Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

South Park stomach vibe

Bacon cooked with brown sugar? Oh, yes.

Stuffed red pepper
Stuffed red pepper
Place

Eclipse Chocolate Bar & Bistro

2145 Fern Street, San Diego

Wayne and his therapeutic tuning forks
Sign outside a chocolate bistro

‘Listen,” says Wayne. He holds two tuning forks up to my ears.

Silence.

He brings them closer.

Suddenly, OmmmmmmMMMMMMMmmmmm. They’re the most crazy-beautiful bell tones, in two different keys, like musical humming birds hovering right next to you.

Then Wayne dives into his car and hauls out a giant-size tuning fork. He knocks it against some wood and touches the single end against my back. Man! It vibrates like a mini-jackhammer. “Musical massage!” he says. “We are all electro-magnetic beings, and everything vibrates at a different pitch.”

We’re at Juniper and Fern, outside Rebecca’s. One of my favorite hangouts. I’d eat here, but I want to see what’s different around this part of South Park. I came up to Wayne because he looked like the kind of guy who’d know a good food deal around here.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Great,” I say, “but, my stomach’s vibrating with a kind of ‘I’m hungry!’ pitch. What’ve you got for that?”

“Oh, food? Sure,” he says. “Nine Seas. Food truck, couple of blocks down. They have fish tacos for $1.50. And the fish you get is huge.”

Then he reaches back into his car. Hauls out a fiddle case. “Gotta go. I’m Number 8 in the line-up tonight. Irish music.”

Problem with his taco idea? By the time I get down to Hawthorn and Fern, where the Mariscos Nine Seas truck is, they’re locking up. It’s 7:30 p.m.

So, I head back up toward Juniper. This is when I notice the low place on the corner. Eclipse Chocolate Bar & Bistro. And it has a sign. “Nightly dinner service.”

The 10 percent promise

This I have to see. Dinner of chocolates and eclairs?

But, inside, I’m starting to panic already. Chichi crowd. Everything sleek, with glossy wood bar, exposed dark rafters and teal and brown walls. Couples eyeball each other over wine glasses and a kinda jazzy disco-beat music.

I sit up to the counter. The gal, Heidi, leaves me a menu and brings a ceramic-topped bottle of water and a glass. “Water is a precious resource,” its label says. “Please help us to conserve it during the drought. We present these closed bottles of twice-filtered chilled tap water so that you can pour only what you need.”

Also: They pledge they will give 10 percent of their earnings to charity. Plus, they have a whole wall dedicated to educating you about how chocolate happens, from seed to bar. Cool factor’s rising.

Water is a precious resource

But what really interests me is this sweet-sour thing. I remember now: Eclipse Chocolate was started by that chocolate-as-art pioneer on El Cajon Boulevard, William Gustwiller. He started alone, making his own chocolates and ended up with, like, 40 employees. So, this is where he moved to...

But mixing chocolate or other sweet stuff with everything?

First off, this is no $1.50 taco joint. Fact is, I have one Jackson warming my thigh. And the basic dinner menu has everything priced at $12. And sides at $8. Ulp. But they also have a combo deal with one main and one side for $16. So I decide to go with that.

Hmm... Have to admit, the dishes look really interesting. Each is “infused with chocolate, vanilla, or caramel.” This is pretty daring. Among the mains, savory pies come in three flavors: sausage, bacon, and meatball; roasted root veggie, pesto, and herbed chevre cheese; and short rib with “stout-glazed shallot, Point Reyes bleu [cheese], and roasted tomato.”

So, I’m looking for the sweet factor. The pie shell is corn meal pesto, with watercress hickory sea salt and, ah, “cocoa balsamic drizzle.”

“And the bacon is cooked with brown sugar,” says Heidi. Oh, yes. Suddenly realize who she looks like: Uma Thurman, the actress.

The sausage, bacon, and meatball pie

On top of that, they have things like brown-sugar short rib, mascarpone-filled meatball with vanilla crostini; an artisan cheese and caramel plate with three cheeses plus strawberry, apple, burnt-chili caramel and vanilla crostini; and a mushroom and a crispy quinoa fritter with cocoa mole.

I go for the sausage, bacon, and meatball pie, plus a stuffed red pepper side. Mainly because it’s got that cocoa mole, too. Shades of Oaxaca. Drinks-wise, I stick with the water. Financial drought. Gotta conserve my wallet.

The pie is scrumptious. It has a, well, slightly yeasty flavor to it. I guess it’s that cocoa balsamic drizzle. Or did they put some of the mole in? Because that would do it. But the crumbly cornmeal shell, the melted cheese, the salty, sugary bacon, the chives and fresh cress and gungy meatball bits in there make for one heady, savory, lush combo with a sweet finish. Heck, feels like I’m talking about wine.

The stuffed red pepper, on the other hand, is — what can I say — boring. The quinoa taste is “eat your veggies!” bland. And the promised mole? It’s there and it helps, but there’s just a lick of it on the plate. A whole lot more would have helped.

What 16 dollars buys

But, all in all, man, I’m curious. I want to come back for the brown-sugar short rib and especially that mascarpone meatball.

And as if to taunt me, the couple along the bar orders up two desserts: a buttermilk bread pudding soaked in vanilla and strawberry with a dome of chocolate on top for him, and for her, a flourless cocoa nib brownie with strawberry rhubarb and “roasted white chocolate,” however you roast chocolate. Carla would kill for any of this. Sigh. Me, too. But, nine bucks each? Another night.

I hand over the Jackson. Check came to $17.28. Leave the rest for tip. Have a couple of bucks more in change, though. May go get a coffee at Rebecca’s, see if Wayne is still fiddling.


Prices: Savory pies (e.g., sausage, bacon, and meatball; roasted root veggie, pesto, chevre cheese; or short rib, $12; brown-sugar short rib, $12; mascarpone-filled meatball, vanilla crostini, $12; artisan cheese plate with burnt-chili caramel, $12; mushroom and veggie Wellington, $12; crispy quinoa fritter, cocoa mole, $12; stuffed red pepper with quinoa, cocoa mole, $8; artichoke leek dip, $8; buttermilk bread pudding, $9; flourless brownie sundae, $9

Hours: Monday–Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 9:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.; Sunday, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Bus: 2

Nearest bus stop: 30th and Ivy

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Stuffed red pepper
Stuffed red pepper
Place

Eclipse Chocolate Bar & Bistro

2145 Fern Street, San Diego

Wayne and his therapeutic tuning forks
Sign outside a chocolate bistro

‘Listen,” says Wayne. He holds two tuning forks up to my ears.

Silence.

He brings them closer.

Suddenly, OmmmmmmMMMMMMMmmmmm. They’re the most crazy-beautiful bell tones, in two different keys, like musical humming birds hovering right next to you.

Then Wayne dives into his car and hauls out a giant-size tuning fork. He knocks it against some wood and touches the single end against my back. Man! It vibrates like a mini-jackhammer. “Musical massage!” he says. “We are all electro-magnetic beings, and everything vibrates at a different pitch.”

We’re at Juniper and Fern, outside Rebecca’s. One of my favorite hangouts. I’d eat here, but I want to see what’s different around this part of South Park. I came up to Wayne because he looked like the kind of guy who’d know a good food deal around here.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Great,” I say, “but, my stomach’s vibrating with a kind of ‘I’m hungry!’ pitch. What’ve you got for that?”

“Oh, food? Sure,” he says. “Nine Seas. Food truck, couple of blocks down. They have fish tacos for $1.50. And the fish you get is huge.”

Then he reaches back into his car. Hauls out a fiddle case. “Gotta go. I’m Number 8 in the line-up tonight. Irish music.”

Problem with his taco idea? By the time I get down to Hawthorn and Fern, where the Mariscos Nine Seas truck is, they’re locking up. It’s 7:30 p.m.

So, I head back up toward Juniper. This is when I notice the low place on the corner. Eclipse Chocolate Bar & Bistro. And it has a sign. “Nightly dinner service.”

The 10 percent promise

This I have to see. Dinner of chocolates and eclairs?

But, inside, I’m starting to panic already. Chichi crowd. Everything sleek, with glossy wood bar, exposed dark rafters and teal and brown walls. Couples eyeball each other over wine glasses and a kinda jazzy disco-beat music.

I sit up to the counter. The gal, Heidi, leaves me a menu and brings a ceramic-topped bottle of water and a glass. “Water is a precious resource,” its label says. “Please help us to conserve it during the drought. We present these closed bottles of twice-filtered chilled tap water so that you can pour only what you need.”

Also: They pledge they will give 10 percent of their earnings to charity. Plus, they have a whole wall dedicated to educating you about how chocolate happens, from seed to bar. Cool factor’s rising.

Water is a precious resource

But what really interests me is this sweet-sour thing. I remember now: Eclipse Chocolate was started by that chocolate-as-art pioneer on El Cajon Boulevard, William Gustwiller. He started alone, making his own chocolates and ended up with, like, 40 employees. So, this is where he moved to...

But mixing chocolate or other sweet stuff with everything?

First off, this is no $1.50 taco joint. Fact is, I have one Jackson warming my thigh. And the basic dinner menu has everything priced at $12. And sides at $8. Ulp. But they also have a combo deal with one main and one side for $16. So I decide to go with that.

Hmm... Have to admit, the dishes look really interesting. Each is “infused with chocolate, vanilla, or caramel.” This is pretty daring. Among the mains, savory pies come in three flavors: sausage, bacon, and meatball; roasted root veggie, pesto, and herbed chevre cheese; and short rib with “stout-glazed shallot, Point Reyes bleu [cheese], and roasted tomato.”

So, I’m looking for the sweet factor. The pie shell is corn meal pesto, with watercress hickory sea salt and, ah, “cocoa balsamic drizzle.”

“And the bacon is cooked with brown sugar,” says Heidi. Oh, yes. Suddenly realize who she looks like: Uma Thurman, the actress.

The sausage, bacon, and meatball pie

On top of that, they have things like brown-sugar short rib, mascarpone-filled meatball with vanilla crostini; an artisan cheese and caramel plate with three cheeses plus strawberry, apple, burnt-chili caramel and vanilla crostini; and a mushroom and a crispy quinoa fritter with cocoa mole.

I go for the sausage, bacon, and meatball pie, plus a stuffed red pepper side. Mainly because it’s got that cocoa mole, too. Shades of Oaxaca. Drinks-wise, I stick with the water. Financial drought. Gotta conserve my wallet.

The pie is scrumptious. It has a, well, slightly yeasty flavor to it. I guess it’s that cocoa balsamic drizzle. Or did they put some of the mole in? Because that would do it. But the crumbly cornmeal shell, the melted cheese, the salty, sugary bacon, the chives and fresh cress and gungy meatball bits in there make for one heady, savory, lush combo with a sweet finish. Heck, feels like I’m talking about wine.

The stuffed red pepper, on the other hand, is — what can I say — boring. The quinoa taste is “eat your veggies!” bland. And the promised mole? It’s there and it helps, but there’s just a lick of it on the plate. A whole lot more would have helped.

What 16 dollars buys

But, all in all, man, I’m curious. I want to come back for the brown-sugar short rib and especially that mascarpone meatball.

And as if to taunt me, the couple along the bar orders up two desserts: a buttermilk bread pudding soaked in vanilla and strawberry with a dome of chocolate on top for him, and for her, a flourless cocoa nib brownie with strawberry rhubarb and “roasted white chocolate,” however you roast chocolate. Carla would kill for any of this. Sigh. Me, too. But, nine bucks each? Another night.

I hand over the Jackson. Check came to $17.28. Leave the rest for tip. Have a couple of bucks more in change, though. May go get a coffee at Rebecca’s, see if Wayne is still fiddling.


Prices: Savory pies (e.g., sausage, bacon, and meatball; roasted root veggie, pesto, chevre cheese; or short rib, $12; brown-sugar short rib, $12; mascarpone-filled meatball, vanilla crostini, $12; artisan cheese plate with burnt-chili caramel, $12; mushroom and veggie Wellington, $12; crispy quinoa fritter, cocoa mole, $12; stuffed red pepper with quinoa, cocoa mole, $8; artichoke leek dip, $8; buttermilk bread pudding, $9; flourless brownie sundae, $9

Hours: Monday–Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 9:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.; Sunday, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Bus: 2

Nearest bus stop: 30th and Ivy

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.