Farmer’s Table, 8141 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa, California 91942
By Sandi Masori
LA MESA, California — In the middle of downtown La Mesa you can find a cute little “farm” restaurant where the menu boasts farm to fork freshness.
It has options ranging from egg dishes, to flatbreads, to sandwiches and salads. As with any progressive restaurant, they have vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free choices as well. They are also very accommodating with the substitutions.
I was disappointed with the service though. Granted, they were busy, but we sat a long time before finally being offered a drink or to have our order taken. Once we finally got a server, she seemed to either be new, or just not very familiar with the menu. I asked for a recommendation for a dish that the restaurant did really well and that had no pig, no shellfish, and no mixing of cow and dairy… that seemed to really confuse her, and she quickly got the manager to help us find a dish.
The manager recommended the pecan crusted chicken subbing the bacon for turkey bacon. It was an excellent recommendation. Now remember that I draw a distinction between mammal meat and fowl meat. Since birds don’t give milk, I’ve never understood lumping them in with meat for the rules of kosher and always considered it an extra “stringency.”
The sandwich has chicken with a fine pecan crust, garlic mayonnaise, avocado, turkey bacon, and gorgonzola cheese on it. The gorgonzola really makes the sandwich, adding a tang to the otherwise sweet flavors. All this was accompanied by truffle fries, and though I don’t usually like potato dishes, I have to say, these were yummy.
My friend ordered the same meal, and also found it to be quite tasty. She got a side salad, and I was able to taste the homemade (in-restaurant-made) salad dressings. I really liked the citrus vinaigrette dressing, though I would guess that it probably has a lot of sugar in it.
All in all, I give them an 8. Points for good food, but the service needs to be taken up a notch.
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Masori is the restaurant and food critic for San Diego Jewish World. If you have a favorite restaurant you would like her to review, please send her a suggestion at sandimasori@gmail.com