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

Tri-Tip Triumph (Don't Forget the Coffee)

Coffee-rubbed beef?

Sure, if you’re Michael Karijanian. I’m looking at a menu in his eatery (Sweet & Savory Café, 4614 Mission Boulevard, Pacific Beach, 858-490-9140).

A sandwich place, basically. But what sandwiches. The guy’s an inventor. A food-combo inventor.

Michael Karijanian

This is what I’m looking at: “The Tri-Tip. Coffee spice rubbed tri-tip [beef] topped with juicy roma tomatoes, mixed greens, smoked gouda cheese, and our roasted garlic mayo, $7.”

The tri-tip sandwich

*Packed with chocolate chip cookie: savory and sweet...

For 2-1/2 years Karijanian has been trying out sandwich combos on his customers here. The Tri-Tip has been his Tri-Umph.

“I played around with rubbing the tri-tip with spices and coffee. Dry rub instead of marinating,” he says. “I thought it was pretty interesting. So we tried it as a special. Then people kept asking for it. Now it’s our most popular sandwich.”

Karijanian claims he has “hands down, the best tri-tip in San Diego.” And the meat certainly looks beautiful. He slices it then heats it then adds it to the rest of the focaccia combo.

Inside the cafe

Surfer watercolors by Jesse Miller

For me, it took a little extra sprinkle of salt and pepper to wake it up, but once you did — oh, man, the pink meat, the coffee notes playing deep like a cello, the smoky gouda, the crispy focaccia. This was a sandwich made in sandwich heaven.

He has others, like The Brie, a turkey sandwich with Granny Smith apple slices, brie cheese, and cranberry sauce ($7). Or the variation, The Thanksgiving. It’s also turkey but with veggie stuffing, mixed greens, muenster cheese, and cranberry, $6.50. Each time, sweet and savory.

“That was a great thing with my grandmother, who taught me so much,” says Karijanian. “She was Armenian, and that combination is what it’s all about.”

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

Previous article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo

Coffee-rubbed beef?

Sure, if you’re Michael Karijanian. I’m looking at a menu in his eatery (Sweet & Savory Café, 4614 Mission Boulevard, Pacific Beach, 858-490-9140).

A sandwich place, basically. But what sandwiches. The guy’s an inventor. A food-combo inventor.

Michael Karijanian

This is what I’m looking at: “The Tri-Tip. Coffee spice rubbed tri-tip [beef] topped with juicy roma tomatoes, mixed greens, smoked gouda cheese, and our roasted garlic mayo, $7.”

The tri-tip sandwich

*Packed with chocolate chip cookie: savory and sweet...

For 2-1/2 years Karijanian has been trying out sandwich combos on his customers here. The Tri-Tip has been his Tri-Umph.

“I played around with rubbing the tri-tip with spices and coffee. Dry rub instead of marinating,” he says. “I thought it was pretty interesting. So we tried it as a special. Then people kept asking for it. Now it’s our most popular sandwich.”

Karijanian claims he has “hands down, the best tri-tip in San Diego.” And the meat certainly looks beautiful. He slices it then heats it then adds it to the rest of the focaccia combo.

Inside the cafe

Surfer watercolors by Jesse Miller

For me, it took a little extra sprinkle of salt and pepper to wake it up, but once you did — oh, man, the pink meat, the coffee notes playing deep like a cello, the smoky gouda, the crispy focaccia. This was a sandwich made in sandwich heaven.

He has others, like The Brie, a turkey sandwich with Granny Smith apple slices, brie cheese, and cranberry sauce ($7). Or the variation, The Thanksgiving. It’s also turkey but with veggie stuffing, mixed greens, muenster cheese, and cranberry, $6.50. Each time, sweet and savory.

“That was a great thing with my grandmother, who taught me so much,” says Karijanian. “She was Armenian, and that combination is what it’s all about.”

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

Ubehebe Dreams

Next Article

Feta 1, Turkey 2

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