10 San Diego Uptown News | October 15-28, 2010


DINING


The scoop on ‘Thrifty Thursdays’ at Cucina Urbana Come On


It happens once in a blue moon.


Dr. Ink and friends march straight into happy hour intent on blurring our faculties, and instead we end up soberly massaging our bellies because of lip-smacking food. At the hopping, subterranean Cucina Urbana, we recently tumbled face first into the kitchen’s creatively topped pizzas. A couple of tall Moretti draft lagers and citrusy “Love for Sale” cocktails became footnotes against these crusty 10-inch pies, available for half-price only between 6 and 7 p.m., on “thrifty Thursdays.” Happy hour on all other days of the week means that you pay regular prices for them, ranging normally from $12 to $15 apiece. Sadly, a lot of other tasty sustenance flies throughout Cucina’s artfully rustic environment, but none of it ever gets marked down. In addition, there are no menus,


placards or flyers describing happy hour. The only mention of it exists on the web site (cucinaurbana. com). Otherwise you ask a busy staffer for the rundown, or better yet, turn to Dr. Ink. Drink deals throughout the week extend to $5 well drinks and Sangria, plus $3 draft beers that feature Karl Strauss Windandsea wheat ale, a dark Airdale stout and the light and refreshing Moretti lager. But the restaurant’s popular- ity demands that you arrive early to seize a perch because the drink discounts apply only when sitting at the bar or in the spillover space


Get Happy! Dr. Ink


behind it, where a wall counter serves as the less-comfortable option. Arriving at 5:10 p.m., we ended up with the latter, squeezing ourselves into a cramped corner of the room on a few remaining stools. Service was spotty. Our ice waters arrived at 5:25, drinks about 10 minutes later, followed by two luscious pizzas 12 minutes after that. The waitress wiggled her way toward us a little more regularly during the second half of our visit, and always with a friendly demeanor. The Moretti drafts were tall and cold and tasted significantly more hoppy compared to when I’ve slugged them from bottles. My friend agreed. Another in our trio ordered a memorable “Love for Sale,” a richly orange martini that blends mandarin vodka and passion fruit puree with orange, pineapple and lime juices. Kudos to the mixologist who conceived it. But thumbs down to whoever prevented the drink from joining the other happy-hour specials, as this “love” carries a $10 price tag. Our pizzas were of the gour- met ilk, with their crusts sporting oven-toasted goodness. The “fig + gorgonzola” presented a riot of rich flavor sensations, depending


The popularity of Cucina Urbana’s happy hour means the seats around the bar are usually full.


on how the addition of candied pecans, arugula and blotches of balsamic vinegar combined in our mouths. More celestial (and a superb match to the Moretti) was the “foraged mushroom” pie con- taining dark ‘shrooms and braised leeks embedded into Dr. Ink’s all- time favorite cheese – buttery and mildly pungent Teleggio. The portion of our bill that in- cluded only happy-hour items (two Morettis and two pizzas) came to an agreeable $17.25. Walking a straight line, we left contented and unusually full, which meant no aspirins were needed the following morning.u


FROM PAGE 1 WIFI


here they can buy a cup of coffee and hook up,” he said.


It’s the same at the crowded


Filter coffeehouse in North Park, where on a recent weekend afternoon 20 laptops were flash- ing in the barn-like coffeehouse. Only one table of five was holding a conversation. Doug Gray, 46, has seen the changes in local cof- feehouses and remembers when people “were more focused on the coffee.” Gray, a North Park software en-


gineer, frequents the coffeehouse scene and often visits Filter at 4096 30th St., Twiggs in University Heights, Rebecca’s in South Park, LeStat’s in Normal Heights, and Starbucks across the street from Claire de Lune coffeehouse in North Park.


In the “old days,” coffeehouse


patrons were out for socializing and live music, said Gray, who now said he has his laptop with him 90 percent of the time when he visits a coffeehouse. His friend, Jeff Sulm, 31, maintains that coffeehouses don’t even smell like coffee anymore. “It’s something that’s missing


today,” he said. At Twiggs, 4594 Park Blvd., only eight of the 30 people in the coffeehouse one Sunday focus on their glaring screens. Others


RATINGS: Drinks: From nearly two dozen specialty cocktails listed on the menu, many of them highly tempting, not a single one makes the happy-hour cut. The deals instead point to the usual well drinks and Sangria, plus three beers of semi-exciting quality.


Food: Various half-price pizzas, available only between 5 and 6 p.m. during Thursday happy hour, burst with gourmet ingredi- ents and beautiful cheeses. Among the meat-topped pies that we didn’t try are pork belly with egg and asiago; meatball with spinach and Fontina; and fennel sausage with homemade mozzarella.


listen to music, chat, read, and one woman is practicing calligraphy. “I come here because it’s near my neighborhood and the people here are interesting and they’ll chat with you,” Amy Nation said. “I don’t want to go to a coffeehouse where everyone is staring at their laptops.” But Shih said students do social- ize. Shih said she likes the Normal Heights coffeehouse with its many couches and large tables because it makes study breaks easier. During a recent cramming session, she said she began talking to some people and then started playing cards with them.


“People come to cafes to be


around other people, even when they’re studying and not trying to socialize,” said the student, who lives just a few blocks away from LeStat’s. Perhaps Rebecca’s, in South Park at Juniper and 30th, is the best combination of computers and coffee. Students arrive in the after- noon to sit alone or in groups and take advantage of the free WiFi, said manager Aisling McIntyre. “In the morning, more people


are meeting, like young mothers and Bible groups,” McIntyre said. In the afternoon, the focus changes to solitary people studying. “Other people come in here to use Re- becca’s as their office,” she said. One of those solitary work-


ers on a recent Sunday was Nick Youssef, 28, from Los Angeles. A comedian, Youssef is working on


Value:


Discounts are appealing on tall draft beers at $3 apiece and the half-priced pizzas on Thursdays. As for the $5 well drinks, we’ve seen cheaper.


Service:


Based on this particular visit, the bar lounge was understaffed, with only one bartender and one waitress tending to the crowd.


Duration:


The daily thing is good, but when service is slow, another half-hour seems neces- sary for a little extra bargain consumption.


his laptop while recovering from four sets at The Comedy Store in La Jolla the night before.


“I like to work on my sketches in


coffeehouses, and it’s obviously bet- ter when the WiFi is free,” he said. Seventy-nine-year-old Jim Miller doesn’t bring his laptop to Rebecca’s. But he would if he had one. Instead, Miller plays chess and asks other people at the café what news is on the internet. “I think coffeehouses should be places where people can meet and communicate,” he said. “Unfor- tunately I have a desktop, not a laptop. But I’d bring it up here and hook it up if I had one.”u


Comedian Nick Youssef hones his comedy sketches on his laptop at Rebecca’s, Juniper and 30th St. (Courtesy Ron Sanchez)


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