Pappalecco Cafe – Little Italy

This morning was full of errands, one of which was stopping by the Little Italy Farmers Market to pick up our 50 pound order of meat (that’s what she sai…uh…never mind) from Da-Le Ranch (Hi Ashile and Aleya!). We usually do this every few months. This morning, we decided to go a bit earlier to have some breakfast and hopefully to have an easier time with parking. Scored on both! I had 2 places in mind and left the final decision to the Mister. He chose Pappalecco Cafe since he’s always wanted to try the one by his work (Point Loma location). The Little Italy location was perfect for this trip since it’s just a block away from the Farmers Market.

Even though we had coffee at home, I wasn’t going to let the opportunity of having freshly made espresso pass me by. No sirree.  The cafe is fairly small, 5 2-seaters inside and more seating outside. There was a line going out the door mainly because it was kind of narrow inside and one small door where all traffic (humans and apparently canines) go in and out. Didn’t take long for us to get up to the counter though.

The Mister just ordered his standard Americano, black. I decided to go with a Macchiato. For Starbucks patrons, this is not quite the same as their macchiatos, which are more of a latte macchiatto (milk spotted with coffee). A traditional Italian macchiato (also known as esspresso macchiato) is a shot (or double) of espresso with a bit of milk (coffee spotted with milk). BTW, Pappalecco offeres a variety of milks to choose from, I chose almond milk with mine. But you can also choose soy milk, nonfat milk as well as regular milk, whipped cream and syrup.

Even though we were eating there, we had our coffees in to-go cups. Here’s what my macchiato looked like in the regular cup. It was actually perfect for me.

The Mister had already decided the night before on the Classico breakfast: eggs (your way), grilled ham, fresh mozzarella, mixed green salad with an option to add a side of “Tuscan Style” potatoes, which he did of course.

I loved the mixed green salad and the balsamic vinegar that came with it. I think I ate half of them. Now the side of potatoes might look kind of plain in the picture but they were delicious, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, great flavor too. The Mister really enjoyed this.

I had a tougher time selecting but decided to keep it simple and went with the ham and cheese croissant, warmed. Very good, the croissant was flaky and it went well with the Mister’s mixed greens, hehe,

Notice on the bottom right of croissant is a smear of balsamic vinegar. It was pretty thick so I think it might have been reduced a bit, was really good with everything. I would certainly have this again and most likely add my own potatoes and mixed greens next time. Yes, we are definitely coming back the next time we are in the area. Must come back just for the gelato if not for anything else.

Speaking of gelato, since it was so early in the morning, I didn’t get any but here are some snaps of the gelato case. They looked soooo good and I love gelato.

The very pretty lady behind the counter, yes, the one with the blue hair and pink glasses, was very nice. She greeted everyone with a ciao and how are you. Chatted with every customer and explained where everything was for new customers like us. Let’s have a closer look at some of the gelato flavors, shall we? Service was efficient and fast.

I am very curious as to what the cinnamon roll gelato taste like, just cinnamon or actually like a cinnamon roll?!?

There were other pastries and cookies too but it was too hard to get pictures of those since it was right behind the ordering line. Cannolis, puff pastries, various thumbprint biscotties, chocolate chip cookies and a few other things. You can check out the online menu on their website but know that it is not a comprehensive list of everything they have on any particular day. Also check their website for the other 2 locations in Point Loma and Hillcrest.

Pappalecco – Little Italy

1602 State St. San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-238-4590