Urbane Cafe (Mira Mesa)

Dennis emailed me about Urbane Cafe that recently opened in Mira Mesa and it sounded vaguely familiar... in fact I recall receiving a free sandwich coupon in the mail. Score! I also had a strange feeling of deja vu... finally realizing Dennis had taken me to "urban" cafe (as I incorrectly recall it) in Linda Vista a few years back. This means it's definitely time for a revisit!

We parked only a few spots away from the entrance. The parking lot to the restaurant is huge because it is shared with Fresh & Easy, Bevmo, and a splatter of smaller restaurants and businesses off Mira Mesa Blvd and Camino Santa Fe.

Dennis's little brother joined us for lunch that day. A foodie in the works! We suggested chicken and beef initially but he wanted something from the vegetarian section. I asked him if he had ever eaten a portabella mushroom before. NEVER he said with his eyes wide open. And that's what he picked! We ordered our food at the register and headed to a table.

We passed by this employee who makes the sandwich bread right in front of you!

Here's the big sign above sandwich/salad pickup area. Ding Ding! Our order is ready!

This is the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich. In fact, all their sandwiches pretty much looked like this, until you pop open the bread lid! All their sandwiches come with a side salad complimented by an excellent vinagrette. 

Portabella Mushroom

Chimichurri Steak

Southwest Chicken

We traded a quarter of our sandwiches so everyone could sample everything.

STACKUP view! From top down, it's the portabella sandwich, steak, then southwest chicken sandwich. This may be blasphemous to some but I wasn't that into the sandwiches... maybe the bread meat ratio was off (there were a lot of carbs, albeit tasty ones at that). I thought the meaty portabella mushroom was the best, but the flavor of the southwest chicken was somewhat blah and the steak was a little chewier than I liked. AND I forgot to use the coupon.

By the way, the little brother ate a whole sandwich worth of food. I have NEVER seen that kid eat so much.

A few weeks later, Dennis and I came back to use the coupon for free sandwich! Dennis couldn't resist the cookies this time. We ordered the white chocolate cranberry and the oatmeal cookie, two out of the three available flavors that day. The freshly baked cookies were soft and compact though the white chocolate makes most cookies too sweet for me.

I wanted to try their salads so ordered their Santa Maria BBQ Chicken Salad. It was very generously sized! I especially liked the bits of cheese sprinkled throughout the salad. This is my favorite item here out of everything I've tried.

Dennis ordered their "Cheesy" Bacon Melt, pretty much a hot BLT sandwich. The food was tasting much better than our first visit. Not sure if it has to do with the food or the mood of the day. I'm not raring to go back at the moment but I'm sure a third visit would secure my position on yay or nay. Anyone else visit this place and have recommendations?