chef john’s fish and chips / lemon grove – san diego, ca

Chef John’s Fish and Chips is  tucked in on the other side of Broadway in Lemon Grove, a little bit away from the main drag and the famous giant lemon. It kind of looks like it’s in an old Arby’s or Long John Silvers, but I don’t know for sure if that’s what it was – my days of venturing into Lemon Grove are a bit sparse these days.

Jake and I opted to share a few items to get a feel for the food here. Our order was taken by a very nice Asian lady and was passed onto an Asian chef – I assume Chef John – to make. We could see him making our food to order while we waited in one of the booths.

[squeezy sauce bottles]

We were brought these squeezy bottles full of sauce along with our food. I was amused that they were labeled. I think of lot of places would just make you guess and probably not even bring you ranch unless you asked for it.

[fish and chicken strips combo – $7.99]

We got the fish and chicken basket. Jake is normally not a seafood eater, but he does like fish and chips… go figure. Fried fish though generally doesn’t taste super fishy though, so I get that train of thought at least.

The chicken strips were pretty good for what they were. Nice strips of white meat, not too overly greasy. Lightly seasoned and tasty.

[fried fish inside]

The fried fish was made with cod. It was hand battered and fried to a nice crisp – not super greasy, either. The fish was very tender and came apart pretty easily. I especially liked the crispness of it – nice and crunchy but still retaining the fish flavor. Jake thought this was one of the best pieces of fried fish he’s had.

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lemon grove deli / lemon grove – san diego, ca

The Lemon Grove Deli is a little restaurant that’s nestled in the heart of Lemon Grove. It’s in amongst the many little shops and businesses in Downtown Lemon Grove, near the trolley station. The Lemon Grove Deli serves up some mean breakfast and then also does sandwiches in the afternoons. You can stop by on Sunday and get breakfast until 2PM – which is what Jake and I did on a recent weekend.

This is one of my “adventures in groupons!” posts – I had a coupon for 2 breakfast and 2 drinks for one price. It was just the two of us for breakfast that morning and we sat outside on the patio to enjoy the beautiful summer day. There was a slight wait in getting someone to see to us, but we were in no kind of rush. When our waitress did come by we asked for some coffee while we continued to look over the menu.

coffee - lemon grove deli

[coffee & creamers – $1.95]

The coffee was pretty good for a standard cup. Not too strong but strong enough to have a nice, distinct flavor. I also enjoyed that they had a little bowl of different flavored creamers. They had vanilla, hazelnut and plain and I chose to dump a couple of hazelnuts in mine.

Hazelnut + coffee = a match made in heaven to me.

lemon grove deli menu

[breakfast menu at the lemon grove deli]

Here’s a peek at their breakfast menu. There’s a really good amount of options and you get a TON of food for the price.

[our breakfast, from above]

See that plate of biscuits and gravy? And the pancakes? Both side dishes for each meal.

So. Much. Food!

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