Pangea Bakery Café-revisit (more than just a bakery!)

Pangea has closed

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the blog. It's about food.  Writers here are usually Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy.  Today, it's Cathy's post.

I started writing this post in November. Then things happened and even though The Mister and I have been to Pangea Bakery Cafe regularly, there have been some 'technical difficulties' regarding phones, cameras, computers, hinges and various other mechanical things and the final photos are recent.  You'll have to take my word for it that there have been visits in the interim.

The weekend before Thanksgiving.  Here we were.  And what is that man doing on the front patio? With a grill next to him no less! 

Notice the poster under the cash register...grilled items.

 

Notice signage in the store...

This was the menu in November.  It has changed, but let me show you what we enjoyed that day.

The nice Young Man cooking held open the foil for moment as I snapped a photo.  You'll see what this was...skewerS-that's a clue.

There were other items available- that's a Chinese sausage.

Condiments used for the various grilled items.

Yes!  Grilled whole squid: the same as was being served at the First San Diego Night Market until it sold out within the first few hours...

This was HUGE (it cost $8) and tender, brushed lightly with a sweet teriyaki-like sauce before and while grilling. We took a good portion home and used it for dinner.  

Of course we also bought some baked goods...

Here it was, leftover squid with the ham and cheese bread and squash. Ah, the balanced diet of the Holiday Season...

 

Here are some bakery items we've purchased- that's a ham and cheese baked in a bread and a cream filled almond pastry.

Here's the most recent menu...ever evolving and probably more refined(although on some of these chilly days, I'd like to have some soup).

The Thai peanut and lime chicken plate ($3.99 that day, regular $6.99 - and worth it at that price) is  quite large. Fresh veggies stir fried with some of the rice, the bright flavors along with some crisped rice and cucumber and pickled onion... and the sauce had a nice kick...could taste coconut milk in the sauce-it was almost a curry...lemongrass more than lime flavors and a touch of heat that would creep up on you.  This was very good.

We also shared the appetizer popcorn chicken ($3.99) which is served with the pretty cup of sriracha/teriyaki topped with black sesame seeds.  Fresh, crispy and moist good size chicken pieces.

You can see this bowl was quite large and lined with baby lettuce, which could have absorbed any grease...but there wasn't any and so a mini salad was enjoyed at the end of this meal.

We've also enjoyed some day old pastries (half off; there's a small red mark on the packaging) and good cup of coffee for easy breakfasts here.  That's the raisin walnut bread and a cherry filling in a soft Danish pastry.

 

 

It's going to be Valentine's Day soon!

Drop in and see what the menu will be on your visit...

Pangea Bakery Cafe 4689 Convoy Street, Suite 100 San Diego 92111 (858)560-0688 website

 

Comments

[Faye]

Cathy! I'm here right now as I'm reading your post! How funny is that?! I've never seen the grill out front - the squid thing looks quite good. I LOVE that ham & cheese bread. They didn't have it today and the manager told me they might only make on weekends now. Dang it.
Great post! I'm hoping to write mine about this place soon.

[caninecologne]

Hi cathy, Nice post! I find it interesting that they have "tinola" there (a Philippine soup), but I am happy that they have it! That's one of my favorite comfort foods. The grilled squid looks pretty good. You can get something similar at Grill City in Seafood City.

[Cathy]

Small World, Faye! I need to carry my laptop in there, it seems everyone does. The grill was only the weekend before Thanksgiving; random...I kept looking for it (and checking the website and Facebook) and it was just that one weekend. I also love that ham and cheese bread; the filled rolls are good, but not the same as the items baked into the bread.
Thanks, cc. They do still have a soup of the day, but not tinola lately. The ethnic fusion is kind of random; everything I've had has been really good and pretty much unexpected; we haven't had the same thing twice (other than the baked goods and lately there seem to be some new items). [I've started a Grill City post...and the stuffed whole squid is wonderful.]

[Sandy]

Aw, too bad the grill was only that weekend. I've been meaning to try the new items, so thanks for the reminder. I like the coffee cream pastry (think that has almonds, too) and the one with pecans like a pecan pie filling.

[caninecologne]

Me again...they also have packaged grilled squid near the meat section in Seafood City (mine, in CV). It's near the packaged lechon kawali, fried fish, etc.

i hate cleaning out giant squid. the guts gross me out.

[Cathy]

I know both of those pastries quite well, Sandy. I do lean toward the nutty sweets. The varied offerings in this setting are nice; Pangea is tending toward the 'Cafe' in a more focused way now...
I ate so much squid in when in Italy, cc. Remember coming home (in Norfolk) and purchasing the large ones and quickly became an expert at cleaning those so I could eat it in every preparation I could think of. There were so many ink sacs tossed away; never thought they were useful for anything and now it's used in everything. I've seen those in Seafood City, but never purchased any...soon, it will be Lent and I probably will be trying ready made everything.

[Carol]

I haven't had grilled squid like that since I was a kid. I used to love it. Haven't been to Pangea in a long time since I've been kind of curbing the baked goods. But I might just have to swing by for some of those grilled items!

[Cathy]

The squid was great, Carol. Each time we walk in, the menu is different and then there's some sort of different baked item (raspberry oat squares come to mind).Always an adventure-with WiFi.