Corner Bakery- Mission Valley area

In a desperate search for free wifi last week, I found myself at Corner Bakery on the same block as the Mission Valley Mall.  Here was my experience in a few nutshells:

1. Free Wifi in case you missed it in the intro; very strong signal I might say
2. Plentiful parking but the inside can get crowded depending on the meal time
3. Sandwich size was large but the bread felt dry. Booo since it looked so dang scrumptious when it came to the table.  The roast beef was tender but I could have used some more inside (this is saying alot since I usually complain that there is too much sandwich meat).  
4. Their tomato soup is NOT the business although it is one of their daily specialty soups.  Twice now I got this soup and twice I was not happy. The focaccia bread on the side is nice and chewy though.  
5. Their store brand tater ships are very good...crunchy and salty! 
6. They didnt give us evil death ray looks when we studied for a few hours
7. Their chocolate chip cookies on the other hand ARE the business.  Deee-lish.  

Official website: http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com/home.aspx

Louisiana FriedChicken- Spring Valley

Quickie cuz thats the mood I am in currently:

I had a mean craving for fried and battered __________ with hot sauce so I gave this joint another chance.  I rarely eat fried chicken and I havent always been happy with the caliber of the food here on previous occasions. They offer the usual suspects i.e. fried chicken/ shrimp/ fish/ gizzards and sides like mashed taters, collard greens, gumbo, rolls, mac salad, etc.  Now they offer mac and cheese! And yams and potato salad but that doesnt excite me much.  For optimal fried skin real estate, I went with the 4 chicken nuggets with a side of mac and cheese and side of mashed potatoes.  See here:

Okay so here is the down low on this meal.  The mashed taters were the biggest disappointment.  Looks like a deep intense gravy...it wasnt.  Potatoes tasted too instant-y and gravy was very bland.  The mac and cheese was decent...Not enough on the cheese, too much on the sauce.  The chicken nuggets were 2 bucks for four and they didnt make me happy either.  Portion was small and the batter didnt have the same taste/ texture as I remember their actual fried chicken pieces having.  It was made of white meat however so I could feel a little righteous about that I suppose.  Bottom line?  It will probably be awhile before I go back here.  

Corporate website: http://www.louisianafriedchicken.com/

San Diego Desserts *update only*

I went there recently for a study sesh and found out some new things I want you guys to know about.  You can always go back to my archives for my previous posts on this place.

1. They have free wifi
2. They do party bus trips to a winery in Temecula every so often along with the stay-cation days at the store with themed food nights
3. Its a dog-friendly atmosphere if you eat in their decent size patio area
4. They take mac and cheese up a notch in chicness.  They make theirs in a white cheese sauce, dont use shells or regular elbow pasta (my guess is a rigatoni pasta), and they....use duck.  Duck Confit Macaroni and Cheese to be exact.  Its rich, not oily, the duck was a good balance of fat and meat, and  a perfect size portion.  It goes very well with #6 FYI.

1. They have happy hour deals for food and alcohol.  
2. They have awesome truffle and parmesan cheese fries.  Shavings of salty parm.  Truffle oil.  Shoestring fries perfectly fried and balanced.