands down my favorite thing ever at Keith’s. They are always perfectly cooked: crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside. Covered with just a little salt and you’re golden. The biscuits are also very good – baked to a golden brown and covered in delicious sausage gravy. You can’t beat the price, either! They have other breakfast specials on their menu, all under $6 bucks.

On the days I don’t feel like getting breakfast, my other standby meal at Keith’s is their Club Sandwich (I think it’s about $7.49). You get a pretty large double decker sandwich with turkey, bacon, and cheese on your choice of bread (I always go with sourdough). I usually just eat about half of the sandwich and save the other half for later. It comes out with the bread lightly toasted and crisp – all of the ingredients are super fresh and delicious. It’s hard to get a club sandwich wrong, but for some reason I really enjoy the club sandwich here than at other places. It’s also worth it to spring for the seasoned fries. Just trust me on this.

You can get breakfast here any time of day, and I also recommend the french toast and pancakes. Pretty much anything you get here is delicious, but the two items above are my usual orders, depending on my mood. I do sometimes crave the french toast, but then I have to order a side of hash browns so I don’t miss out on their crunchy deliciousness.

One thing to note:  Keith’s is no longer open 24 hours 7 days a week. According to their website, they are open 24 hours Wednesday – Saturday and are open 6am-10pm Sunday – Tuesday. They used to also have a location in National City which has now closed.

Keith’s Family Restaurant
9449 Kearny Mesa Rd
(between N Altair Ave & Kearny Villa Rd, right off Miramar Rd.)
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 271-4670