"Just The Biscuit"

This morning I went on a 4 mile walk through San Diego's Embarcadero and downtown with good friend of mine. I actually felt like a tourist in my own city seeing things I have never seen before and taking in the beautiful scenery. It felt so good to do that and made me appreciate the spectacular city I live in.
After climbing the stairs at the convention center multiple times we headed back to the main event of the mornings activities.
BREAKFAST!
The stop was restaurateur Terryl Gavre's Cafe 222 downtown located on 2nd & Island. Cafe 222 has been open since 1991 but I had never been before and so it was about time I tried it. The restaurant decor had a quirky feel to it. Bright lime green walls, bright colored gerber daisies & chandlers made out of coffee cups and spoons. I was excited to see what the quirky menu had to offer.
The staff was super friendly and very accommodating. We were seated almost immediately even though there seemed to be a big crowd. I loved how they offered free coffee to those that were waiting. A nice touch.
We wanted to order something from each category on the menu so we could see what this place really had to offer and keeping in mind we needed to try savory & sweet dishes and we did just that.
We ordered...
Scrambles
Eggs Italia - scramble of tomatoes, goat cheese & pesto served with potatoes and focaccia toast
In House Specialties
Tamales & Eggs - Two pork tamales and two eggs topped with Mexican gravy served with griddle potatoes & toast (minus the toast adding "The Biscuit" made with Gruyere cheese & green onions)Griddle
Peanut Butter Banana Stuffed French Toast - featured on The Food Networks "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" with Bobby Flay.At first everything tasted so good and I don't know if it was just because I was hungry from a good work out or having a late 10am breakfast. (I tend to get up early and be half way through my to-do list at this time) Either way we started to process the flavors and food we were indulging in and I started to hear us saying things like. "Should the eggs be hot"?
The flavors of the Italia Scramble were great and I liked how it was dotted with melted goat cheese. Also the bread was good too. It was one of the dishes I liked the most but it was lukewarm. I would of liked it more if it was piping hot.
The tamales & eggs were okay. I think that San Diego has so many great Mexican food restaurants and if you are going to serve Mexican food it needs to taste authentic. The Mexican gravy was a bit over powering and the pork inside was salty and over flavored too. I didn't really taste the pork but I tasted Chili...and lots of it.
The Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast was okay too. I maybe took two bites of this dish. The first to taste and the second to make sure I didn't like it. I was expecting rich and wanted rich. I wasn't getting it. As my friend keep eating it I saw that it was picked over and torn apart and she realized that she wasn't eating it because it was good but was searching for the peanut butter wanting it to be better then it was too. There was not much peanut butter at all. We expected some hot french toast with hot peanut butter oozing out as we cut into it. It was more like sugary dry sandwich with a minimal amount of peanut butter and slices of banana, again served warm not hot.
When we were done with the main event of the morning we were driving home and talking about all the food we just tasted. My friend asked me, "So what did you like about the place"?
I simply replied with "Just The Biscuit". It WAS served HOT and so good. Everything you would want in a biscuit and more and I love myself a good biscuit. Who would of thought, the substitute, the side dish, the after thought, the biscuit would be the favorite?
I will be going back just for them and maybe a side of hot eggs along with another stroll through The Embarcadero.
Be a tourist in your city for a day and hopefully you will find "The Biscuit" too.
Cafe 222
222 Island Ave. San Diego CA.
619-236-9902