Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe: Miles of Isles in Middletown

Missing milk chocolate McVittie’s or mushy peas? Pining for pickled onions or Prawn Cocktail crisps?

Whether you’re one of the thousands of nostalgic U.K. expatriates living in San Diego County or simply an anglophile who can’t live without Devon custard, Christmas pudding or pork pies, Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe can ease your existential pain.

While the shop is located in that marvelous strip of India St., off Washington and the I-5 which is also home to El Indio, Shakespeare’s Pub, Gelato Vero and Saffron, once inside you could just as easily think you’re in a little neighborhood corner shop in Putney or Hammersmith or some other London suburb. Owner Selina Pearce tends to know customers by name and desire. Other than the fact that prices are in dollars not pounds, and afternoon tea is on a deck built around two broad eucalyptus trees, shopping at Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe is strictly a United Kingdom experience.

The shop has been owned for about a year by Pearce, who managed it since its inception in 2001 for Shakespeare’s Pub. Pearce, who is from Surrey, came to the States in 1992 after traveling around Europe. She waitressed at the pub for years before getting the idea for a little shop, which the pub owners lit on. Despite her lack of retail experience, they put her in charge. “I walked in blind,” she recalls with a laugh. “I drew and redrew plans for the health department. I didn’t even know what to order so I just ordered what I liked. Now I order what I like but also base a lot of my orders on customer requests.”

The shop became a success but as Pearce began to get a little restless and interested in starting a family with her new husband, whom she met at the pub, the pub owners surprised her by offering to sell her the shop. She took them up on the offer and hasn’t looked back. Not even with the birth of her strapping blond son Alfie nine months ago.

I first learned about Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe from the young Irish woman giving me a facial last winter. She and her boyfriend frequently shop there for crisps—potato chips—as well as biscuits, tea, ale and familiar brands of soaps and lotions. On my first visit, I ducked in briefly following a day at Art Walk last month with my friend Debra, who bought a variety of Cadbury chocolates and a jar of Fred’s Favorites Korma, a curry sauce made with tomato, onion, yogurt and coconut milk. She had the grand idea of stopping at a local market, picking up U.S. Cadbury bars and some chicken and doing a taste test at my house.

I have to say that the Korma sauce was quite good with chicken, mushrooms, broccoli and green onions. It’s very mild and I wanted more of a kick so I also added some hot sauce, which perked it right up.

After our curry, we pulled out the chocolates. Cadbury licensed Hershey’s to make chocolates in the U.S. under their brand—but the staff at Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe is quick to tell American customers that it tastes completely different from the British version. Did it? We just had to find out. Debra bought Dairy Milk with Caramel and Bournville (original plain chocolate) bars at the shop. At Albertson’s we picked up Cadbury Carmello and Royal Dark bars.

The caramel in the Dairy Milk with Caramel had a burnt sugar flavor and was nice and thick, while the Cadbury Carmello’s caramel was runnier and the chocolate had a chalky aftertaste. Debra’s verdict was that the British bar had both superior texture and flavor.

The Bournville bar had a smooth, more subtle chocolate flavor. Debra found it had honey overtones. The Royal Dark? To me, it tasted like chocolate chips. Debra thought it was stale and waxy.

So, if you want a Cadbury bar that tastes like what you bought in a vending machine at an underground station in London, get the British version.

Of course, Cadbury is far from the only candy Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe carries. There’s a rose-flavored, jelly-like Turkish delight covered in milk chocolate that, as the wrapped claims, is “full of eastern promise.” There’s Scottish Tablet, a small chalky looking bar that crumbles in the mouth and fills it with sugar. There’s Thornton’s Special Toffee, chunks of delectable brown-sugar creaminess that is just a little chewy—nothing to pull out the fillings. Pearce is especially proud of carrying this candy because Thorntons only sells it in their own shops in Britain. She gets it in twice a year—at Christmas and Easter—so get it while you can.

She’s also keen on Flakes, a crumbly chocolate stick that comes in plain milk chocolate, dipped dark and praline flavors. In Britian, you can ask for a “Flake 99” at an ice cream shop to get a couple of scoops of ice cream with a Flake stuck into it.

A customer favorite is the Cadbury Crunchie—milk chocolate with a honeycomb center. It’s stunning. It makes a wonderful crunchy sound when you take a bite and you get a punch of chocolate and honeycomb that come together as you chew. Of course, if you’re Australian you might prefer the Violet Crumble, a similar bar made by Nestle in Australia. The honeycomb theme continues with Maltesers, the British version of malted milk balls.

Finally, there’s the Fry’s Chocolate Cream, a dark chocolate bar with a “fondant” in the center. I expected a mint flavor from this white cream, but it’s just sweet. It’s very nice but I wished for more from one of Britain’s first chocolate companies.

But we get ahead of ourselves with dessert first. Among the most popular items sold at Shakespeare’s Corner Shop is, of all things, Heinz Beans with tomato sauce.

In fact, it’s their number one seller, followed closely behind by Batchelors Mushy peas. Following my experience with Debra, I decided to get a group of friends together to taste these and other products I bought there on Friday. So, I took a picnic basket filled with items to my buddies at my local dog park. I had heated up the beans and the peas and, well, I think these are the kinds of things you have to grow up with. One friend said that the beans taste just like Heinz’s American cans of vegetarian baked beans. They’re sweet and dominated by a tomato flavor.

The peas, a stunning chartreuse, tasted like bland split pea soup, according to one taster. One of us adored them. The rest of us lived happily with our spoonful before moving on.

And, what did we move on to? I brought a jar of Hayward's pickled onions, a British favorite served as a snack with cheese and crackers.

They were also a favorite among the tasters, especially since someone else did bring cheese and bread. We also shared a bunch of bags of different crisps. The pickled onion flavor tasted just like the real pickled onions we had at the table, almost like salt and vinegar chips. Excellent. The Wuster Sauce crisps had a very subtle sweet flavor—they were okay.

The Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps in the bright pink package tasted less like prawns than tomato (the cocktail sauce?). Eh. Quavers, a cheese-flavored puff potato curlicue was nice and crunchy, and could be addictive. The most unique of the snacks bag offerings were baked Twiglets. As one friend said, these were a snack Euell Gibbons would love. Slim, knobby brown wheat sticks, they taste like what you’d think a twig tastes like. They’re crunchy but not salty and have a real unprocessed wheat flavor.

The tasting session ended with Eccles Cakes, little biscuit-looking pastries that have a raisin filling. They’re okay at room temperature but delicious heated up with some Dover Cream. And, I brought a can of Spotted Dick and two versions of Christmas pudding (very dense fruit cake)—regular, made with cider and sherry, and Luxury, made with brandy and rum.

Despite the guffaws and inevitable protests from the guys, Spotted Dick, a sponge pudding with raisins and currants (the “spots”), was a hit. The Christmas puddings were a mixed bag. I found the regular to be truly vile in texture and taste. The Luxury not only had a better flavor but also a better texture and I enjoyed it so much more as did the others in my group.

Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe also has a wide variety of jarred curries, biscuits—McVittie’s Ginger Nuts are a customer favorite—treacle (a molasses syrup), Marmite, Bovril, lovely teas from Ireland, England and even South Africa, and very popular cordials—syrups added to water.

The black currant is very popular, according to Pearce. Altogether, it’s a treasure trove of British goods—and you can also purchase baked treats like pasties and sausage rolls, as well as British cheeses, Somerville Butter, scotch eggs, kippers, haddock and pork bangers.

The shop is also a destination for afternoon tea. This is where Pearce’s staff shines. The pastries—from moist, flaky scones served with double Devon cream and jam, to mild flavored marzipan cake, heavenly double layer Bonneville chocolate fudge and a sweetly tart vanilla lemon sponge—are all made in the shop. You’ll enjoy the typical array of finger sandwiches—cucumber, salmon salad, egg salad, mature English cheddar and ham—as well as a lovely little sausage roll, a flaky pastry surrounding a sweet pork sausage made by a local British butcher. This is served with the famous Branston pickle, a sweet relish of carrots, onions, gherkins, cucumbers, cauliflower and rutabaga dressed in a tomato paste flavored with dates, barley, apples and vinegar. All this on elegant floral bone china (which Pearce sells in the store). And, of course, there's the tea. I tried four types: Cedar Life Rooibos, an delectable amber-colored, naturally decaffeinated redbush tea; Christmas Spiced, a black tea with subtle undertones of orange, lemon peel and cinnamon; Yorkshire Gold, a strong yet smooth black tea; and Gunpowder, a smoky green China tea. All were lovely in their unique way.

Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe serves afternoon tea from noon to 4 Thursday through Sunday. The adult tea is $17.95 per person, but they also have a Child’s Afternoon Tea, almost the same as the adult but $9.95. And, if you just want to savor a pot of tea with a home-baked scone and their amazing double Devon cream, you can indulge for $7.95.

Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe is located at 3719 India St.

Have some thoughts about Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe or other ethnic markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

Caffé Calabria: Full of Beans in North Park

One Wednesday last October, the LA Times food section devoted most of its space to coffee. Where to find great roasters. The best brewing methods. Recipes that incorporate coffee. I’m not a coffee fanatic, but I do enjoy the stuff and, because my rebellious body can now only tolerate decaf, I’ve felt challenged to find a truly flavorful roast.

So, I scoured the stories for any hints on where to buy good decaf beans in San Diego. They were filled with great information, but the Times doesn’t cover San Diego anymore so I was left to my own devices. Research led me to Caffé Calabria on 30^th St. in North Park, a coffee roaster and coffeehouse that also serves panini and desserts. And, the lovely and very knowledgeable folks who work there, in turn, led me to two different coffees: their full-bodied decaf Costa Rica, a hard-bean Arabica that is indescribably flavorful (not just strong for strong's sake) and their decaf Calabria blend, a rich house-blend espresso that is so much better than the canned Illy I've been using on the weekends with my Gaggia classic.

At the time, I told the saga of my frustrating quest to one of the baristas, who called over owner Arne Holt. He stopped what he was doing and showed me around the premises, which are far more than a mere coffeehouse storefront. It’s a full on coffee mecca with 22- and 45-kilo roasters, the latter a restored 1958 German machine with gleaming stainless steel.

In a back room, he was preparing to set up a retail space for selling home brewing equipment and accessories. Upstairs are the business offices. In the basement, bags and burlap bags of coffee beans. He told me about his plans to add an authentic Italian pizza oven. All this, and I was just a person who had walked in off the street looking for a good cup of coffee.

I stopped back a couple of days ago to buy some more coffee and the first thing I noticed was the blue-and-white tiled beehive-shaped pizza oven, still a work in progress, but a formidable presence in the coffeehouse.

Holt was in, having just returned at 5:30 that morning from a trip to Italy where he had bought a coffee bar that will be the centerpiece of a remodeling aimed, as he says, “to bring the culture of Italy to our front door.

“We’ll serve coffee and panini during the day, and five nights a week we’ll shut down at 3 p.m. and re-open at 5 p.m. as an enoteca, or wine bar, and serve pizza,” he says. “And, it will be verra pizza Napoletana,” he emphasizes, “authentic, true Neapolitan pizza."

In fact, the oven is being constructed out of materials from Naples by Neapolitan builders. Holt has also brought over master pizza maker Ernesto Caciolli from Naples to train the staff. Stay tuned for the opening date; there’s a lot of remodeling to take place, including the addition of mezzanine seating, before pizza will be served.

In the meantime, however, there’s always the coffee. Caffé Calabria roasts between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds a day, both for the store and customers throughout Southern California and beyond. Holt counts 15 varietals and numerous blends among the offerings. A full listing can be found on their website, www.caffecalabria.com.

And, for tea lovers, the back room, still in transition mode for the retail space, has endless canisters of teas, blended by the staff and sold under the name Sochi Teas.

In the coffeehouse, I noticed a stack of burlap bags below a cup with the lettering, “Get Smart,” and asked Holt what this was all about. Before I knew it, we were heavy into a discussion on Fair Trade issues. He explained that for years, they regularly piled the bags there for people to take, but that they have started a donation project, Get Smart, to raise money to help pay for children in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to attend school. Take a bag, put a little money for it into the cup and help provide an education, with Caffé Calabria matching donations.

More than that, though, it represents a larger effort spurred by a profound skepticism Holt has with the Fair Trade certification program. “I don’t think the money’s going to the right people,” he says. Concerned about abuses in the program, he has decided to visit the farms he buys beans from to determine for himself if they meet his criteria, which includes using organic fertilizers and compost, maintaining the land and trees and treating the people who work on the farm with respect. “I want to see that they’re growing coffee with the earth, making sure everything is sustainable, whether they are ‘certified’ or not,” he says. “It’s a matter of treating the land with love and the people who work on the farm with love.

“The goal is to have all our coffee purchased under this criteria,” he notes. “The larger goal is buying consciously.” His first farm visit was to Matagalpa, where he’ll be returning soon. Hence, the burlap bag donations.

While buying sustainably is commendable, ultimately, the coffee has to taste good or there are no customers. Monday through Friday, Caffé Calabria holds coffee cupping sessions, a technique to evaluate the flavor profile of a coffee. (Coffeegeek.com has a good step-by-step guide to this.)

“Coffee is so volatile,” says Holt. “It’s always changing. It can start out with a fruity flavor, then develop more citrus tones. We need to cup it out everyday to make sure we’ve got a good product.”

As if the pizza and sustainable buying projects aren’t enough, Holt has one more novel twist to add to the business, a Clover bar.

If you haven’t heard of this, it may be because San Diego doesn’t yet have one and they’re only just springing up in other parts of the country. Three years ago, two entrepreneurs, Zander Nosler and Randy Hulett, started The Coffee Equipment Co. (in Seattle, of course) to developed a sophisticated machine they call The Clover. At its most basic, The Clover produces upgraded drip coffee by the cup, combining vacuum brewing with the French press. So, we’re talking brewed coffee, not espresso, but this isn't any old drip coffee. The technique of matching the brewing to the specific flavor profile of the bean creates a coffee experience that is apparently far superior to and more complex than any brewed coffee you’d get out of traditional equipment. If this appeals, head on over there May 10, when Holt says that The Clover will be installed and ready for action.

Caffé Calabria, which has been in business for six years, has become a gathering place for more than buying a pound or two of coffee or tea. They hold tea tastings on the third Saturday of each month from 10 to 11 a.m. and the San Diego Home Roasters meet there on the first Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. I was also happy to find that Caffé Calabria is dog friendly.

Oh, and if you go in to buy coffee beans at lunchtime, pick up the grilled vegetable panini (a wonderful melding of eggplant, zuccini, red onions and tomatoes on crunchy foccacia) and have the barista make you a Café Viennese. This (decaf, for me) espresso concoction made with steamed milk, honey and cinnamon is layered with so many delicious, complementary flavors, it made me weak in the knees with pleasure.

Caffé Calabria is located at 3933 30^th St., just north of University.

Have some thoughts about Caffé Calabria or other coffee roasters in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below: