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

Deep South arrives downtown

Acme Kitchen promises grits, green tomatoes and angel cakes

Place

ACME Southern Kitchen

901 E Street, San Diego

"I like being early," says Terryl Gavre. She's the wunderkind gal who started up Café 222 (remember her on posters wearing a waffle on her head?), and then Bankers Hill Bar/Restaurant, and then Bankers Hill at the airport and soon Acme Kitchen, kitty-corner to the old Central Library, and soon to come after that, Bake Sale, a kind of patisserie/coffee place at 9th and F.

At corner of 9th and E

Right now she's talking about being early to come to this part of town (just shy of East Village) which is still kind-of-not-really happening. "That's what I like. Opening in greener areas that are in the process of becoming. Plus, rents are lower."

I was jes' hanging round this corner at 9th and E trying to get a peep in to what was going on at the corner café site. Great li'l old brick building from the 1920s. Last time I was in, it was an ultra-cheap Chinese place. The gruff lady who ran it gave you the totally best-value food downtown.

Sponsored
Sponsored
9th Street extension

So, sorry to see her go. But peeking in, you see they have knocked down walls, doubled the size, set up a shiny kitchen in back, and the contractors say they are trying to get everything ready for a January 19th opening.

Uh, get what ready? This is when Terry Gavre turns up. "I'm calling it the Acme Kitchen," she says. "It will be a southern cooking place. I'm not a trained chef but I'm good at home cooking. And I've been studying everything I can about southern cooking, from Junior League cookbooks onwards. Everything from shrimp and grits with Tasso ham, to angel cakes. I must have gone through 50 recipes for angel cakes."

Hmm. Thinking about my diet. Determined to lose ten pounds. Place like this won't help.

Terryl Gavre

"No," she says. "This is not going to be for dieters."

'Course she's a slim blonde who must just have the metabolism where she doesn't have to worry about it.

"Well," she says, "I think you've just got to be careful for six days, but then give yourself one day a week when you can really enjoy food. Otherwise, what's the point?"

She says to expect scratch-made southern cooking here. Fried chicken, those shrimp and grits and Tasso ham, mac and cheese, smothered pork chops, house made biscuits, pies, cakes and breads.

Good news: she'll have about sixty seats inside, plus twenty outside, café-style. And she'll have a wine and beer license.

But why "Acme"?

"I just like the feel of it. Bricky, twenties, like this building. And 'acme' means 'the best.'"

Her next project, "Bake Sale," the pastries and coffee place, is just two minutes' walk away, at 815 F Street. The building there is like a spittin' image of this one. "But I won't be opening that till maybe mid-February. I need it to be my extra kitchen for here at Acme while we get geared up."

Man. How does she do it? Specially since, turns out, she has two kids.

Simple, she says. "Every day, when I get them off to school at 8:00 a.m., I figure I've got eight hours before 4:00 p.m. to get things done."

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Next Article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Place

ACME Southern Kitchen

901 E Street, San Diego

"I like being early," says Terryl Gavre. She's the wunderkind gal who started up Café 222 (remember her on posters wearing a waffle on her head?), and then Bankers Hill Bar/Restaurant, and then Bankers Hill at the airport and soon Acme Kitchen, kitty-corner to the old Central Library, and soon to come after that, Bake Sale, a kind of patisserie/coffee place at 9th and F.

At corner of 9th and E

Right now she's talking about being early to come to this part of town (just shy of East Village) which is still kind-of-not-really happening. "That's what I like. Opening in greener areas that are in the process of becoming. Plus, rents are lower."

I was jes' hanging round this corner at 9th and E trying to get a peep in to what was going on at the corner café site. Great li'l old brick building from the 1920s. Last time I was in, it was an ultra-cheap Chinese place. The gruff lady who ran it gave you the totally best-value food downtown.

Sponsored
Sponsored
9th Street extension

So, sorry to see her go. But peeking in, you see they have knocked down walls, doubled the size, set up a shiny kitchen in back, and the contractors say they are trying to get everything ready for a January 19th opening.

Uh, get what ready? This is when Terry Gavre turns up. "I'm calling it the Acme Kitchen," she says. "It will be a southern cooking place. I'm not a trained chef but I'm good at home cooking. And I've been studying everything I can about southern cooking, from Junior League cookbooks onwards. Everything from shrimp and grits with Tasso ham, to angel cakes. I must have gone through 50 recipes for angel cakes."

Hmm. Thinking about my diet. Determined to lose ten pounds. Place like this won't help.

Terryl Gavre

"No," she says. "This is not going to be for dieters."

'Course she's a slim blonde who must just have the metabolism where she doesn't have to worry about it.

"Well," she says, "I think you've just got to be careful for six days, but then give yourself one day a week when you can really enjoy food. Otherwise, what's the point?"

She says to expect scratch-made southern cooking here. Fried chicken, those shrimp and grits and Tasso ham, mac and cheese, smothered pork chops, house made biscuits, pies, cakes and breads.

Good news: she'll have about sixty seats inside, plus twenty outside, café-style. And she'll have a wine and beer license.

But why "Acme"?

"I just like the feel of it. Bricky, twenties, like this building. And 'acme' means 'the best.'"

Her next project, "Bake Sale," the pastries and coffee place, is just two minutes' walk away, at 815 F Street. The building there is like a spittin' image of this one. "But I won't be opening that till maybe mid-February. I need it to be my extra kitchen for here at Acme while we get geared up."

Man. How does she do it? Specially since, turns out, she has two kids.

Simple, she says. "Every day, when I get them off to school at 8:00 a.m., I figure I've got eight hours before 4:00 p.m. to get things done."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Too $hort & DJ Symphony, Peppermint Beach Club, Holidays at the Zoo

Events December 19-December 21, 2024
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.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader