Sunday Sandwiches: Arely French Bakery Cafe

Cathy has posted on Arely Bakery several times over the years; the most recent being about a year and a half ago. A few months back I noticed that the tiny shop had expanded, taking  over the shop next door.....I'm trying to recall what it was....beauty supplies perhaps?

In need of an early lunch, I decided to drop by and grab a sandwich before a series of conference calls that would take up a good chunk of the day.

You can see the expanded dining room next door as you enter.

Back in 2007, Cathy ordered the "Le Parisien", it was a mere $4.50 back then; now it's $7.95, though now it looks a bit larger.

The baguette, baked on the premises, was decent, it could have been a bit more crusty and was, in typical San Diego style, a bit more chewy than I prefer. The Black Forest Ham was decent; but the real star of the sandwich was the brie, rind and all, which made this sandwich quite good, earthy tones, very mild pungency (nothing even close to real French Brie, which I believe is still illegal in the US), and very nice in this sandwich. In terms of proportion, I would have enjoyed a bit more tomato and less lettuce.

With the work scenario a couple of weeks later, I decided to call and pick-up the Prosciutto Panini ($8.60), which was wonderfully toasted.

Man, the toasting job on this baby was just about perfect. Didn't care for the prosciutto they used however, as it was extremely salty and paired with a very mild mozzarella it was the dominating flavor through out my eating experience as everything else; the basil and the tomato were just nullified. Too bad, because in terms of texture, this was really good.

Thinking that I had to try a panini again, I went with the Caprese Panini ($8.50).

Bad call on my part as went too far in the other direction with this one. While the tomatoes tasted quite good, the whole thing was a rather bland mess. The bread wasn't as well pressed this time; I'm thinking the cheese didn't hold up real well. In fact, when I separated the two halves there was a giant glob of melted mozzarella.

Last week I decided to drop by one more time. This time ordering the Le Lyonnais ($7.95).

And while I'd prefer lardon/bacon to salami on this, I really enjoyed the sandwich. Nice smear of fairly tasty egg salad, nice crisp greens, acid from the tomatoes and pickles. Very nice overall. I'm still of the same opinion of the bread and even think that a light toasting might make everything that much more enjoyable.

The two young ladies who have run the counter on the days I visited were very nice and friendly; especially with some of the rather "cranky" older customers. One of these days I'll stop by for breakfast, or even perhaps lunch. For now, it's nice to have another sandwich option fairly close by.

Arely French Bakery Cafe
4961 Clairemont Drive, Suite A
San Diego, CA 92117

Comments

[kat]

these look nice!

[Cathy]

Must go back. Soon. Nice to see they expanded and are still there; so many places from 2007'are gone.

[Kirk]

Pretty good Kat!

Hi Cathy - Yes, they are doing well.....many, many, places from back then are gone.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Do they have more baked goods now? I enjoyed their croissants. :-)

[Kirk]

I think it's about the same Soo....it's the breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sandwich menus that have been expanded.