2 New Eateries Help Fill Gaps in Downtown Noshing Scene

Just a year ago, the downtown restaurant scene looked like a paint-by-numbers landscape that had been daubed by a nearsighted master chef. Judging by the way the blanks have been filled, though, it would appear that a pair of bifocals were put to use in 1988.

From an eater’s point of view, the improvement in quality is an undeniable bonus. But what really matters is the greater variety of choices--any downtown worker who can afford to leave his brown bag at home for a few weeks can lunch at a succession of places without once repeating his order. Judging by the activity on such developing luncheon arteries as C Street and 6th Avenue, some high-rise denizens may be doing just that.

Some of the places that have come along are utterly outside the style of San Diego. The most striking example, which bears the odd but friendly name Good Morning America, is a new entry on 6th Avenue, between B and C streets. It seems like nothing so much as the moderately priced, multi-cuisine deli-restaurants that can be found on nearly every downtown block in Toronto and Montreal. It could also be viewed as a late-arriving offspring of the all-American short-order eateries that once abounded, but were done in by rising rents and the brutal competition of fast-food outlets.

Quite a Variety

Good Morning America is, in a word, unique. The menu offers about 90 choices but many are variations on themes, such as the sliced turkey breast, which appears hot in mushroom gravy or cold in sandwiches; a pasta salad, and a chef’s-style “health” salad. But the menu also ranges widely through such cuisines as Hungarian, Italian, German and others by offering stuffed peppers, hot hero sandwiches (with spaghetti on the side), knackwurst with sauerkraut and a sandwich board that wanders through all the favorites and indulges in a few unlikely fantasies, such as roast pork with bacon and American cheese. This last item may not sound wonderfully appealing, but, on the other hand, where else can such a combination be found?

Form follows function here, since the decor likewise is different from anything in San Diego and manages to be semiformal in a manner all its own. The overall effect might be termed quaint.

The act of stepping across this restaurant’s threshold is unlikely to lead many guests into a state of gastronomic nirvana; on the other hand, most should find the lunches to be robust, well-cooked and reasonably priced. With a few exceptions, dishes are priced in a narrow range that runs from $4.75 to $5.95.

The more formal entrees tend to be old-fashioned and filling, leaning toward such Hungarian specialties as beef goulash, stuffed cabbage, and beef and chicken paprikash , although Italian-American cuisine takes a bow with spaghetti with meatballs, chicken cutlet Parmesan and a saute of sausages and peppers.

The chicken paprikash seemed particularly appealing on a recent blustery day, and it was typical of Middle European cooking; small legs and thighs reposed in a wonderfully smooth sauce of sour cream, onion and a great deal of paprika. Most entrees include a choice of such side dishes as steamed vegetables (these were sampled and found excellent), spaghetti and vegetable-enriched rice dishes. But the natural pairing with the paprikash is a mound of the pillowy, spaetzle -like dumplings. These, of course, would be the best bet with any of the Hungarian dishes.

A lot of the menu does seem like rainy-day food, which perhaps explains why this restaurant seems so in the style of Eastern eateries. The selection of hot heroes includes not only meatball and sausage versions, but also sauced chicken cutlet and a beef-pepper-onion combo that does indeed sound heroic. The menu continues with a profusion of less-daunting but still generously apportioned sandwiches, offered on a list so long that one can tire of reading it.

A good rule of thumb when judging a restaurant’s sandwiches is to order a hot pastrami. If it is lean, juicy, warm and piled high, the place probably is sincere. Good Morning America met the challenge on this score, even when the server nearly upset the apple cart by asking if a guest wished mayonnaise on his pastrami. (Right-minded people would never use anything more than mustard, nor would they adulterate corned beef or pastrami with lettuce or tomato or--an abomination that I myself have witnessed in this city--avocado.)

The place runs to a few other extras that are not widely available, such as freshly made lemonade and milkshakes. Most pastries are catered from off premises, and those that are made in-house seem amateurish. However, anyone who cannot deny his sweet tooth may wish to sample the Hungarian crepes with apricot filling.

Around the corner at 7th Avenue and C Street, one finds the Odeum Cafe and Bar, a nosherie made novel more by its setting than its menu.

The premises suggest a certain whimsy, possibly misguided, on the part of the designer or architect. The concrete floor is painted in odd markings, and the ceiling swirls upward toward a sort of dome that suggests, in its overall effect, Alice’s rabbit hole viewed from the inside. Since the outside street scene is readily visible through the picture windows, none of this much matters.

Nor does the menu matter all that much, since it offers little more than a utilitarian selection of unremarkable sandwiches and salads. A plus is the selection of specialty coffees and teas, which go hand-in-glove with the poetry readings given here on weekend nights. That the restaurant sponsors such readings seems not at all unusual when one translates its classical Greek name, which means “place of music.”

A recent lunch started with a cream of mushroom soup that had been enriched with a cheese of the Cheddar type, which did nothing for the soup. The Odeum’s special seafood sandwich, with shrimp and crab salad on rye, was happy enough, if not unusual, a comment that could be applied equally well to a turkey hero and a basic club sandwich in which the kitchen, without warning, substituted ham for the advertised bacon. The substitution was not particularly annoying, although it should have been mentioned beforehand. The sandwiches were substantial, and were garnished with mounds of unusually creamy potato salad flavored with a good deal of fresh dill.