Way Station Coffee Shop - Worth the drive.

The Way Station Coffee Shop is located at the end of the quiet little main street in Newhall. If you have no clue where Newhall is, you can join the club. #1DC Antoinette and I are former members. We had no idea where it was. We had a vague idea that it was north. It's a small town, both in size and attitude, located not far off the I-5 freeway, near Magic Mountain.

The Way Station is not very big; there are maybe only ten or so tables along with the counter. We were there at 11am and every table was full. I imagine there can be times where there's quite a wait. Luckily our friends Matt and Sara, who live in nearby Val Verde, had gotten there already and grabbed a table.



The interior is decorated with vintage license plates and an assortment of western kitsch. The waitress was a little rushy with us, and I understand the desire for turnover, but it took us a little while even to look at the menus. There was a lot of little stuff to look at all over the the restaurant. We started with some delicious coffee and then took a look at the menu.



The menu is very simple, with only two pages of American breakfasts and lunches. They close at 2pm so there's no reason to go any further with the food choices. It was interesting to me that there was no Mexican influence on the menu. The area is pretty heterogeneous, so I would expect there to be some cross pollination. There are, however, three Mexican joints on the same street, so maybe they know not to compete.

On the griddle is just a mountain range of hash browns slowly cooking. The cook just hacks off a piece of it like Sir Edmund Hilary, crisps it on a hot spot and-boom-ready to go.

#1Diner Companion Antoinette, Matt and Sara all got some basic variations of the standard breakfast.

Antoinette's had bacon, eggs and hash browns. The hash browns and scrambled eggs were really good. The bacon wasn't soggy with grease and had slight crunch to it. It was quality bacon.

Matt got his eggs over-hard and a slab of delicious ham.

Sara abstained from a pork product, but got grilled onions instead.

All of them were delicious.

We also got two sides of the biscuits and gravy and both were very good. You can see from the picture that the white gravy was very smooth, almost milky. The biscuits were a little small but very good.

I ordered the Kris Special, which was kind of like a Benedict but with chicken gravy instead of hollandaise. I didn't expect EVERYTHING to be smothered with the gravy. I didn't mind it though, because it was fabulous.

After our food came, I asked the waitress what pies they had--the menu clearly said they had pie--she said they were out of season and that they only have them in the fall. Pie is always in season, young lady. Always.

The Way Station Coffee Shop is really a top-notch diner. I just lament that it's such a long drive from where we live. If you are north of LA proper, I can't recommend it enough: all around good food and great coffee.

Food: Really good.

Service: A little rushed, but good

Price: $6-$9

Pie: Seasonal

The Way Station Coffee Shop

24377 Main St
Newhall, CA 91321