Indigo Cafe- a healthier alternative and tasty too!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog, which never goes on vacation.  Kirk however is on vacation.  This is Cathy, blogging about what I ate.

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening. Hope you day is going well so far.

There is a place The Mister and I have been meaning to try- but they are only open until 5 p.m. and we are always in this mall after 6 p.m. and merely read the menu taped on the door. We got ourselves together and met for a late lunch the other day and really liked it.

Indigo Cafe and Catering.  Near the Registrar of Voters office and in the same parking lot as Palominos and Giovanni's. It bills itself as a " healthier alternative" but makes no other claims.  The menu items are not fried and have 'lite' dressings and sauces.

The Mister had the soup and half sandwich ($5.95).  He chose the black bean tortilla soup: This is the small size and it was quite enough.  A nice tomato base, rich and thick. Chunky not fully blended black beans.  A nice spice-heat hit...and served with crackers..no tortilla strips. 

He chose the half tuna salad sandwich ( you can choose any of the sandwiches from the menu).  It is made with a dill mayonnaise that is very good and served with lettuce and tomato on a nice whole grain bread/roll.  The bread was not chewy or heavy.  Excellent flavors. 

For the first time in my life, really, first time ever...I ordered a wrap.  I never have had one before.  I looked at menus  before and just figured that it was sandwich stuff in a tortilla, a cold burrito and I never wanted to bother.  This one was a chicken and Brie- marinated chicken, roasted cherry tomato salsa, fresh spinach and lite ranch in a sun dried tomato tortilla.  It came with a side of Cesar salad ($5.75) and was wonderful.  The Mister said as soon as he saw there was something with brie...and spinach... he knew I would order it. He was right.   The chicken was juicy and tender, the Brie was warm and slightly melted and nutty flavored,  the tomato salsa tasted deeply tomato flavored, there was a lot of spinach, nicely layered on the outside of everything, which protected the ranch dressing from leaking out or damaging the tortilla and  the tortilla was soft and fresh and I could taste the tomato flavor in it.  It was a good size portion and more than enough food.   The Cesar salad was mostly romaine lettuce and Parmesan.  The dressing was a Cesar, but I think a lite one.  It had good flavor but was not overly rich or creamy.

We saw on the chalkboard as we were ordering an in house made dessert- pumpkin cheesecake with a bourbon-sour cream topping ($2.50) and ordered it with our meals, but the nice lady at the cash register said to let her know and she would bring it to us for dessert- that in the heat it would melt...very thoughtful.  Not a huge piece, but we didn't need it.  A nice cream cheese based pumpkin cheesecake- grainy pumpkin and a bottom layer only graham crust..and that Bourbon sour cream topping...was.  It was light and complimented the pumpkin nicely.

Indigo Cafe does the simple things fresh and flavorful.  They have a whole smoothie bar in the store and other baked goods for breakfast.  I will be trying the home made banana nut bread ($1) very soon.   This location is only open M-F, as I think they get a lot of catering jobs for the weekends.  It has been around since 2000 and for a good reason.  The downtown location is open 7 days and I would think serves a similar, fresh menu (on the website it has a sample menu, since ingredient inventory can change.)  If you are in the area, you should try it.

Indigo Cafe and Catering 9353 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (Phone) (858)565-2388 (Fax)(858)565-0070 M-F 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

1435 Sixth Avenue San Diego 92101 (ph) (619)702-6478 (fax)(619)702-6477  Hours: Mon 7-3, Tues-Fri 7-9, Sat 8-9, Sun 8-1

website

Comments

[nhbilly]

Hey hey hey, nice find.
I miss the little sandwich shop down the street from where I use to work.

[Sandy]

I usually have the California wrap (chicken, pepper jack cheese, avocado). Maybe I should expand my horizons ...

I have seen coupons in a local mailer for Indigo Cafe (soup or smoothie with sandwich purchase).

As I commented on your previous review of Palomino's, parking in this strip mall during weekday lunch hours is a pain. I work within walking distance of this strip mall which gives me a chance to walk off my lunch :-)

[Anthony]

Try the chicken tortilla soup... you won't be disappointed!!! :-)

[PGS]

You guys are almost always in my neighborhood! I love their tortilla soup and their carne asada wrap (I had never had a wrap before this either--and for the same reason). Excellent choice for your review!

[Cathy]

Hi Bill! This was surprisingly good. It is a rarity sometimes to find a good sandwich shop.
Hello again, Sandy. Yes; Since we usually are here at night or weekends, we don't usually pay attention, but most of the parking spots are marked for 30 minutes. I really was plesantly surprised at the quality of food here.
Yes, Anthony, they make great soups! SO fresh. Thanks for commenting and welcome.
Hey again, PGS. The neighborhood is closer to where The Mister works and it isn't like we don't go out to eat. It is just that I am blogging our meals as some sort of bizarre hobby. Thanks for reading the blog, no matter where we eat.