Dinerwood On the Road: CAFE 222 Downtown San Diego

Every year I make my way down to San Diego for the San Diego Comic Con. This past year, I had the good fortune of being able to stay at one of the hotels right by the convention center. This did mean that I missed out on Family House of Pancakes, but it also meant I got to enjoy more meals at Cafe 222.

Cafe 222 is located right in down town San Diego, not more than 3 blocks from where I was staying. It is most famous for its Peanut Butter & Banana Stuffed French Toast, which was gushed over by Bobby Flay on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." I've had it, and it is quite good... it also is daunting and damn hard to finish. It's good to split. There are tons of pictures online of it if you are curious.

I've always had attentive and courteous staff at Cafe 222, but they make no secret about needing to turn over tables--that's more a side-effect of the SDCC crowds though. At regular times, I'm sure it is quite different.

I have to say, no matter how long I've been going to SDCC, the sight of cos-players doing mundane things like eating breakfast never gets old. Now, would be a perfect time to post a picture of Sexy Chewbacca and one of the characters from 'Death Note" eating pancakes... but I don't have one. Sorry. I just Bing image searched "Sexy Chewbacca eating a pancake"and hoped to get lucky...I did not. And seriously, I used Bing, for realz....no one paid me to say that...yet.
 

This is their Eggs Benedict, which is delicious.



This is a Sweet Cornmeal Waffle and a side--YES, A SIDE-- of Griddled Potatoes with gravy.
I have to say, everything I've had is good, but the potatoes are just always awesome.

Cafe 222 is a great way to start the day.  


Food: Good
Price $7-10
Service: Good.
Pie: No pie that I recall, but they do make other fresh baked goods.


Cafe 222
222 Island Ave,
San Diego, CA
Cafe222.com

(the website features some recipes you might want to check out)

Happy National Pie Day!

Celebrated at Moffett's Chicken Pie Shop

Sambo's Santa Barbara- The First and Last

Going to Sambo's is kind of a big deal for me. I've wanted to go to one before I even knew there was only one of them left.

Okay, you can kick the dirt and look around nervously when you talk about the name and history. Wikipedia it if somehow you don't know what I'm talking about.

The inside of the restaurant is adorned with murals and decorations detailing the original Sambo story.

That's adorable!

They give you a basket of mini-muffins to start out with. They were really tasty.

We had an incredibly helpful waitress that guided our menu selections.

Antoinette had the chorizo scramble with potatoes and a side of pancakes. The potatoes were the star--they were perfect. The chorizo scramble was delicious but the pancakes were a little bland.

I had the Bengal Tiger Special. The french toast and bacon was good. The eggs were really interesting--they were shredded? I have never had eggs like that. They were good...just interesting.

That's a lechery looking Tiger.

Food: Good.

Service: Helpful. (but not to good with the refills)

Price: $10-15.

Pie: Sometimes.

Sambo's Restaurant

216 West Cabrillo Boulevard

Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 965-3269