Dining (local) Out Two...

Dining out again, but switching cuisines.

It turns out that some other friends were ending their winter stay on Coronado Island, so we arranged to meet them for a brunch on the island.  They suggested meet at Tartine, a little coffee/pastry/bistro kind of place near the edge of the island.  Our friends sometimes got their morning coffee there and liked it. Sometimes, not always when faced with going to a new restaurant the Feeder does a little research to get a bit of familiarity with the place.  I try not to look at menus, I would rather see the place before making any selections.   Anyway, (since it’s on my little phone) one of the places I generally look is Yelp.  I am used to it, and the searching is easy (like the living in summertime).  As is customary with these little sites they contain a number of reviews.  While it seems that a lot of them are more about “me” than an actual review (maybe said the kettle to the pot), it does give one an overview, and I try to see if there are any common threads which might be worth noting.  In the case of Tartine, most said the food was very good (especially the pastries), but service was rated from “poor” to “sucked” with a few snarky comments about being ignored if not perceived as a regular.   So, with antennae raised we braved the San Diego traffic, went over the bridge to Coronado (a lovely place) and found the unassuming place on first street shortly after 11:00.

I’m not sure why that person has to park the car in front of my shot, but I seem to have that experience lately.  Anyhow, we were first to arrive and secured a table inside (there is outside seating, but it was still a big chilly and there were smokers out there).  It is fairly small with only maybe 7 or eight tables.  There is a counter for ordering coffee drinks, but the eye is inevitably drawn to the glass case containing the pastries (and window reflections)

Braced for being ignored we were pleasantly surprised that a young man came to the table almost immediately asking if we would like something while waiting for our friends, and left the menus.  They arrived shortly after this, and we set about catching up, and chatting about things.  During the conversation they told us that the place had changed owners recently.  Jumping ahead, they have either cleaned up their act or have new servers because we were quite satisfied with the service we had, even after we lingered long enough that the place was almost full.  We never felt hustled to leave.

As you may know, Tartine is French for a slice of buttered bread with stuff on it, sort of an open faced sandwich.   The menu reflects that as several sandwiches are offered along with salads, soups, cheese plates, quiches, pates; and generally Frenchish items.  Lots of coffee drinks, teas, etc. on the multi paged menu

After some consideration I chose the “Nicoise Tartine (albacore tuna salad, nicoise olives, sliced tomato and mixed greens served in a warm baguette)" along with a glass of Pinot Grigio (not noon? what the hell); MFO selected a “Bacon Panino” composed of bacon (duhh) tomato, and Gruyere cheese all grilled on a Panino roll.  Our friends ordered the quiche (spinach) and she had a late morning bowl of oatmeal with dried cranberries.

 Absorbed in conversation time passed and the food appeared. 

The tuna and olives were good, but I got rid of the “winter” tomato slices – a bit thick looking don’t you think?  The greens were nicely dressed and pretty fresh.   Although I am still trying to learn the nuances of my new point and shoot camera, the picture still gives you an idea of MFO’s panino

Quiche and oatmeal were also enjoyed.   So with the preliminaries taken care of, it was time to avail ourselves of the pastries!!  We prowled the case of delectable items, trying to come to a single choice.  “oh, that looks good!  I’ll have that!   wait…. over there!”  I finally abandoned the “one of each” thought and settled on the Grand Marnier pot du crème (pictured in an earlier post), while MFO went for the champagne cheese cake (champagne anything always gets her).  It was lovely (and she forked it before I could take out the camera)

And in the blink of an eye

I would concur with the “yelpers” about the food (with the exception of the tomato slices) and especially the pastries.  But at least on this occasion, I would not agree with them that the service was poor.   Nice little spot for a bite and conversation, and not far from a lovely view of downtown San Diego

So if you’re in the neighborhood and want a little treat,  Tartine would be a nice choice.  Being California, and early in the day, who the hell knows what is the proper

DFD

We saw it all…

and this sort of concluded our exploratory "dining out", but we have a couple more to go in the "traditional" category..  Stay tuned