First look: Good Life Eatery

Still open limited weekend hours after its first week in business, North Park's Good Life Eatery feels like a winner. There's been a lot of coffee-shop-type turnover at this location over the years, so I don't think I went in with many lofty expectations. However, stopping by for a Friday lunch I found myself nodding my head in approval and leaving satisfied.

It actually takes up two suites of the small office building it occupies (which also houses the headquarters of San Diego LGBT Pride). While this may make it sound large, it's really not – one suite holds the dining room, the other an open view kitchen. Neither can be bigger than 3- or 400 square feet.

The dining room features plenty of windows, plus a large version of those refrigerator magnets that allow you to rearrange words into ad hoc poetry ("big dream fast monkey" and "magic glow together friend" were in effect this day). One wall features a tasteful collage of quilted upholstery squares that serve as décor and cushioned bench seating for a short row of tables. Again, it's not huge, but certainly comfortable and pleasing to the eye.

The menu doesn't try to cover too much ground, and it's maybe no surprise my eyes were immediately drawn to the sandwich of the day, which in this case featured short ribs with mac and cheese and A1 steak sauce on ciabatta roll. I can't say for sure what the advantage of using mac andcheese over just cheese or cheese sauce might be, but I ain't complainin'. The beef was tender and flavorful, the mac moist and tasty, and the A1 not overwhelming. For ten bucks, it's not a huge sandwich, and there wasn't anything more to it than that, but I did find it pretty filling and easily enjoyable.

I should point out, it also came with a small side of kamut salad. A what? Yeah, I had to look it up. Kamut's a nutty heirloom wheat with kernels roughly the size of long grain rice. They serve the kamut, pomegranate seed, walnut and carrot salad with a light citrus dressing, and it wasn't bad, certainly interesting to experience.

However, I did want to walk away feeling like I'd had substantially more than meat, cheese and bread, so I deliberated between a couple of vegetable soup and salad options. I ultimately settled on the 10-spice vegetable soup. Built on a tomato and cashew cream stock, the $5 vegan soup included chunks of sweet potato, red bell peppers, celery, onion, carrots and black beans. Surprisingly, it was the highlight of my meal – this coming from a huge short rib fan. Well seasoned and filling, I might have to revisit this one next time it rains — I'm pretty sure it's the healthiest soup I've had this year.