Recently, the Missus mentioned a place in Normal Heights that was pet friendly and supposedly made good coffee, named Bica. JJ enjoys riding in the car; but gets major FOMO. He does enjoy the walks, so recently I headed on up to Normal Heights and easily found street parking a couple blocks away from Bica, which is basically across the street from White Rice Bodega.
Indoors there's a counter for ordering; the Barista working there on both visits was very friendly.
Prices aren't too bad either.
There's a small menu of "tartines" – open face toasts and sandwiches. It was different on both visits.
I went and ordered a Cold Brew and Mushroom Tartine ($12), paid and walked over to the patio area.
While the furnishings in the patio area were pretty packed in; it was not fully occupied and was quite nice and relaxing.
The place just gave off a nice vibe and JJ did well, just hanging while I enjoyed my Cold Brew, which tasted lighter, but had a nice caffeine "kick".
As for my Tartine; well, it looked lovely.
Loved the bread. Wish there was more mushroom…more savory-earthiness would have been appreciated. A bit too much stracciatella cheese. A bit too much sour-acidity, but overall a decent breakfast.
JJ enjoyed his pre and post breakfast walk as well.
A few weeks later, the Missus decided to join us on another visit to Bica.
I told the Missus to just order me a Cold Brew and order a sandwich for us to split. JJ and I then just headed over to the patio.
The Missus had gotten Herself a Cortado which She loved.
As for the sandwich; well, I was surprised that She ordered a Cubano ($17)!
Once again, we loved the bread, which was perfectly toasted, crusty and crisp, sturdy enough to hold up thru our entire meal.
The pork was tasty, as were all the individual parts. Though when taken as a whole, there was a bit too much pork in this for us. Of course, I'm sure all the swine lovers must love this. For us, proportion matters and more acidity and pungency would helped to balance things out.
The Missus loved the pickled veggies.
We again enjoyed the vibe and walked JJ all the way to Kensington. Funny how people react differently when you have a pup in tow. Folks were wishing us a "good morning", several women stopped to pet JJ….and being the little ham that he is, we would roll on his back to get his tummy rubbed!
Overall, we enjoyed Bica. Heck, if they were in our 'hood we'd be regulars. Plus, the Missus enjoyed Her Cortado and we actually returned just for that a week later.
I also noticed another place during our time in the neighborhood that we'd end up visiting and enjoying as well!
Stay tuned!
Bica
3569 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Daily 630am – 4pm
As before, a simple, straightforward sandwich, roast beef, milky swiss, creamy avocado….I could have used more of that. The tomatoes were decently ripened this time around adding some good fruity-acidity. The bacon added that smoky-salty-savory component and was crisp, but there wasn't enough in the sandwich.
Man, this was loaded with turkey, which did make it a bit on the dry side. A good amount of crisp, smoky bacon. Having mayo, mustard, avocado (which is a plus!), and Italian dressing is a bit of overkill and the sandwich was on the "wetter" side; thus the bread did not hold up for the entire meal. I enjoyed the mildly-milky cheddar cheese.
Wasn't sure what to expect with the hash browns….there were three to an order, more than I could consume. This was typical Sysco quality, fast-foodish hash browns dusted with a truffle-Parmesan powder. It had a sweet tinge to it, I later found out that it is also dusted with black garlic. Not sure what hash browns are going for these days at your local fast-food joint, but I'm guessing that it's pretty reasonable for $4.50. Not that I would order it again though.
Just having the mix of cheddar-mozzarella which made things nice and gooey and the under-seasoned egg was not enough to overcome the brioche toast. There was a lack of savory flavors to me. I'm sure that some folks might really take to this, but it was just not my kind of thing.
This was a pretty messy sandwich. The bacon, which almost reminded me of "Canadian Bacon" hadn't been crisped up enough and was quite rubbery. Still, the savory-saltiness…it didn't seem smoky to me, really added balance to the sandwich.
Four piece Fried Zucchini sticks ($6.49) was our choice as a side. Very large pieces, hand sliced and hand battered are served with some house made Ranch dressing and perfectly fried; the zucchini is cooked through and the cornmeal based batter is light, crispy and not greasy. 
Which turned out to be true…at least for me. Man, look at all that pork! The pork was nicely seasoned; though, at least for me, I'm all about proportion and balance of flavor and frankly, this was just too much pork, and where's the jamon? And the bread was just not up to the task as it got really mushy plus all of the pork muted the pickles. And was there even mustard on this….I do like a good counter-point to the rich pork. Still, if you want a very porky sandwich, here it is….. It's just not the kind of Cubano I enjoy.
Good lord. The fish was supposedly mahi mahi, overfried, not seasoned, and dry as heck. The tortillas were like cardboard. The purple cabbage slaw was flavored with ginger and the other had mango "salsa" which really needed some spice. It was all accompanied by a pool of pasty black beans, which at least was seasoned adequately.
The bread looked like a rolled French Baguette. It was quite crusty, though a bit more dense then what I'd call a typical banh mi. The jalapenos were really mild. There was a thin sliver of cucumber….though I must say that cucumbers are MIA in many banh mi's these days. There was a good ration of pickled veggies to mayo to pork.
Knowing what kind of mess I'd be making, they kindly provided a knife to slice the sandwich and a ton of napkins. I truly had my doubts, thinking the flavor of the fonduey cheese mixed with beer and other seasonings might interfere with the sandwich. But, it actually made it better, adding more savory tones, and a pleasant creaminess to things.
