The most important meal of the day is now being served at Mystic Mocha in University Heights, a gay-owned operation that sits off the beaten track in the mostly residential area where Alabama Street and Mission Avenue meet. Proprietors Jeff Conway and his partner, Pete Martinez, initially used the space for a coffeehouse before recently rolling out a bright breakfast-lunch menu of egg scrambles, wraps, quesadillas and quiche. There’s also a hearty selection of homemade baked goods, which Conway starts making daily around 3:30 a.m. Among the big sellers are the Mexican chocolate muffins.

Straight from Berkeley comes Paul Bertolli’s coveted all-pork Salametto and Gentile salamis, carried only at Taste Artisan Cheese & Gourmet Shop on University Avenue in Hillcrest. Rich, garlicky and speckled with flavorful fat globs, the dry-cured “links” are sold in 12-ounce and 2-pound portions, respectively, and have earned raves in several national food publications in the past two years. “We move a lot of them, and we’re the only place in San Diego that sells it,” says Mary Palmer, who owns the cheese shop with her husband, George. The couple also just added to their gourmet retail line of Italian truffled salt and truffled butter that comes in a can from Italy’s Alta Langhe region. And if you’re wracking your brains for gift ideas this holiday season and looking to save a few bucks, the shop is offering 10 percent off its custom-made wine crate gift baskets if you preorder by Nov. 30.

Hurray for Boar’s Head! The company’s high-grade cold cuts and cheeses are finally inching their way into the mass consumer market locally, having arrived in the deli cases at Ralphs in Hillcrest, downtown and Mission Valley. The Brooklyn-based company, founded in 1905, is lauded for making cold cuts sans any byproducts, fillers or artificial flavorings. Until recently, Boar’s Head products could only be purchased at specialty delis. According to a Ralphs representative I spoke with, the Boar’s Head label will be found eventually in all Ralphs locations in the coming months.

Just when I thought San Diego pizza couldn’t get much worse, it did. What used to be Godfather’s Pizza and then Cheezy Pizza Gourmet has again changed names to Joe’s Pizza, which seems about as uninspired as the dough and sauce recipes it now uses to make the pies. At a recent gathering, five of us gave unanimous thumbs down to two different pizzas we ordered – sausage with peppers and one with veggie toppings. Both pizzas had about as much flavor as tree bark, thanks to utterly bland sauce, cheap cheese and hopelessly dry crusts. Customer service was also abysmal.

After bringing in a structural engineer to help create the feel of a hunting lodge, the Tractor Room in Hillcrest opens Friday, Nov. 24, in the bungalow structure that was formerly Rice Jones on Fifth Avenue. Co-owner Johnny Rivera, who also operates Hash House a Go Go directly across the street, says the Tractor Room is both a restaurant and cocktail house with a kitchen that will stay open until 12:30 a.m., Wednesdays through Sundays. The menu, he adds, “is completely different than Hash House.” The bill of fare includes game meats, stews, sirloin burgers and appetizers geared for slurping down cocktails. Design features include a six-foot-wide deer antler chandelier from Montana, cowhide and brown leather bar stools and a 25-foot cedar log that was cut in half and turned into a bar.

San Diego chef Gavin Kaysen of El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn will represent the United States at the Bocuse d’ Or World Cuisine Contest, taking place Jan. 23-24 in Lyon, France. The 20-something Kaysen, a rising star in national culinary circles, will compete against 23 nations for the top honors. His entries will be Bresse chicken, Norwegian halibut and king crab showcased on platters designed for him in Paris.