Chula Vista Fun Day

A few weeks ago we were watching Wonderland on KPBS, a program that focuses on different cities in San Diego County each week. The host, Noah Tafolla, visits not only the obvious attractions but also the unique or little known businesses in these cities.

One recent episode was about Chula Vista where Pennie was born and raised. There were two small businesses and a nature center we found interesting, so we planned a fun day in the South Bay to explore a few of Chula Vista’s features.

Our first stop was La Concha, a family-owned panaderia or bakery, located in a strip mall on E Street. There were three self-serve display cases filled with a variety of the typical American muffins and pastries, and traditional Mexican baked goods such as empanada de calabasa (pumpkin-filled pockets), maize (corn-shaped cookies), cochinitas (gingerbread pigs) and other cookies topped with coconut and caramel.

Pennie struck up a conversation with the young storeowner and soon found out that he had graduated from Castle Park where she had begun her high school teaching career. His wife’s family was from Chicago, and they were the founders of the bakery. We mentioned we had seen the bakery featured on Wonderland, and he thanked us profusely for our business.

Since there were no tables or chairs in the lobby, we drove west across Highway 5 to the parking lot of the Chula Vista Nature Center. We enjoyed our coffee and pastries as we watched squirrels munching seeds near the edge of the marshland. It was soon apparent why La Concha had been featured on Wonderland. My banana nut muffin was light, airy and fully baked, as opposed to the dense and soggy muffins so prevalent elsewhere. I also had a cream cheese pastry reminiscent of Mom's kolaches, and the icing was rich and creamy. Pennie’s pumpkin-filled empanada was soft and delicious.

In a few minutes the shuttle bus arrived to take us on the one-mile private road to the Nature Center. Opened in 1988, the facility is one of Chula Vista’s best kept secrets, with displays of Green Sea Turtles, shorebirds, hawks, eagles, sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, and other amphibians, reptiles and raptors. In the main lobby area, Pennie watched an eel and a lobster dance back and forth across the aquarium. Until the lobster … er … relieved himself, and we moved on. Next were tanks and containers with frogs, steelhead trout, rattlesnakes and walking sticks — definitely a strange looking insect.

We went outside to a platform and enjoyed a panoramic view of the marsh and wetlands surrounding the Center. Next we watched several varieties of rays in a large pool, and were surprised by one ray when it turned on its side and continued to splash the water as he maneuvered around the edge of the tank. Adjacent was the large shark tank with three viewing windows.

We passed a pool with ducks and shorebirds including the endangered light-footed Clapper Rail (bane of So Cal developers), and a large snowy egret. As we continued on the trail we came to the raptor displays where we saw a Peregrine Falcon, a Great Horned Owl, a Turkey Vulture, a Ferruginous Hawk, two Golden Eagles and, most impressive of all — a Bald Eagle.

We climbed to an observation deck with an unobstructed view of Gunpowder Point, the bay and the Coronado Cays, and enjoyed the freshening sea breeze. Finally, we went to the Green Sea turtle pool, but they were almost completely hidden in a corner of their tank.

We boarded the shuttle bus and returned to the parking lot. We decided to take a trip down Pennie’s Chula Vista memory lane, and she eagerly served as a knowledgeable tour guide with tidbits of information on Carol Brown's term as Demolay Chapter Sweetheart, the renovation of the Vogue Theatre, the renown La Fonda restaurant, Memorial Park (site of Pennie’s graduation) and finally, the office of her dermatologist, Dr. Pappenfort — unfortunately referred to by all as Dr. Poopenfart.

The second small business featured on Wonderland was Santa Fe Meats. This is primarily a Mexican market and butcher shop, but the reason for our visit was the little, five stool food counter carefully concealed in the rear of the market. We had to wait a few minutes for two stools to become available, and we took the opportunity to browse the aisles and the meat display case. The three butchers were friendly and hard at work, preparing thinly sliced steaks and other traditional Mexican meat favorites.

We took our seats at the counter next to an active four-year old, who was playing both with toys and his food. He was the son of one of the two women cooking in the mini-restaurant, and she scolded him whenever she thought he was bothering me. He wasn’t, though he did stare at me and question me in Spanish, but I wasn’t equipped to respond to him.

The two highly recommended items on the menu were the carne asada and the guacamole. We each ordered a carne asada taco, and Pennie added a pollo asada taco, while I ordered a bisteca taco. It wasn’t necessary to ask if we wanted corn or flour tortillas — corn is the only acceptable tortilla for tacos; the flour variety is like eating a paper plate covered in lard.

We also placed a side order for guacamole, expecting a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of guacamole. Instead, the cook smiled and nodded as she moved to the grilling area. In a few minutes she brought our tacos, each topped with guacamole. After adding a splash of the fiery red hot sauce (an 11 on the 1 to 10 heat scale), we took our first bites of what we later agreed were the best tacos we had eaten anywhere. Carne asada at other establishments is quite often dry and tough; ours was tender and moist, cooked to perfection. The other tacos were equally tasty, and the guacamole topping each taco was indeed very rich and especially flavorful. We will make Santa Fe Meats a mandatory stop whenever we’re in the area.

We drove east on Main, then north on Highway 805 to Olympic Parkway, then east again to our final destination, Otay Ranch. This huge and very upscale shopping center is located on the bluffs of Otay Mesa. Two weeks ago there was considerable hubbub in the San Diego Union about the opening of a new retail-clothing store — the very hip, reasonably priced and nationally known H & M, the first such outlet in San Diego County. We entered the semi-crowded store and were immediately pummeled by the pounding beat of the background music. We were eager to see what the hyper-buzz was all about, and the fashions were indeed very cool, but we soon realized we did not fit their target market (nor their miniscule sizes), and we quietly made our exit.

We left the shopping center and drove to the new Highway 125 Toll Road entrance. We pulled up behind a car with two young women who didn’t understand how to operate the toll machine. Confused, they sheepishly looked around at us, then quickly threw three dollar bills into the metal coin basket and sped off. We laughed, tossed ten quarters into the same basket, and were home in twenty minutes. Another fine, fun day.

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