**** Congress Cafe in now Encuentro Cafe – Same Owners/Menu. You can read an updated post here.
A few months back our good friend "Alle" and I were chatting about food and Mi Pana came up in the conversation. For some reason, I was craving some arepas….and Alle who is part Venezuelan mentioned that Congress Cafe in Old Town does Venezuelan dishes and that perhaps I should give them a try. It did take a few months…..it's Old Town after all……but I first visited on a weekend morning, they open at 8am and are right across from Old Town Parking Lot A.
I crossed the street and was really warmly greeted. I walked into the bar area and placed a take out order; man, the folks here are so friendly. I then paid and decided to walk around a pretty quiet (at this time of the morning) Old Town.
I ordered the Arepa Pabellon ($13.95). Man, this was quite hefty, if a bit messy.
Man, check out that huge piece of fried plantain! The arepas were decent; though I do prefer my arepas "frita" these were decently griddled. I wish there was a bit more balance to the arepa as the black bean-beef-plantain ratio seemed a bit off as was how the items were arranged. I ended up chopping up some of the plantain and spreading it more evenly over the arepa, same with finding the beef . This was a hefty breakfast….at least for me.
While I don't think it's quite a good as the version at Mi Pana; I'd have this again.
I mentioned having tried the arepas at Congress Cafe to Alle and told her that I was interested in trying the Tequenos. Alle also told me that the empanadas were quite good, especially the fish version….something that I probably would have not ordered.
So, the following weekend morning on the way back from shopping at the Little Italy Mercato, I dropped by Congress Cafe and this time ordered the combination plate named the "Latin Lover" ($16). The folks were just a friendly as before and I took a stroll around Old Town while waiting for my takeout order….which was quite a bit of food.
And like Alle said; those fish empanadas were quite good; savory, balanced in flavor. She told me that these empanadas reminded her of Venezuela.
Unfortunately, I didn't care for the tequenos, which were really mushy and just had too much cheese for my taste. Cachapas weren't my "thing" at Mi Pana, but I thought I'd give it a whirl here…..with the same results. It's just too sweet for my taste and the version here didn't have enough cheese to balance out the sweetness. Glad I tried it though.
The totstones; fried plantains, while it didn't do overly well in transit, losing some crispness, was a wonderful combination of just enough sweet and saltiness from the cheese.
I think eating this at the restaurant is probably the best strategy.
Overall, I really like the folks here, so warm and friendly, there are other items on the menu I want to try. And yes, this is basically a breakfast/lunch kinda place and they do have croissant sandwiches, burgers, scrambled eggs, huevos rancheros….but I think I'll stick with the Venezuelan menu items for now.
The Congress Cafe
3941 Mason St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours:
Mon – Fri 8am – 2pm
Sat – Sun 8am – 5pm
Man, with Congress Cafe and the new Tuetano Taqueria (post upcoming) the next block over, things are looking up for Old Town!
Which is great……
Like I mentioned earlier in the post, I'd take a nice stroll while waiting for my order, which is when I took my photos the grave site medallions of the folks buried under San Diego Avenue.
And of course there are many historical structures here.
The Mason Street Schoolhouse – the first public school in San Diego County. Built in 1865.
The San Diego Union Building – Original home of the San Diego Union newspaper – established in 1868.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, completed in 1829.
And tons of public art……
And at this time of the morning; some of the other "residents" are out and about…..
It was great finding a place that I enjoy in what was very touristy, cliched, Old Town.
Hope you're having a great week!