mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog, has yet another post for you to peruse this day. Kirk and His Missus are at the third of six stops on their Spring Vacation. Cathy is holding down the fort.
Black Bear Diner opened in El Cajon in mid-April; it's a former Coco's location, familiar to locals. The chain, founded in 1995 has 124 locations in 13 states.The exterior and interior design is sort of 'rustic, appearing to be a local 'diner'. There are wood carvings of bears, local-themed artwork, a large bar seating area.
The front page of the "Black Bear Gazette" menu is locally themed.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner menus each have choices of "Fit and Focused" meals as well as "Little Less" meals. No need for a 'Senior' menu. (Breakfast and Lunch are served all day, the Dinner menu starts at 4 p.m.). How I wish calorie counts were not displayed... The Mister ordered a "Bear's Choice Combo" ($10.69) and chose a sweet cream waffle (that's a bear claw design in the center), eggs over easy and two (or one of each) - thick cut bacon and a sausage link. (A smoked ham slice is the other breakfast meat available). The eggs were perfectly prepared, the sausage was quite large, juicy and had a nice skin, a slight black pepper flavor could be discerned. The bacon was indeed thick cut and quite wonderful. The cream waffle had a vanilla flavor and was a bit dry- needed butter and syrup.
I chose a "Classic Two Egg Combo" with chicken fried steak ($12.99), poached eggs (wonderfully prepared soft as requested), country red potatoes (red and green bell pepper as well as onions) were crispy on some edges (I wish each piece was crisped, but then I would have finished the quite large portion instead of taking home leftovers). The chicken fried steak- excellent. The crust was so light and crispy, the meat portion large and juicy. The gravy- a wonderful flavor and even though there is black pepper in it, the pepper was not overwhelming. An excellent meal.
I asked for a biscuit as my bread and was disappointed. It definitely was baked here and fresh, but quite dry. I took more than half of it home and it was hard as a rock in a few hours. Toast next time!
Java City Coffee, sustainable and hand roasted, is served here ($2.89) and it is very high quality. I'm usually disappointed by most breakfast coffees and was pleasantly surprised.
Service was excellent; we were checked on and asked about our likes as well as dislikes and enjoyed this meal. We will return to try the lunch and dinner menu.
Black Bear Diner 1025 Fletcher Parkway El Cajon, CA 92020 Website Open daily 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
The bears are cool! I'm interested in trying the chicken pot pie on the dinner menu.
Posted by: Soo | Saturday, 25 May 2019 at 08:28 AM
Oh, I didn't know there was now a Black Bear Diner now in San Diego! I have seen their tv ads, and always wondered how it was. Hmmm, I guess there are no longer any Coco's restaurants, at least in SD. The one in Poway was torn down, and they're building a Chick-Fil-A.
Posted by: Sandy | Saturday, 25 May 2019 at 08:34 PM
dry biscuit not good, everything else looked great!
Posted by: kat | Saturday, 25 May 2019 at 11:42 PM
So many cute bears wherever you look, Soo. So much looks interesting and I would like to 'compare' the pot pie, too. The Breakfast and Lunch menus are served all day, the Dinners start at 4.
There are 45 Coco's in three states and eight Carrows in California left, Sandy; it's sad that such a restaurant style is fading away. Black Bear will be a semi-regular stop for us...but maybe for the "Little Less" menu choices.
It was really nice, Kat. The biscuit wasn't bad at first but I could tell it wouldn't do well for the long term.
Posted by: Cathy | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 12:36 PM
I visited and tried the chicken pot pie. It was great!
http://www.hungryones.com/2019/08/black-bear-diner/
Posted by: Soo | Thursday, 22 August 2019 at 11:42 AM
What a great post, Soo! It's good to know you drove out this way and got to visit this interesting chain without having to be on vacation.
Posted by: Cathy | Friday, 23 August 2019 at 07:12 AM