Mira Mesa got a new restaurant last month! It’s over in the shopping center with the Fresh & Easy and the food court. It replaces the vacant bagel shop that shuttered earlier this year. The new place? Urbane Cafe.
Urbane Cafe is a chain restaurant that started out in Ventura, CA and has expanded to more cities in California. There’s another location for Urbane Cafe in San Diego over in Linda Vista, just down the road from USD.
Urbane Cafe is a fast casual restaurant offering sandwiches, salads, and soups.
Their other “thing” is their focaccia bread, which they seem to be constantly making fresh right at the front of the store. The focaccia bread is used for all of their sandwiches and you also get a side piece when you order any salads. I watched the baker press dimples into all of the breads before she popped them into the oven. Nice to see they’re making it fresh!
They also make cookies. I didn’t actually see anyone making the cookies but I’m assuming they’re made here, too.
After you place your order, you get a little pager. I thought that was a nice touch. I have a little trouble hearing people shout out my name in busy places so it’s nice to not have to worry about that. A little buzz tells you your food is ready for your belly!
[vegetable soup and house salad combo / $6.99]
On my first visit I wasn’t feeling all that great so soup and salad sounded like the perfect “I don’t wanna eat, but I need to eat” food. They had two different soups available that day – a chicken poblano soup and a vegetable soup. The nice guy working the counter that day offered to let me sample both soups before I decided which one to order. The veggie soup tasted better to me that day and I went for that one. It had tons of veggies in it and the overall flavor was robust.
The dressing comes on the side (woohoo) and the combo is served with their standard house salad which has mixed greens, a sprinkle of feta cheese, and tiny mandarin oranges. I actually didn’t even touch the salad at lunch and waited to eat it later that night for dinner. I liked the tiny sweet oranges mixed into the salad.
I did eat all of the bread though I only managed to eat half the soup at lunchtime. They put a nice sprinkle of salt on top of the focaccia which plays off your tongue when you bite into it. The bread was warm, fluffy, and had a nice outer crust on top. I actually ordered one whole focaccia to go so I could have it with my salad later. It’s only $2 for extra focaccia bread.
I got a cookie, too. Because I had to try one for science, even though I didn’t feel well. It was slightly warm still when I got it. It satisfied my sweets cravings well enough and I’d get another one in the future though there’s nothing super special about it. I just really like chocolate chip cookies.
[bbq salad with chipotle ranch – grilled bbq chicken, chop salad mix, tomato, cheddar cheese, corn & black bean salsa / $7.25]
I returned later that same week with my co-workers in tow. Since I don’t want to be annoying to everyone who has lunch with me, I only stole Minion’s food to take a photo of. He doesn’t mind though. He expects it by now. He got this good lookin’ bbq salad, I liked how it looked like it had a lot of textures going on with it.
[club sandwich – oven-roasted turkey, applewood-smoked bacon, avocado, tomato, cheddar cheese, green leaf lettuce, herb aioli / $8.25]
For my second visit I decided to try a sandwich. All sandwiches come with a side house salad. The little mandarin oranges look a bit pulverized this time around, don’t they? Looks more like a glob of orange stuff that was hurled at a wall or something.
The club sandwich was quite nice. Little too much meat for my tastes (I’m sure other people don’t have this complaint – I usually take a few of those slices off). The ingredients all were wonderful in the sandwich and I was happy to see they took the time to melt the cheese. Most of the time club sandwiches are served with all cold stuff inside them so I felt this was a nice extra touch. The flavors all really went well together and I liked their herb aioli sauce, too. The focaccia bread stands up well and doesn’t fall apart too easily, either.
[cold coffee on tap]
Minion and I noticed this while eating our lunch – they have cold coffee on tap! Say what! The flyer above lists 5 different coffees but they only ever have 2 on tap at the same time. That day they had the Hair Raiser and the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. I was wishing they had the Peru Sol y Cafe just because of the description!
Here are two horrid, unfocused photos I took of the coffee that Minion bought for us. The top is the “before” and the bottom one is the “after” once I started swirling it around in the cup. There’s no cream added, mind you. That’s how it just comes out of the tap. I didn’t need to add anything to the coffee as it wasn’t too bitter and it had a nice, bold flavor. I’m no coffee expert but it tasted pretty good to me. I just thought it was rad they had coffee “on tap” and that it looked all creamy after swirling! I’m easily pleased, you know.
Urbane Cafe
6765 Mira Mesa Blvd.
Mira Mesa, CA 92121
(858) 247-5005
After lunch at Urbane Cafe, I had a little extra “yay Friday!” treat for my co-workers: a beer and chocolate tasting!
Well, really, it was just the leftover chocolates I had from my gourmet chocolate making class and Coronado Brewing Company had been nice enough to send me some beer samples to check out their 19th Anniversary IPA. Plus swag. Everyone likes swag.
I am 70% sure that this is the other beer they sent – the Orange Avenue Wit. I asked if they could send me something else along with the IPA since IPA’s are NOT my favorite. The Orange Avenue Wit is my go-to beer for Coronado Brewing Company. It’s nice and light and not super bitter.
I let my other co-workers (Mike and Chris are enjoying the beer here and I’m sure someone else had a sip…) have at it with the 19th Anniversary IPA. See them trying so hard to use those beer koozies that didn’t even fit the plastic cups? That’s dedication, man. They both seemed to like the IPA beer. They’re beer dudes. You can trust them. I didn’t even try it. I already figured I wouldn’t like it and didn’t need to subject myself to that “scientific” research.
Thanks to Coronado Brewing Company for providing us with a little beer social and for the cool swag!
Disclaimer: The two beers and swag were complimentary from Coronado Brewing Company. I wasn’t further compensated for this post and all opinions stated here are my own.
how funny, i was considering posting about urbane cafe this week too! always nice to have more options in our area. i don’t remember any of our sandwiches being as packed full as your club sandwich though! grrr!
That is funny! I meant to write about it before we left on our trip but I just didn’t have the time. It is nice having more options in the area and I especially liked their bread. I think I went after they had been open for a week or two – I’ll have to check it out again and compare sandwich fillings!
Coffee on tap? I totally want to try that! Quite rad indeed.
Soup and salad is a good combination. It’s light enough and makes me feel like i’m eating healthy.
Yes, Minion is well trained. My two co-workers (La Ley and Mr. TJ) are also trained, haha.
I’ve seen coffee on tap at a few other places but not very many. I think it’s starting to become a trendy thing. At the other places (I think it was Nate’s Garden Grill and Common Theory) the coffee is on nitro so it has a creamy head on top and looks like beer. Yay for trained co-workers!! Hahah
I didn’t know about this place so thank you for finding it! I LOVE it when something new comes to Mira Mesa. It makes my life (obviously I have very boring life). I fainted laughing when i read “Because I had to try one for science”. I’m so going to use that next time I’m out with friends who tell me I over order. Poor Minion. The camera eats before him. Sad.
I’m not a fan of IPAs. I just don’t get the terms. Too complicated.
I use the science excuse a lot. It makes me feel better. The camera always eats first, man. That should be on some kind of food blogger t-shirt. I love when new places open in Mira Mesa too – don’t have to go far to try it! Mama Testa’s looks like they could be opening soon, too!