Bella Bee Coffee (Post 2021.9)

Posted on 4 March 2021 by Ed's Eats

Place: Bella Bee Coffee Truck

Category: Food Truck, coffee

Website: https://www.bellabeecoffee.com/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bella-bee-coffee-seaside

Location: Mobile, Monterey, CA 93940

Date of visit: 2021 March 2

On Tuesday, March 2, 2021 I tried the Bella Bee Coffee food truck for the first time. I have been following them on Facebook since I decided to start Ed’s Eats and they often post photos of homemade baked goods that look amazing so I was looking forward to trying them but the timing didn’t work out until now.

The special the day when I went was Sesame Orange Blossom Loaf. They also had an Orange Blossom Latte drink special. As people who know me would guess, I went with a regular coffee instead of a fancy latte but I was talking to someone waiting for their drink and they told me the special drinks are always delicious. My coffee was really good. The Sesame Orange Blossom Loaf was good as well. You can tell the person who baked it was a talented baker. It probably wasn’t my favorite choice for a baked good just based on my general taste (and nothing to do with the preparation). However I still very much enjoyed it.

I would definitely get food and coffee from Bella Bee Coffee again. I will keep on following them on Facebook and if they have a fresh baked treat that seems like something I enjoy I will hop in my car and drive to their truck. Because Bella Bee Coffee is a food truck, they change locations but typically, at least as I write this, they spend an hour or so on Cass Street in Monterey and an hour in Ryan Ranch outside of Monterey Spine and Joint but check on their website or Facebook page to find their current times and locations before going.

East Village Café (Post 2021.4)

Posted on 23 January 202123 January 2021 by Ed's Eats

*A colorful Nepalese tuktuk displayed inside of East Village Café.*

Place: East Village Café

Category: Coffee, Café

Website: https://www.facebook.com/eastvillagecafemonterey/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/east-village-cafe-monterey-2

Location: 498 Washington St., Monterey, CA 93940

Date of visit: 2021 January 22

On Friday, January 22, 2021 I went to the East Village Café for the first time. Some of you may ask how can a coffee lover living in Monterey for over three and a half years not have been to the East Village Coffee Lounge before? But therein lies the catch: the East Village Coffee Lounge has been sold and has been rebranded as the East Village Café. With new ownership and a slightly different name, I figured it is a big enough change to be considered a new place for Ed’s Eats to visit. So far there has not been many changes but once COVID restrictions loosen up it sounds like their will be some tweaks according to an article on Edible Monterey Bay.

*Spinach & Mushroom Quiche from East Village Café.*

I decided to order a drip coffee along with a spinach and mushroom quiche. I am not a huge fan of quiche but I like it once in a while. However, the person behind the counter said she really liked them so I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did because it was really good. If more quiche tasted like this and had as good of a texture maybe I would become a bigger quiche fan. They had various pastries and croissants that looked really good as well.

The coffee was hot and tasty and hit the spot. It was what you would expect as far as quality and flavor from a café of this type. Next time I’ll probably try a latte or some other type of fancier drink but on a rainy morning I wanted to go with the tried and true American drip. I look forward to when I can go back there and enjoy my coffee inside while using their wifi to work on Ed’s Eats posts!

The staff were friendly and made my coffee and heated up my quiche right away so good marks on customer service.

Marina Donuts & Bagels (Post 2021.3)

Posted on 18 January 2021 by Ed's Eats

*Boston Cream Donut from Marina Donuts & Bagels.*

Place: Marina Donuts & Bagels

Category: Breakfast

Website: n/a

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/marina-donuts-and-bagels-marina

Location: 266 Reservation Rd Marina, CA 93933

Date of visit: 2021 January 9

On Saturday, January 9, 2021 I went to Marina Donuts & Bagels for coffee and, shockingly, a donut and a bagel. I have to admit to being skeptical about the bagels when I saw the sign and decided to give the place a try because outside of Montreal, Ottawa, and New Jersey/New York I have not really found many good bagels. I had a little higher expectations for the donut because there are good donuts here in California.

I decided to sample a donut and a bagel to see how much I liked their namesake products. I went with a Boston cream donut and a buttered toasted poppy seed bagel. I also got a coffee. The coffee was better than expected but it wasn’t like going to a fancy independent coffee shop but it definitely could compete with chain coffee shops as far as flavor.

The Boston cream donut was stuffed full a lot of Boston cream—much more than you normally get. The cream was very tasty as was the donut itself. The chocolate frosting was also delicious. It definitely tanks with the best Boston cream donuts I have ever had and would highly recommend it. As with most (all?) donut shops they had plenty of other choices so perhaps I’ll try a different kind when I return but it will be very hard to pass up their Boston cream donut.

Poppy seed bagel — *A toasted and buttered Poppy Seed Bagel from Marina Donuts & Bagels.*

As you can see in the photo, they are not at all stingy with the poppy seeds. Do not get this bagel if you do not love them! As I said I was skeptical going in due to the fact I never had anything better than a satisfactory bagel in California. I am no longer a skeptic! The bagel was good enough that it could have been a New Jersey bagel! (Not a Montreal or Ottawa bagel, however because they are a bit different). I will definitely go back next time I am in the mood for a bagel.

They also had muffins and some other breakfast pastries and they sell bagel sandwiches. One pastry that caught my eye was the cinnamon roll but I wanted to stick

to the donut and bagel for the review. I also noticed they had a bagel hot dog. I might try that next time as a hot dog stuffed in one of their bagels must be good.

The process of ordering and getting my food was fast and friendly but seemed a bit chaotic to me with multiple people behind the counter taking parts of my order. While it seemed chaotic to me, the chaos did not cause a delay or any other issues with my order; it was efficient and it did not take very long to get my items. I guess everyone that worked in their just jumped in to serve people as quickly as they could as the place was quite busy. They obviously understand the chaos much better than me as a first-time customer!

As you probably guessed from the review thus far, I will definitely be back. I’m actually thinking I could go for one of their bagels right now!

Jack’s Coffee (Post 2021.1)

Posted on 3 January 202121 February 2021 by Ed's Eats

*A large to-go coffee cup from Jack’s Coffee.*

Place: Jack’s Coffee

Category: Coffee

Website: https://www.facebook.com/jackscoffeesalinas

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/german-restaurant-stammtisch-seaside-2

Location: 1348 S Main St, Salinas, CA 93901

Date of visit: 2021 January 2

On Saturday, January 2. 2021 I went to my first new food place of the year. It was Jack’s Coffee in Salinas in the same shopping complex as Nob Hill Foods. It is a small hut in the middle of the parking lot that is reminisce of Fotomats of years past. I have been wanting to check out this locally owned drive-up coffee place for a while but whenever I drove past it I usually already had coffee or it was latter in the evening so it was closed.

I bought a “regular” large coffee for $3.00 but they also have all of the typical coffee drinks that you would expect. They also had pastries and oatmeal but I already had my breakfast so I did not partake. The prices were probably, on average, slightly lower than other local coffee shops in the area (likely because they do not have as big of a space with inside dinning and restrooms to maintain).

I am not a professional coffee taster so I can’t tell you if it had hints of whatever exotic fruit you like but it was extremely tasty and not overly roasted (aka burnt) that some of the chain coffees taste like to me.

The service was very efficiency and friendly. I’d definitely stop at Jack’s Coffee again. I just need to remember to not get coffee before I end up driving past it.