Kensington Cafe
4141 Adams Ave. (Kensington)
619-640-0494
Happy Hour: 4 to 7 p.m., daily
Come On Get Happy! | Dr. Ink
A drinking cohort who recently accompanied me to happy hour at Kensington Café claims he is “allergic to children.” This, after enduring numerous mental bashings in the free-range play land of Chuck E. Cheese’s with his offspring during their younger years. In an ironic twist stamped with holiday cheer, we entered into a noticeable population of toddlers at the café that were toted in by their coffee-drinking parents from a nearby Santa event.
Surprisingly, we did well by staying. The tykes were mannerly, the atmosphere was embracing and the consumables were much to our liking, despite the absence of hard-liquor drinks and scant options for red meat.
Kensington Café is a place where coffee klatches commingle with wine drinkers and fans of craft beer over contemporary fare that caters kindly to vegetarians. Daily happy hour has become so popular here that it warrants a separate, printed menu of drink and food offerings, thus sparing your eyeballs the strain of hunting down and reading a chalkboard.
Beer and wines range from $2 to $5.50, with juicy Fox Barrel pear cider falling in the middle at $3.50. Served in a bottle with a chilled canning jar alongside, the cider is made from fermented pear juice and tasted remarkably chaste, teasingly sweet and with just the right level of carbonation. There was no sour aftertaste and no desire for Porter or Hefeweizen once I began slugging it.
My companion warmed up to the reality of doe-eyed children neighboring our table with a glass of Paso Creek cabernet for $5.50, which carried the expected fruit-forwardness of wine hailing from California’s Central Valley, albeit a tad oxidized. Other beer and wine choices include Stone Pale Ale ($3), Eel River Organic Porter ($3.50), Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc ($5) and Rodney Strong Pinot Noir ($5.50).
Then came the memorable “soyrizo” taco, which if we didn’t know was filled with spiced soy crumbles, we would have easily been fooled into thinking it was real chorizo. Priced at $4, the taco is reasonably substantial in that it also contains fresh avocado and three different types of cubed potatoes: purple, sweet and white. Needless to say, you’ll be tempted to order two.
Food prices cap off at $8 for tuna tartar or shrimp ceviche. For a little less, you can nibble on baked Brie with apricot preserves, empanadas stuffed with beef, or sweet potato fries strewn with warm Gorgonzola.
The café features a dog-friendly sidewalk patio and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
RATINGS:
Drinks: 4
Expect a succinct menu of craft beer, wine and Fox Barrel pear cider, with the latter tasting purer and livelier than other bottled brands.
Food: 4
Vegetarians and carnivores alike will revel over the mock chorizo taco, filled also with potatoes and mashed avocado.
Value: 4
Drink and food prices are discounted by about 15 percent. For the budget-conscious, Tecate beer sells for $2 a bottle while non-specified house wines are priced at $3 a glass.
Service: 3
Visiting during a peak hour, service started out slow, and then became fast.
Duration: 5
Three hours, seven days a week, helps keep our wallets alive and well.
