By TR Robertson
Vista is soon to be the location for a comfort food diner that has aspirations of becoming a coast-to-coast diner. Black Bear Diner will be opening their doors for business in February if all things go as planned. The diner is located at 605 W. Vista Way, taking over the old Coco’s Restaurant and Bakery location in Vista. This will be Black Bear’s second location in San Diego County, currently open in El Cajon at 1025 Fletcher Parkway. With the Vista location there will be 170 Black Bear Diners in 13 states in the United States and more will be added this year. Some of the locations are franchised and some are company owned. Karan Gogri is the franchise owner of the Vista location and will be directing 120 employees in serving and preparing delicious food selections.
Black Bear Diner’s first location was in Mount Shasta in 1995, opened by Bruce Dean and Bob Manley. They began franchising some of the locations in 2002. The Diner has won awards for growth and performance, including the 2021 FSR Magazine’s Readers Choice Award for Best Legacy Brand. Their plan was to provide a diner where “family and friends could enjoy home cooked meals with exceptional service”. The current CEO is Anita Adams and Art Kilmer is the Chief Operating Officer. The Redding based company headquarters is referred to as “The Cave”
All of the diners are designed with a rustic motif and lots of bear paraphernalia. Each diner has a 12 tall black bear carving by Ray Schulz greeting diners as they arrive. Inside there are murals by Colleen Mitchell-Veyna. The menu is a newspaper format called “The Black Bear Gazette”. The children’s Cub’s menu has fun activities and coloring sections.
The menu covers extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner selections. The following is a look at existing Black Bear Diner Menu choices. The Vista location could be the same or slightly different. The breakfast menu includes a variety of omelets like Joe’s Hobo Omelet filled with ham, sausage, bacon and cheddar cheese and the Chicken Fried Steak Omelet.
The large Grizz entre includes 2 sweet cream pancakes and 3 eggs. Many order the Scrambles like the Veggie and the Southern. The 2 egg combo options include ham, chicken fried steak, Italian sausage, corned beef or link sausage. Other interesting breakfast choices are New York steak and eggs, Chorizo breakfast burrito, Breakfast Club melt, Scram Bowl, several options of Benedicts and Biscuits and gravy. There are a number of sides to choose from including creamy grits. Come hungry and take a while to choose from the many selections. There is a children’s breakfast menu as well.
The lunch menu is just as extensive including 8 choices of burgers like the Parmesan Sourdough Cheese Burger and a 10 oz. Bob’s Big Bear Burger. There are 7 sandwich selections, 3 salad selections, chili and daily soup choices. One of my favorites is the open-faced turkey sandwich covered in gravy. Sides choices can be fries, onion rings, cole slaw and other selections. The dinner menu is even more varied. Main courses could be chicken friend steak, roasted turkey, meat loaf, pot roast, Santa Monica Tri-tip, BBQ ribs or New York Steak. A huge choice of sides might find selections like fries, vegetables, red-skinned mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, baked potato, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, onion rings, grits and parmesan toast. Dinner combos might be Surf & Turf, BBQ ribs and shrimp, Shrimp and cod, Tri-tip and chicken fried steak and more. Additional dinner options might be Fish n’ Chips, Shrimp n’ Chips, Build your own pasta, Chicken n’ Waffles or Salmon. There are Little Less options available that would include a 5 oz. chicken fried steak or a 6 oz. Tri-tip for instance and some of the diners have all you can eat Fish Fries and Prime Rib on certain days. All of the usual drinks are available and wine and bottled beer will be offered.
You will definitely not go hungry at a Black Bear Diner, coming soon to Vista.
