Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

When in Aroma

Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts.
Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts.
Place

Aroma Cafe

909 Prospect Street #100, San Diego




Whew. Sniffing the rarified air of La Jolla. Wandering along Prospect at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Muggy hot.

Looking for burgers. Promised the lovely Carla I’d take her back a nice big fat one.

Seeing plenty of cafés, except, mostly, they’re expensive as hell. But when I get to where Prospect meets Fay, I come up on one I may be able to handle. Aroma Bakery & Cafe. Didn’t this place used to be the Hard Rock? Whatever, I like how the corner’s got a sunny patio, rusty-red and sandy-colored umbrellas, solid wicker chairs. Real street café feel.

They have a reception pulpit outside, where this host asks if I want to sit in or out. Inside, I guess, because it’s so hot.

For decoration there’s one big black-and-white Beatles photograph and another of James Dean. Hard Rock hangover? The walls are buttery brown; the tables are sturdy black wood.

Hearing a lot of what could be Arabic. Or is it Farsi? Or Armenian? A bit of everything? Makes the place feel international, very La Jolla. I sit near the window, looking out across Prospect at Bubba’s Smokehouse BBQ. A gal comes up, Sophia, and asks if I’d like something to drink. Actually, no. I’m coffee’d out. Water, I tell her, would be the best thing. It comes tall, frosty, with a bit of lemon squeezed into it. So refreshing, almost sweet.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Got to check the menu choices…

First off, there’s a lot of expensive nightclub drinks. Then, expensive eats, like filet mignon with mashed potatoes and veggies for $27.95, beef stroganoff for $17.95. I flip the pages.

Ah, now we’re getting to the land of the possible. Middle Eastern appetizers, like baba ghanoush (eggplant) or hummus, go for $6.50. Smallish pizzas are about $10.50; they come on a kind of wooden skillet. There’s BBQ chicken pizza, with mozzarella and cilantro, and something called the “New York,” with pepperoni and Italian sausage.

There are pastas, like the fettucine Alfredo for $9.95; or panini, things like turkey breast on toasted ciabatta with fries or a small salad for $8.95. A turkey sandwich dips below $8 ($7.90). They have quiche Lorraine for $8.90, and two chicken mushroom crêpes for $8. With a salad. You can get a crêpe, soup, and salad combo for $9.95. Tempted by that.

Then I remember my mission. Burger. I keep flipping through. Here we go. Three sliders with fries are $8. An Angus burger (with fries and salad) goes for $8.50, a vegetarian burger for $7.50. You can add cheese for 50 cents.

They’re all served on beautiful-looking square-form plates, prettied up with scatterings of parsley. I ask for the Angus. If it’s good, I’ll order a second for Ms. Carla. Got a Jackson in the pocket.

Susan, another waitress, brings the burger. Gotta admit, this is a whopper. (Sorry, BK, but you can’t own the word.) Poppy-seed bun, a generous, half-inch-thick glistening patty with the cross-hatch burns of the grill — always makes it look more delicious — plus sloppy sautéed onions, tomatoes, and big lettuce leaves. There’s a base layer of some kind of ranch sauce.

The salad’s cool, too. Spinach, arugula and other lettuces, lush red-pepper strips, thin carrot sticks, bits of yellow corn, and golden pencil fries. Squirt a gloop of ketchup on the corner, and you’ve got an eye-candy festival. What with the rent they must be paying for this fancy location, $8.50 isn’t bad value at all.

Guess I’ll have to start eating and mess up my face. Huge burger. I do the python drop-jaw trick and lunge in. It’s got that charred outside, rare-pink inside combo I love. Bit of ketchup, some fries, vinaigrette puddling on the plate. Perfecto.

Ambience is good, too. I suddenly notice: no music. Just the ripple of conversation and my chomping. It’s nice not to be mooded-up, for once.

Speaking of which, by the time I’m two-thirds through, Sophia sees me slowing down. “You can do it,” she says. “I believe in you, sir.”

She knows: this is one heck of a filling dish. I drop the last chunk of meat down my gullet and fall back exhausted. Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts. But with Carla’s to-go burger, I’m already at $18.32, and most of these sweets run about $5. A Jackson’s a Jackson.

But I’d definitely come back. They’ve got the feeling right, of a boulevard café, the kind of place where you’d meet your agent — the one selling your movie script, ’natch — to haggle over, I dunno, character arcs.

Sigh. That’s what La Jolla can do to you. Starts you dreaming those big-time dreams. When in Aroma…

*Late breaking news: The beautiful Ms. Carla was heard to exclaim, “Oh, wow. Fantastic patty. Juicy. Sautéed onions…This has to be the biggest burger I’ve had, seriously…”

Size matters. ■

The Place: Aroma Bakery and Cafe, 909 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858-454-7272
Type of Food: Mediterranean-Californian
Prices: Two breakfast eggs with sautéed potatoes, fruit salad, baguette, $7.50; eggs benedict, $8.95; baba ghanoush or hummus, $6.50; pizzas (e.g., BBQ chicken or New York), $10.50; fettucine Alfredo, $9.95; turkey breast panini (with fries or salad) $8.95; turkey sandwich $7.90; crêpe, soup, salad combo, $9.95; Angus burger (with fries and salad), $8.50; vegetarian burger, $7.50
Hours: 7:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m., daily (till 11:00 p.m., Friday–Saturday)
Bus: 30
Nearest Bus Stop: Silverado at Girard

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

20 Best Online Casinos USA For Real Money (2024 List)

USA Online Casinos: Top 20 Online Casino Sites of 2024
Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts.
Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts.
Place

Aroma Cafe

909 Prospect Street #100, San Diego




Whew. Sniffing the rarified air of La Jolla. Wandering along Prospect at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Muggy hot.

Looking for burgers. Promised the lovely Carla I’d take her back a nice big fat one.

Seeing plenty of cafés, except, mostly, they’re expensive as hell. But when I get to where Prospect meets Fay, I come up on one I may be able to handle. Aroma Bakery & Cafe. Didn’t this place used to be the Hard Rock? Whatever, I like how the corner’s got a sunny patio, rusty-red and sandy-colored umbrellas, solid wicker chairs. Real street café feel.

They have a reception pulpit outside, where this host asks if I want to sit in or out. Inside, I guess, because it’s so hot.

For decoration there’s one big black-and-white Beatles photograph and another of James Dean. Hard Rock hangover? The walls are buttery brown; the tables are sturdy black wood.

Hearing a lot of what could be Arabic. Or is it Farsi? Or Armenian? A bit of everything? Makes the place feel international, very La Jolla. I sit near the window, looking out across Prospect at Bubba’s Smokehouse BBQ. A gal comes up, Sophia, and asks if I’d like something to drink. Actually, no. I’m coffee’d out. Water, I tell her, would be the best thing. It comes tall, frosty, with a bit of lemon squeezed into it. So refreshing, almost sweet.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Got to check the menu choices…

First off, there’s a lot of expensive nightclub drinks. Then, expensive eats, like filet mignon with mashed potatoes and veggies for $27.95, beef stroganoff for $17.95. I flip the pages.

Ah, now we’re getting to the land of the possible. Middle Eastern appetizers, like baba ghanoush (eggplant) or hummus, go for $6.50. Smallish pizzas are about $10.50; they come on a kind of wooden skillet. There’s BBQ chicken pizza, with mozzarella and cilantro, and something called the “New York,” with pepperoni and Italian sausage.

There are pastas, like the fettucine Alfredo for $9.95; or panini, things like turkey breast on toasted ciabatta with fries or a small salad for $8.95. A turkey sandwich dips below $8 ($7.90). They have quiche Lorraine for $8.90, and two chicken mushroom crêpes for $8. With a salad. You can get a crêpe, soup, and salad combo for $9.95. Tempted by that.

Then I remember my mission. Burger. I keep flipping through. Here we go. Three sliders with fries are $8. An Angus burger (with fries and salad) goes for $8.50, a vegetarian burger for $7.50. You can add cheese for 50 cents.

They’re all served on beautiful-looking square-form plates, prettied up with scatterings of parsley. I ask for the Angus. If it’s good, I’ll order a second for Ms. Carla. Got a Jackson in the pocket.

Susan, another waitress, brings the burger. Gotta admit, this is a whopper. (Sorry, BK, but you can’t own the word.) Poppy-seed bun, a generous, half-inch-thick glistening patty with the cross-hatch burns of the grill — always makes it look more delicious — plus sloppy sautéed onions, tomatoes, and big lettuce leaves. There’s a base layer of some kind of ranch sauce.

The salad’s cool, too. Spinach, arugula and other lettuces, lush red-pepper strips, thin carrot sticks, bits of yellow corn, and golden pencil fries. Squirt a gloop of ketchup on the corner, and you’ve got an eye-candy festival. What with the rent they must be paying for this fancy location, $8.50 isn’t bad value at all.

Guess I’ll have to start eating and mess up my face. Huge burger. I do the python drop-jaw trick and lunge in. It’s got that charred outside, rare-pink inside combo I love. Bit of ketchup, some fries, vinaigrette puddling on the plate. Perfecto.

Ambience is good, too. I suddenly notice: no music. Just the ripple of conversation and my chomping. It’s nice not to be mooded-up, for once.

Speaking of which, by the time I’m two-thirds through, Sophia sees me slowing down. “You can do it,” she says. “I believe in you, sir.”

She knows: this is one heck of a filling dish. I drop the last chunk of meat down my gullet and fall back exhausted. Sophia tries to tempt me with one of their dee-lish-looking desserts. Those raspberry tarts. But with Carla’s to-go burger, I’m already at $18.32, and most of these sweets run about $5. A Jackson’s a Jackson.

But I’d definitely come back. They’ve got the feeling right, of a boulevard café, the kind of place where you’d meet your agent — the one selling your movie script, ’natch — to haggle over, I dunno, character arcs.

Sigh. That’s what La Jolla can do to you. Starts you dreaming those big-time dreams. When in Aroma…

*Late breaking news: The beautiful Ms. Carla was heard to exclaim, “Oh, wow. Fantastic patty. Juicy. Sautéed onions…This has to be the biggest burger I’ve had, seriously…”

Size matters. ■

The Place: Aroma Bakery and Cafe, 909 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858-454-7272
Type of Food: Mediterranean-Californian
Prices: Two breakfast eggs with sautéed potatoes, fruit salad, baguette, $7.50; eggs benedict, $8.95; baba ghanoush or hummus, $6.50; pizzas (e.g., BBQ chicken or New York), $10.50; fettucine Alfredo, $9.95; turkey breast panini (with fries or salad) $8.95; turkey sandwich $7.90; crêpe, soup, salad combo, $9.95; Angus burger (with fries and salad), $8.50; vegetarian burger, $7.50
Hours: 7:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m., daily (till 11:00 p.m., Friday–Saturday)
Bus: 30
Nearest Bus Stop: Silverado at Girard

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.