Crest Café

After a late movie this week a bunch of us met at the Crest Cafe in Hillcrest for a bite to eat. I personally hadn't been there in quite a few years. I am glad we went. Loved the atmosphere and the people. Our waiter was quite incredible, he didn't use a pencil for taking our orders (5 of us) an amazing memory. I ordered hot tea from a quite extensive tea menu and I loved it. Comes in a totally different tea pot for each person. Each of us ordered something different and I asked each person in our group how there food was and each was quite pleased. I know I was amazed at a shrimp salad a friend got, one got a chicken pot pie and very pleased, the next friend got a super hamburger that was quite large with all the dressings to add on. I got a Turkey sandwich and it was cut in half, I could only eat half since I was so filled with turkey, totally original and very good...took the rest home for lunch the next day. I will be going back. Oh, they were open until midnight, we left at 11:45pm.

Wow! Who would’ve thought that mangos would be on the menu at a diner? You probably figured out by my “handle” that I love mangos, so it was a real treat to find the tasty tropical fruit featured in several different dishes at the Crest Cafe in Hillcrest. A friend and I were headed to the movies on the 4th of July, but we needed to obtain some sustenance first. We were headed to the ever fabulous Ultrastar Cinema in Mission Valley so Hillcrest seemed like a good place to find some real food. Luckily the Crest Cafe was open. We noticed that several of our other favorite Hillcrest restaurants were closed for the holiday. Just as well. It was my day to discover diner mangos. I had been to the Crest Cafe several times before, but not in a long while. Lacking a permanent job tends to put a cramp in one’s culinary style. Since the Reader was kind enough to grant me two movie tickets and it was a holiday, I figured I should splurge and treat my friend to lunch. She likes to come along with me to present the proverbial carnivorous voice of reason to my veggie lovin’ gastronomy. I had to shoo off the waitress because it took me an inordinate amount of time to make my selection. I was torn between several items on the appetizer menu. The veggie chili sounded pretty darned tempting. Then I saw a listing for something called cheese “buttah” squares which consisted of Bread & Cie multi-grain, spread with gorgonzola cheese butter on both sides, stuffed with pears and sun dried tomatoes. When I read that I thought that they must make you wear a halo and a pair of wings while you eat it, since you obviously would have had to have died and gone to heaven! But then I saw it: mangos, and brie cheese. Grilled in a quesadilla. I got a little teary eyed and smiled and waved at the waitress to come back so I could order it. My friend liked the sound of the anchiote pulled pork sandwich cooked in an orange mop sauce; rubbed in an anchiote seasoning paste and stuffed in a terera roll layered with avocado, jicima coleslaw, queso fresco, cilantro and onion. As a side dish she opted for the homemade potato chips instead of fries, most of which I ate. They were thick and crunchy. My friend said the pulled pork was delicious and she especially liked the anchiote seasoning and the perfectly flavored coleslaw that was served on the sandwich rather than as a side dish. After we ordered I continued to read the menu and I noticed that The Crest Cafe has several different vegetarian pastas on their menu. Pasta with marinated artichoke hearts in a creamy wine sauce, Luigi’s spinach ravioli and veggie lasagna with spinach, sundried tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers were the three noodly sirens. I also noticed that mangos were listed as ingredients in two different salads. Outside of Polynesian restaurants (or in Vietnamese restaurants where they’re served as a dessert atop coconut sticky rice) you’d be hard pressed to find mangos in most restaurants. Except for this writer.