Darkavich's Daily Ramblings

Name: Cali Comfort
Address: 8910 Troy Street, Spring Valley, CA 91977
http://www.calicomfortsd.com//

Date of Visit: January 31st, 2015 (actually our second visit)

BBQ Style: Texas Style

Food Ordered: (we had a coupon the first time, so we got their combo plates)

• Beef Brisket
• Pulled Pork
• Pork Ribs
• Tri-Tip
• Tater Tots (instead of the fries)
• Baked Beans
• Mac and Cheese
• Cole Slaw
• Corn Bread
• Peach Cobbler

Food Review: 

• Beef Brisket – The Brisket was perfectly cooked and had great flavor. The first time I ordered it it came as chopped beef instead of strips, but the second visit it was perfectly sliced strips.
• Pulled Pork – The pulled pork was fantastic, one of the best I have ever had and I dare say it was better than anything I have ever produced. The texture was perfect and no fat at all. The meat was rich with flavor and didn’t need any sauce.
• Pork Ribs – I was ultimately amazed with the ribs. No silver skin and cooked perfectly with fantastic flavor. These are the best pork ribs I have ever had in a restaurant.
• Tri-Tip – The Tri-Tip had tons of flavor but was a little tough. I can’t fault this because it’s very hard to keep this cut of meat from getting tough. The flavor was amazing though.
• Tater Tots – The tater tots were great and I recommend them as a slightly different side.
• Baked Beans – The baked beans had good flavor and pulled pork in them was a pleasant surprise.
• Mac and Cheese – The mac and cheese was good, but nothing special.
• Cole Slaw – The cole slaw was just ok.
• Corn Bread – The corn bread was nice and spicy with jalapeños, but may be too spicy for some.
• Peach Cobbler – The cobbler was good, but your basic run of the meal dessert.

General Review – The restaurant is in an area of town that is a little off-putting. Don’t let this scare you away. Parking is pretty good with spaces behind and across the street. There is an assisted living home behind the restaurant that is available for parking. The place has a sports bar attached to the restaurant but it can be quite noisy. So if you are looking for a quiet spot, request to be seated away from the bar. The waiter recommended the rib tips as his favorite, but we didn’t try those as there was too many other items we wanted to have instead. The Iced Tea was really good, normally it’s too brisk or too sweet, this was brewed perfectly. The restaurant has large booths that can hold 8-10 people and the place has a nice cozy cottage feel.

Their sauce comes in mild and spicy. The spicy sauce has a good kick, but you have no need for any sauce on the meats as they all have excellent flavor. It is not very often that a BBQ restaurant can do good meats as most places try to mass produce their product like a certain place on Sports Arena and the quality suffers. But, it’s extremely rare when every meat that comes out is excellent and flavorful, not overcooked and dried out.

I was so impressed with the quality of their food, I wanted to wait until a second visit to make sure their quality was repeated and not just a first-time fluke. This is a place I will highly recommend and will be visiting for a long time.

Darkavich’s BBQ rating: I give it a 9 out of 10. (only because slightly tough Tri-Tip)