Memory is a funny thing, I can never remember where I park my car, but food? Well sometimes it can be a bit strange. When I read about the NoCal based chain Ike's Place opening in San Diego, the first thing I though was, "didn't Kirbie do a post on this place?" And she had. BTW, Happy 7th Blogaversary Kirbie! And a Happy 10th (sheesh has it been that long?) to "CC".
Anyway, I'd been going back and forth between my office and Hillcrest quite a bit lately, so at the end of February, I decided to check out the brand new Ike's Place.
If memory serves me; wasn't this a location of La Salsa?
It was before 11, an over a week before their grand opening but they were doing some good business. The sandwiches here start at about 8 bucks, but most are $9.99, with a few breaking the $11 barrier; and that's without "add-ons", like avocado; stretching all the way to beer batter zucchini and onion rings. The folks working here are very friendly and helpful since there are so many options on the posted (and some unposted) menu. 
I needed to get back to the office so I ordered the "Matt Cain" ($9.99). A version of this sandwich with onion rings on it won ESPN's Fanwich Competition for the Best Sports Sandwich. I'd heard quite a bit about Dutch Crunch Bread, San Francisco's version of Dutch Tiger Bread, named because of the mottling on the exterior of it from a paste based on rice flour.
Getting back to the office I opened up my sandwich, Good lord, it was quite a mess.
The bread had not stood up well during the 15 minute trip back to the office, it had become soggy. Also, I expected the outer crust to be a bit more crisp, but it was kind of soft. Based on the color, perhaps it had not been baked properly? Also, there was just too much "Godfather Sauce", which had too much mayo in ratio to the horseradish and Dijon mustard. This was just a bit too much for me. 
I did decide to revisit Ike's Place; to see if eating in and asking that they go easy on the sauce would make for a more enjoyable sandwich.
I wasn't in such a rush this time around and noticed the interesting lay-out. The outside dining area is bright and spacious. The inside dining area looks kind of odd, almost like it was part of the kitchen area once. The path to the kitchen area is simply blocked by a low-boy sandwich refrigerator prep unit.
I will say that this time around, the sandwich I ordered named the Robin Williams ($9.99) was excellent.
The bread was crisp on the exterior, nice and fluffy interior. I was worried about the amount of Dirty Sauce on the sandwich, but it was perfect. Loved the combination of melted pepperjack cheese and mushrooms.
The chicken in the sandwich is chopped which just made the texture perfect. Nice chicken flavor as well. Along with the nice crunch the lettuce brought, I thought this was perfect in terms of proportion and texture, making this a lovely sandwich.
There was one other sandwich (well of possible dozen) that caught my attention on my visit to Ike's Place; the Anchor Man ($9.99), I mean doesn't a fried chicken sandwich sound great? Well, I think based on a couple factors, this was less than great.
First off, I made a mistake by forgetting to tell them to go easy on the sauce and like my first sandwich, all that Dirty Sauce (a garlic aioli) just overwhelmed everything else in the sandwich.
Second, I took a bite and only got veggies. I took another bite and only got veggies. Not a problem per se; if this was a "veggie" sandwich. So I took a look at the other half of my sandwich.
Notice something about the fried chicken? I opened up the half I was eating and saw that the fried chicken took up about two thirds of the width of the bread. Man, look at that mess….
I tried just the chicken alone and was far from impressed as it didn't seemed "fried" in the conventional manner. It seemed more baked.
The answer was in the "Beer Battered Onion Rings" I ordered.
See how dry it looks? Also notice the burnt spots? The batter was gummy and these were dry….so I took a look up front and didn't notice a fryer. The only "cooking" was done with conveyor type pizza ovens. So instead of frying, it seems that these onion rings were cooked via electric/gas/infrared depending on the brand of pizza oven. You might be ok with this but it isn't my cup of tea with regards to onion rings.
So, will I return to Ike's Place? Yes, I might, though I'd be more inclined to visit BFD. In concept, the sandwiches are somewhat interesting, albeit a bit over-hyped; in case you'd like to see summary of 50 of the best sandwiches on the menu you can click here. I'll be a bit more careful with what I order and have to remember to tell them to go easy on the sauce….too much of a good thing and all that. Service was friendly, though my sandwiches did take a while on my visits; you might chalk that up to being new and all that.
Ike’s Place
1010 University Ave, Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92103