Claire De Lune Cafe in North Park, San Diego, California

There are many good cafés and coffee houses in San Diego, but not many café lounges. Claire de Lune at the northeast corner of University Avenue and 29th Street in North Park (across the street from Birch North Park Theatre) is one of the latter. You don't go there to have a quiet mug of latte while reading a book or surfing the internet on your laptop - the place doesn't have Wifi connection. Rather, you go there to socialize and enjoy live music while munching on a sandwich or cheesecake and coffee.

As a matter of fact, I dropped in here for the first time because a local musician tipped me off about her gig at Claire de Lune via MySpace a while back. I don't care much about the area (actually, this stretch of University Ave is quite nicer than the rest of North Park is, I think... though I still wouldn't like to drop in late at night). The lounge itself is pretty spacious and homely. Maybe a bit too homely in term of cleanliness also (I wonder if the sofas had been cleaned since WW II... If only the espresso I was sipping wasn't so burnt I might have smelled something from the pre-color-TV era sitting in one of them).

I must confess that sweet-toothed me is quite drawn to the bakery counter and all its cakes, tarts, and muffins (go for the blueberry cheesecake if there's any left when you get there), though. I've never tried the sandwiches here, but they look large and inviting enough for their price.