Dinerwood on the Road International!: Melbourne's Pancake Parlour

I recently had the good fortune of going to Australia to indulge in my other hobby. As soon as I found out that I was going, I looked into possible places I could review. Being on someone else's schedule and without a vehicle of my own meant I was going to be limited to places near where we would be staying. I made a list of places that given the opportunity I could make a try for. I wasn't having much luck until halfway through the trip an opportunity finally arose in Melbourne. Early one morning and I was able to strike out on my own.

Before we get into the review, I should mention some of the related culture shock I experienced while on this trip. Like Vincent Vega said in "Pulp Fiction," "it's the little differences." Free internet access is nearly non-existent. List of places with reliable free wi-fi: McDonalds, Starbucks. End of list!
Breakfast is referred to as "brekkie." All coffee there is espresso--ALL OF IT.

That last one is a big one. I'm a simple man, I like butter on my toast and coffee in my mouth--regular filtered coffee. You order a regular coffee there and they will bring some watery instant stuff from a packet. They have their espresso drinks dialed tight (I have come to enjoy a 'flat white' espresso when the opportunity presents itself), but regular coffee not so much. Refills were not free and in an already expensive country, my habit was severely denting my per diem. I had taken to carrying a travel mug with me so I could refill with the instant coffee packets found in my hotel rooms.





My destination that morning was The Pancake Parlour. I should say, it is a chain in Australia. I think it was okay to break my "no chain" policy while on another continent. This location, in downtown Melbourne, was actually on the lower level of a shopping complex. It was located across from The Reject Shop, which the name alone made me so want to shop there after my "brekkie." Turns out that The Reject Shop is just the Aussie version of Big Lots. Honesty, pass it on.

Traveling down the escalator I was greeted by this wonderful Victorian-esque mural. I don't know what a "pancake tossing race" is but I'm pretty it was the sexiest thing since exposed ankles at the beach.

This photo doesn't sell it as much as I'd like but The Pancake Parlour is like a bizarre mash-up of an IHOP and an old-school Shakey's Pizza.



Checking out the menu I was a little surprised that so much of the focus was on pancakes. I know that sounds weird, but I expected a scatter-shot menu--"family restaurant" style--an Outback Jack-s Of All Trades, if you will (yes, I did just make that joke). This was all about pancakes, both sweet and savory and then a few token salads and egg breakfasts.

Within seconds of scanning the menu my jaw dropped and I heard a hosanna from the angels.

Bottomless. Filtered. Coffee. Hell. Yeah. I would have stayed all day if I could.



Everything is better with a monkey on it.



I couldn't decide between the Jamaican Banana or the Hot Buttered Walnut pancakes. That's when I saw it.

This was "It." And "It" was good. It's the banana and the walnut together. I rarely go for this kind of dessert for breakfast since it can be overwhelming, but I was on a vacation of sorts. I was going to live a little. This combination worked really well. It was sweet but not too sweet. The bananas still tasted like bananas and the walnuts complimented them well. I opted for whipped cream over ice cream, because being on vacation is one thing, going whole hog is something else. 8am definitely sounded like too early for ice cream. Maybe I should have just gone for it, I probably wasn't thinking straight. It had been so long since I had had...






...SWEET, SWEET REGULAR OLD DRIP COFFEE.

I can't really evaluate if this was good or not...but it was hot and familiar and it definitely was good at the time. A tiny taste of home that served its purpose.



In fact, as I was finishing up and the waitress came by to ask if there was anything else she could do for me, I asked her if she could refill my coffee one last time.  When she came back with the pot, I asked if she could just pour it directly into my travel mug. She seemed confused but she did oblige.

Food: Good
Price $18-22--yes expensive, but you don't tip in Australia so it balances out a bit.
Service: Good.
Pie: No pie. 

The Pancake Parlor
Bourke Street Mall
Melbourne, Australia
Pancake Parlour website

Nick's Cafe--On the Other Side of China(town) is America.

I knew it existed, but I didn't quite know where Nick's Cafe (not to be confused with Nick's Coffee Shop ) actually was. One day I took a slightly different way into work and just happened to glance the right way and, to my surprise, there it was, just before Chinatown.

I decided to leave for work a little bit earlier yesterday and get some breakfast. I knew the building was small, but I had no idea until I stepped inside. It's all counter with a single table on the far side, but I don't think anyone is meant to sit there since it was piled with boxes when I walked in.

I'm not shy about taking pictures anymore unless it seems obtrusive to the other diners; in Nick's it definitely felt obtrusive. We were packed in. I was sandwiched between two groups of guys, one of which was arguing about the Lakers and the other about parachuting--not civilian parachuting but Airborne/knifing Nazis in the throat--parachuting. I think either party would have been a little edgy about a camera snapping photos.

On the other side of the counter were two cops, and its creepy taking pictures of cops. It's creepy for them; it's creepy for me. They only get their picture taken when they are doing something wrong or when they are being targeted by the evil South Africans from Lethal Weapon 2.



I waited for them to get up before surreptitiously taking this awful picture.

Let me also say that when I got the coffee at Nick's Cafe and it awesome, I knew I was off to a good start.

Nick's is only open until 2pm (Mon-Sat, not open on Sundays) so the menu only covers breakfast and lunch. It is a solid diner menu: a dozen different egg specials, pancakes, waffles, sandwiches and soup--sadly no desserts. I saw that their corned beef hash breakfast was made with "fresh ground beef," so I wanted to give it shot.

I have to say, that this was hands down the best corned beef hash I have had in California (the best overall was at Jam in Portland). It tasted fresh, as fresh as a brine-cured meat can be. This was so far beyond the canned stuff I've had at most restaurants as to actually taste almost unfamiliar as "corned beef hash." There were no cubes of potato and there was no dog food sliminess. The only negative thing I could say about it was that it was shade too greasy.

The potatoes at Nick's are also amazing. They are shredded so fine that they must crisp instantly on the griddle. The only thing I can really compare them to are Chinese crispy fried noodles.

My toast also came with a homemade apple and grape jelly (I think that's what it was). I also assume it was homemade because it wasn't sweet enough for store bought jam. They also make and sell their own salsa, but there was nothing on my plate that I thought salsa would improve, so I skipped it.

By the time I was halfway done with my breakfast, everyone else had cleared out and it was just the cook, the server and me. The server and I chatted about scooters and vacations and Fall weather. It was very pleasant.

I really fell in love with Nick's Cafe. I can see myself going there at least once every two weeks or so, or whenever I haul my butt out of bed early enough to go before work. It's working class; it's simple; it's delicious; it's what a diner is meant to be.

Food: Great.
Service: Friendly.
Price: $6-$9. (Cash only, but ATM on premises)
Pie: No pie.

Nick's Cafe
1300 N. Spring st.
Los Angeles CA 90012

Dinerwood on the Road: Aunt Emma's Pancake Restaurant, San Diego

Sometimes you turn a corner and BAM! you find something you weren't expecting--maybe it's a twenty dollar bill you find on vacation and your parents let you blow it on Masters of the Universe action figures; maybe it's an old friend who just got a job working the counter at the questionable "bookstore" you frequent; maybe it's driving around your hotel your first night in town and seeing a sign that says "Aunt Emma's Pancake Restaurant." Sometimes it's that last one.

It was closed at the time we drove by (it's only open from 6am to 3pm), but in the dark it looked pretty awesome. We woke up early the next day and headed over.



It wasn't too crowded inside but this was also a Friday morning. I imagine it is busier on weekends. The interior felt newly remodeled. There was a pretty keen half circle counter up by the kitchen which was mirrored by a half circle lowered part of the ceiling. It made me imagine that at one time this place may have had a bit more style and design to it. Now it was decorated in warm earth tones and hotel room art.

We were seated in the span of no more than three minutes, then three different waitresses asked what we wanted to drink. We tried to explain to the later two that someone had already asked but they whizzed away so quickly that we failed. Two of the waitresses came to the table at the same time carrying our two glasses of water and a coffee. Aunt Emma's is the kind of place that leaves you your own pot of coffee on the table, and loyal readers will remember that I love that. After this and taking our order we hardly saw our waitress again.



The menu was very deep and traditional, and of course there was one item that was dominant: the pancake. This is a breakfast joint where the pancake is king and the king is a dessert.



There is a mess of different pancakes on the menu and nearly all of them involve whipped cream. It being only 8am, I wasn't in the mood for dessert so I ordered the corn pancake, described as "Corn flavored with corn topping."

#1DC Antoinette ordered a strawberry crepe (the foreign cousin of the pancake) and we shared eggs, turkey sausage, and fruit.



It is strawberry season so it was a bewildering that they used frozen strawberries. This might be the most 'foodie' critique I've ever made of a place, and although they were fine tasting, it was just such a cheap restaurant cop-out. The crepe was a little rubbery but tasted all right.

The eggs could have been good but were lukewarm when they arrived. The fruit bowl was a bit plain and the sausage was typical. Although I neglected to take a picture of it, I also ordered hash browns, which were actually pretty gross.



When the menu said "corn flavored" I imagined it may be a corn meal pancake which would have been nice. When it came out and it seemed to just be the regular pancakes with some corn niblets on top, I was a little disappointed. The pancake did have some sort of vague corn flavor, but I wasn't sure if that was just flavor transference from the corn topping. And that white mess on the plate that looks like a wadded up napkin? That's the plop of butter they put on the plate.

Aunt Emma's wasn't the treasure I had hoped it would be. It was adequate and reasonable. I may go there again just to try the dessert pancakes, but it's not a place I can give a gushing recommendation.

UPDATE- 7-27-10

One year later, I was back in San Diego and staying at the same hotel. This time, #1DC Antoinette stayed home and old Dinerwood friend Greg was with me. Although unimpressed on the first trip, I wanted to give it another try.

When we walked in, the waitress very apologetically informed us that the booths were full. We saw about a half dozen empty tables in the center.

"Can we have a table?" I asked.
"Oh, sure" and then she took us to a table.

I was really confused by this until I heard two other parties refuse tables and choose to wait. When we left there were even more people waiting for booths while tables sat empty. Those booth seats must be freakin' amazing.

The coffee was pretty weak, which was unfortunate. I could really have used a pick-up.

Our waitress told us about the $3.99 breakfast specials. We could not refuse that price.

I went with a standard egg and pancake breakfast. Eggs and sausage were pretty standard. I used the strawberry syrup on pancakes and it was shockingly good. The pancakes were very dense, almost like shortcake. With that syrup, it made them taste almost like strawberry shortcake.

Greg had the chicken fajita omelette and it was very good. The chicken was juicy big chunks with a nice seasoning.

The best part was the final bill. That's a cheap breakfast.

I still somehow forgot to take a picture of the sign.

Food: Okay. -update- I'm going to call it 'Good' now.
Service: Fine.
Price: $6-10
Pie: Various. -update- I didn't see any listed on the menu.

Aunt Emma's Pancake Restaurant
700 E St.
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 427-2722
http://www.auntemmaspancakes.com/

Dale's Diner: Coffee, pie and short skirts.

My first Long Beach review! Are you excited? I know I was.



Dale's Diner was found thanks to my GPS. You can look for local stores and restaurants by either name or type. They even have a category for Cafe/Diners. So early last Sunday morning, after going to the Long Beach flea market, I needed a break from trudging up and down the aisles of junk and antiques and decided to get some breakfast.

I was a little hesitant walking in since this was so overwhelmingly a '50's style diner' and those can be kind of gut-punching or surprisingly good (see: Stevie Dees). It wasn't blaring 50s rock n' roll but it had the jukebox and some pretty sweet classic car trunk cushion booths (there's gotta be a shorter name for that).





I would have liked to have taken more pictures of the interior but the fact that all of the waitresses looked to be under 18 and wearing alarmingly short skirts, I felt pervy enough from taking the few pictures I did. Hitting this place solo also limited my organic taking pictures opportunities, since it's hard to pretend that you just got this this new camera and are just playing around with it and amusing your dining companion, when you have no #1DC with you.
#1DC Antoinette and I have a system down of my pretending to take a picture of her but really taking a picture of something else and vice versa.

I sat myself as directed by the white board at the entrance. All four of the waitresses checked in with me. I ordered a coffee and a water to start with. The coffee was phenomenal: super strong and super hot and super good.


Mmm...homemade chili and beans.


Thing's weren't cheap at Dale's. Most dishes hovered around 8 dollars. I was intrigued by the different flapjacks they listed--Oreo cookie for instance. It turned out their list of flapjacks was pretty close to their types of pies (apple, blue berry, bannana, no oreo, etc.) I was sorely tempted, but in the end I went with the biscuits and gravy for only $4.50. I also warned my food-order-taking waitress- who was different from my beverage waitress, who in turn was different from my second beverage waitress-that I would order pie later.



The biscuits and gravy were decent. The gravy was a bit too thick and the sausage bits were too small and few to really matter. The biscuits were quite good. This might not sound appealing to everyone, but I like to describe them as "powdery."




Now, as I mentioned earlier, I warned my waitress that I'd like pie later. I sat a long time waiting for her return. I also sat a long time waiting for a refill on my coffee. When my refill came, I asked my beverage waitress for my food waitress so I could order some pie. She eventually came over and I got a slice of apple pie. The pie was very cinnamon-y and, as you can tell from that picture, it was more reddish brown than golden.


I had to wait a bit longer for my check. By that time the place had filled up with people saying things like "Oh our regular table is open." and "Oh, let's try something different this week." and "Whoa, those skirts are REALLY short on those underage girls."


As super pervy as it might sound, I liked Dale's Diner more than I expected. It was fun without being obnoxious. The highlight was the coffee and the pie. I learned on my way out that they actually offer day old pie for $1.99, which would imply they get fresh pie every day, which is nice. I can't imagine the rest of the food is going to be bad or better than good. Seems like a decent place with a local following, if you are nearby it would be worth it for the coffee alone.



Food-Decent
Service-Meh, high school girls.
Price-A tiny bit high.
Pie-Good pie.

Dale's Diner
4339 East Carson Street
Long Beach, CA 90808
(562) 425-7285

Stevie Dee's Cafe - Shake the Shack.

We found it by accident. Number One Diner Companion Antoinette says she's probably driven past it a hundred times. While looking for a place to get dinner, we searched "new Rancho Cucamonga restaurants" and stumbled upon this place, Stevie Dee's Cafe. Formerly known as
Chuck's Diner, the name change is, I'm sure, how it came up as a result for "new" restaurants.



Stevie Dee's Cafe is a shack by the railroad tracks. It's a "50's Diner," which usually means enough kitsch to make you throw up your chotskies. As soon as you walk inside, ou know the place is going to be an experience; there are innumerable pictures of Elvis and Marilyn everywhere. Elvis as a cowboy, Elvis as a soldier, Elvis as your barber, Elvis as your mom. And Marilyn as...well, Marilyn.



Like in most--scratch that--ALL 50's diners, there is a collection of Coca-Cola merchandise for sale. Why is this a trope of this style of diner? If anything, Pepsi is more of a icon from the 50s. 50's diners are all about an odd nostalgia for the pop culture of the time. Coke's never left the consciousness of the culture so it can't be dated to a specific time. Never has the Pepsi brand been so heavily pushed as it was in the 1950s. PepsiCo had Joan Crawford and a giant monkey-man hawking it, for Pete's sake! Why does Coca-Cola have such a lock down on nostalgia?



I'll be the first to say; I like that 50's kitsch. I went through my rockabilly phase and have the pomade to prove it. Growing up, my older sister went through a phase where we actually redecorated her bedroom to look like a 1950's malt shop--black and white tile and all. I have my James Dean, Elvis, Marilyn, Brando in "The Wild One", 'Chantilly Lace,' and 'Pink Carnation and a Pickup Truck' pedigree. I can also see how that kind of environment might provide an annoying dining experience. What saves Stevie Dee's Cafe is that this building looks and feels really...old.



It's a folksy charm place, with a 'well-gosh-darn-it, we're going to make due with what we got attitude.' It's old without being decrepit. Its out of the way location (not being by an off ramp or a shopping center) makes me imagine it as a "locals only" establishment where a fella could just disappear into a new identity, forget all the wrong he's done, and start living right with God.

We sat down at our table and pulled our the menus from the little holder on the table. Glancing through them, we were surprised at how cheap everything was. The most expensive item on the menu was the T-bone and eggs, as $8.99. The cheapest, coffee at 99 cents. You don't get 99 cent coffee anywhere and it was better than I've had at most run of the mill joints.

Although our waitress recommended the french toast, I settled on an old fashioned pancake breakfast ($5.99) while Number One Diner Companion Antoinette went with the Breakfast Special ($3.99).



This is a spread of food, all for 4 bucks. The eggs, like mine, were dangerously close to 'too wet.' Antoinette thought they were good, and she's the discerning one. The home fries were thin cut slices of potato browned with just a hint of green pepper, and just greasy enough to be good. While the biscuit itself was unspectacular, the gravy was excellent: peppery and not too heavy, with large chunks of real sausage soaking in it. I wish the sausage they used in the gravy was what they served with the breakfast specials.



The whole ensemble was exactly what you'd expect. The pancakes were regular ol' restaurant pancakes. The eggs were eggs. The bacon was crispy like it should be. The breakfast links were fine, but I've finally come to terms with the sad reality; I have lost my taste for breakfast links. What are terrible state to be in for a diner reviewer! Alas, here I am.

The servers were all over us. I'd take two sips of my coffee and a guy would be there to refill it. Our waitress must have asked us a dozen times if we needed anything else and/or how we were doing. On our way out, we noticed a hand written sign by the door apologizing if the food took too long and for any other inconvenience, and that they phone orders were welcome, to speed up the lunchtime rush. Afterward, as I was looking at the Yelp review for Stevie Dee's, I noted that some had commented about the service being lack-luster. They were clearly trying to turn things around; our food arrived quickly, and the service was nothing less than solicitious.

You'll want to note that the parking lot is pretty small, and if the lot ever gets full, I have no idea where you could park nearby. Luckily, this is a hidden away place and I can't imagine it ever gets over-crowded.

On weekends they are only open until 3pm but during the week they stay open until 7:30pm for dinner.

Stevie Dee's Cafe was a nice find and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Food: Good.
Service: Very Attentive.
Price: $4-$8
Pie: No. They do have home-made cookies, cake, and serve frozen ice cream treatslike the ones the ice cream man sells.

Stevie Dee's Cafe
8890 8th St, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730-4304 (Map)
Phone: (909) 608-0260