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| Sunny Side Kitchen Cafe owners Kate and Bob Carpenter with customer/handyman Kyle at the recent grand opening of their Escondido establishment. |
GOOD MORNING,
ESCONDIDO--Kate and Bob Carpenter’s Sunny Side Kitchen had its grand
opening this week in downtown Escondido.
For you tourists reading this blog, Escondido is about 35 miles north of
San Diego.
The
new operation is the couple’s first effort in a storefront after having run a successful
gourmet truck version of Sunnyside Kitchen for several years. Sunny Side mobile has been a regular stop for
local street fairs and many of the booming North County San Diego craft
breweries. The mobile side of the
business will continue.
Sunny Side Kitchen—the new storefront--is a breakfast
operation. It’s open Monday thru Friday
from 6:30 am to 2:30 pm. On Fridays they
stay open until 8 pm. Closed weekends.
You’ll find Bob and Kate in the kitchen of their truck and new café
doing all the cooking based on family recipes.
Their forte is American comfort food.
Quality ingredients and a friendly atmosphere will make this morning
glory popular with the locals in no time.
First
timers are raving about the “Works,” a breakfast sandwich, which includes egg,
cheese, avocado and bacon. The gluten
free cinnamon rolls cookies and muffins are first rate.
And, at the core of any successful breakfast operation is a keen
understanding of serving the best coffee possible is a must.
When
asked about the coffee they serve Kate’s reply: “we serve craft coffee.”
OK,
what’s craft coffee?
She
asked if we were familiar with the term craft beer?
Of
course.
Craft
coffee is a fairly new phenomenon, she said, much like the microbreweries that
are popping up seemingly everywhere in San Diego, serious coffee drinkers are
becoming more interested in the back-story of how their cup of coffee came to
be and how it is made.
Sunny
Side Kitchen uses local roaster Origen (www.origencoffeeroasters.com) to ensure
that the beans are fresh (never more than seven days since they were roasted)
and treated with exactly the right procedures to ensure the sweetness of the
perfect cup of coffee without burning the natural sugars in the beans.
Origen’s
Ruben Enriquez is in a constant quest for sourcing the best coffees available
directly from the origin. As a certified artisan roaster he brings to the
forefront complex flavors and aromas of each varietal during the roasting
process.
Kate
points out, “as the brewers it is our job to consistently bring out the subtle
flavors with an extreme attention to detail. Our grinder was selected after
exhaustive testing to make sure that the beans are perfectly ground for our
use.
Sunny
Side Kitchen uses a Hario pour-over system to ensure clarity. “Our water is
precisely between 195 and 202 degrees while pouring to make sure we get the
most extraction possible (most coffee makers tap out around 180 degrees).
“The
brew procedure and timing is also precisely monitored to ensure that our
customers get a culinary experience in their cup. Different beans reveal tastes
such as chocolate, caramel, lemongrass, nuts, and more.”
Kate
continues” “One of our favorite beans is an Ethiopian bean from Misty Valley.
The beans are dried the old fashioned way by laying them out in the sun on
drying beds or patios with the beans still inside the cherry, a process that is
now called Natural. What you get is a
dense, heavy body with exotic wild berry flavors and low acidity.
“The
aroma of our Ethiopian beans is floral with a little bit of dark berry. There’s
a really mellow Honeydew acidity with a quick black tea-like finish. As the
coffee cools the honeydew taste evolves into more of a tangerine experience.
Some taste chocolate. It’s both complex and delicate,” said Kate.
It’s
obvious Escondido is getting more than a new café. It’s also going to get a whole new cup of
coffee.
Sunny
Side Kitchen
155
S. Orange
Historic
Downtown Escondido
760-470-2468
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