Dinerwood on the Road: Best breakfast in San Diego is in Chula Vista

On the annual pilgrimage to San Diego Comic Con, me and mine stay in the lovingly rundown city of Chula Vista just south on the 5 freeway. Our usual place was booked up so I found place a few blocks away. Now, when I booked the Big 7 Motel I swear it had a 2 1/2 star rating on Expedia--which I was fine with since I only planned on sleeping there not eating off the carpets. During the approaching months I watched that rating eek ever lower. By the time Dinerfriends Greg and Paul and I checked in, I knew we were in for a crapbox of a stay.

The one saving grace of staying Chula Vista this year was our close proximity to this place--



Family House of Pancakes. If you want to just cut to the chase, let me say it: This place has the best breakfasts in San Diego.

On the first day it was just Greg and I and we had no idea what to expect.



It's a cozy joint with a charming decor ripped right out of a 70s movie.

Waitresses greeted patrons by first name and knew what they'd want to order the minute they sat down. Seriously--one of the waitresses basically did a magic trick. She asked this woman what she wanted and when she replied, the waitress said "I knew you would want that. In case you don't believe me"--she turned her notepad around for the woman to see--"I had already written it down." MAGIC.



To summarize the story: Dad had dreams of opening a restaurant although all he knew how to cook were pancakes. He realized his dream and learned that you should not open a restaurant when all you know how to cook are pancakes. The restaurant struggled until dad died. Mom, heretofore only a homemaker, came in to try to run it. She struggled too and it took the whole surviving family coming together in order to make it even function. Now they do okay.

On the first day I ordered the Tropical Pancakes. Pineapple bits in the batter and on top along with toasted coconut. This was heavenly.



To get some much needed protein to go along with my powerfully carb and sweet pancakes, I ordered a slab of ham. It was delicious.



That morning Greg was a little under the weather and honestly felt more like plain toast and tea but the lure of the bacon waffle was too much. Nice chunks of bacon were mixed in with the waffle--you would think that would go without saying right? I have unfortunately ordered a bacon waffle at places and that just means they lay some slices on top and call it a day. This had a perfect balance of sweetness in the waffle to work with the bacon chunks inside.

The next morning we ate downtown (Cafe 222 review coming soon), but on our last day we made a point of going back to Family Pancake House. This time we took Paul with us.



Paul had the banana pancakes with a side of bacon. His pancakes were almost as good as the ones I had two days before.



Whereas Greg and I ordered coffee (it was decent--not great), Paul ordered only water. They brought his water out in a gigantic cup. I think that actually says a lot about the thoughtfulness of the restaurant.



I had the roast beef hash with eggs and potatoes. I believe the menu said '2' eggs--this was easily 4 or 5 eggs. The country potatoes were thin cut and walked delicately close to crispy. The hash was a tiny bit salty but otherwise everything was delicious. I ate maybe half of what was on my plate and I was bursting.



Greg, fully recovered from his illness of the other day, was the big winner at breakfast. He had the house speciality Irish Benedict. The menu said "corned beef" for the meat portion and we had assumed they were using short hand and it would be corned beef hash, but we were wrong. It was actually hearty cuts of actual corned beef. It was amazing. The waitress (the one who did the magic trick the time before) looked at Greg and said "I know what you're ordering next time you come in. I'll remember." No doubt she meant it.

When our waitress brought out our food that morning she apologized for the delay. We had waited maybe ten minutes--I think it was probably closer to five. Their turn around was blindingly fast.

I love Family House of Pancakes. I was actually upset that it took four years to find this place and I had to eat at Aunt Emma's Pancakes more than once. This is officially my breakfast headquarters when I'm in San Diego. Now I just need to find a slightly better motel to stay at nearby for SDCC 2012.

Food: Great
Service: Exceptional
Price: $7-10
Pie: Yes.

Family House of Pancakes
562 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910

On the Road: San Diego's Waffle Spot

Dinerwife Antoinette and I were planning a weekend trip to San Diego. While searching for a hotel option Antoinette stumbled upon a place that had a diner IN the hotel. The Kings Inn, located in (or is it on?) Hotel Circle is home to the Waffle Spot. It's also the home to the Amigo Spot taco stand--that for some reason gets top billing.



Inside, the Wafflespot is pretty typical; pastel colors, a long counter and a few booths. Typical--save for the fanciful mural that covers one of the walls depicting a medieval landscape populated by the Wafflespot cast of characters.



Yes, the Wafflespot has Disney--or really McDonald's--style characters.



Sir Wafflelot rules this land. He's wearing a crown but still called "Sir." I think he must be more like a "Regent" than a king. He's also a hard-ass. "No substitutions" he decrees.



There's Squire Browns--he looks kind of nervous. "Ehhhh, I'm just takin' the little spuds for a walk. Yeaaah. That's the ticket."

Then there's this also nervous looking roller skating egg guy. I think he's called J-egg-ster? I dunno. I made that up. He wears roller skates so I can relate to this guy.

Sir Reginald Muffintop... I also made that up.



I ordered the Apple Cinnamon waffles. When it arrived it looked quite different. It had bananas. I was about to point it out when the waitress caught it. "You ordered the apple!" She then ran back to the kitchen. The waffle was okay--not as good as I had hoped. It was a little undercooked. The kitchen had clearly rushed it to get it to the table. The menu said there was supposed to be diced apples in the waffle; I didn't really notice any. The eggs were okay. The bacon was actually pretty good, while the sausage was too greasy for my taste.

Antoinette got the Country Casserole. Two scrambled eggs on top of biscuits and gravy over a bed of home fries. It was good, but a little salty

Some of the breakfasts come with an option of toast. That's pretty standard, no big whoop. But at the Waffle Spot, one of your options is actually mini-waffles! That's pretty awesome. Like REALLY pretty awesome. The mini-waffles were better than my big waffle.

Overall, Waffle Spot wasn't nearly as good as we had hoped. Even thought it was conveniently located AT our hotel, we only ate there the one time. If you like cartoon food mascots--THIS--is the place for you.

For more information you can visit their website.

http://kingsinnsandiego.com/

It has this on the website:

Contact us...using your cellphone.... from 1999.

Food: Okay.
Price: $7-10
Service: Friendly.
Pie: No, pie.

The Waffle Spot
1333 Hotel Circle South
San Diego, California 92108

Dinerwood on the Road: Clayton's Coffee Shop - San Diego

Original Dinerwood Friend Greg and I went down to San Diego for San Diego Comic Con this past weekend. On our first day we neglected to eat anything. By the end of the day, we had gone beyond starving and into a dull ache in our tummies. We shambled back to the car with our swag bags and headed out to Coronado island. Last year #1DC Antoinette and I had a bizarre and awkward experience at the Night and Day Cafe; located just down the street from there is Clayton's Coffee Shop.

My biggest concern with doing a Dinerwood review on such an empty stomach was that we'd be so hungry that everything and anything would taste good. That ended up not being the case. That sounds ominous, but it's not.



Clayton's Coffee Shop is how you do a 50's diner right. It's not over the top. It really feels like a place you could have eaten at back in the 1950s.



A jukebox is about as garish as Clayton's gets. It doesn't need pictures of Marilyn and Elvis on the wall to capture the feel. It does so with colors and textures.

It was 9pm on Thursday, so things were starting to slow down. There were a few singles at the counter and a few couples at the booths. There were still about four waitresses working and we never wanted for refills on water or coffee (The coffee was only okay).

When our waitress came to take our order, I asked what she recommended. This is always an interesting question to ask. If they say "everything," it's not at all helpful and tells you a lot about the waitress. If they say "nothing," WHOA--That's an honest waitress and you should listen to her. If they ask for more specifics, you know she's taking your question seriously. She asked what we were in the mood for. I wanted breakfast, Greg was more open. We just told her we were starving.

She began a litany of menu items and before long the ladies at the table behind us joined in and started listing their favorites. The daily special was a turkey pot pie, which one of the ladies was currently eating and said it was delicious. Ultimately, I went with corned beef hash and eggs and Greg got the baked turkey dinner.

Greg was also sold on the soup-of-the-day, which was chicken tortilla. Apparently, the owner of Clayton's also owns the Mexican take-out place next door and a lot of their Mexican dishes are actually made there and then brought over t0 the coffee shop.



The soup was really good. It was hearty--each spoonful had some tomato, some chicken, some tortilla and some cheese. It was just a little spicy, giving a little tweak to your taste buds.



Our waitress then brought out Greg's baked turkey dinner. It was a giant mound of turkey and a giant scoop of potato, flanked by a medley of steamed fresh vegetables and a dish of cranberry. Here's how I know I wasn't so hungry that my opinion would be off--I did not care for the gravy. It needed more salt. You could tell it was made with real pan drippings, but it just wasn't salty enough for me. Greg liked it, though. Everything else was great, but I couldn't get behind the gravy.



My breakfast-for-dinner came out looking a little cramped on the plate. There was a lot more corned beef hash on the plate than the picture shows. I ordered my eggs over medium and two of them were right, but one was cooked through. Not a huge deal, since they all tasted good. The hash browns were standard and tasty. The corned beef hash was outstanding. In fact, it was the second best corned beef hash I have had in California. The best is at Nick's in Los Angeles.



I'm not sure what they did with my biscuit, but the bottom was a little soggy (maybe they put it on a freshly washed plate that wasn't dry yet?). Otherwise, it was good. I tore it in half and used one half to sop up some egg yolk and the other to just have with jam.

One of the women who had been sitting behind us stopped by our table to see how we were enjoying the food. Although we didn't take her advice about the turkey pot pie or french toast, she was very sweet. She asked why we were in town and when we told her it was for Comic-Con she got a little sad. It was her first year not going. She and her husband had enjoyed going every year. She was Mrs. Dick Durock. She was Mrs. Swamp-Thing.

I almost wanted to thank her for her husband's service, but that would have been weird.

She wished us well and told us to have fun at the Con.



This was my favorite piece of decor at Clayton's. They take delicious pie so seriously, they painted it on their wall. Here was my odd conundrum--I wasn't totally in the mood for pie. Shock! Horror! I was craving a milkshake. I thought I might have to order both and then explode like the guy from that Monty Python movie.



Greg saved me from such a fate and ordered the apple pie and let me have a few bites. It was very good. It tasted fresh and was made with granny smith apples, which gave it some tart flavor. The crust was dry but not "dusty."

I asked our waitress what kind of milkshake she recommended. I knew which one I wanted and I was hoping she'd list it early to confirm my craving. She went down what seemed like the whole list before I finally stopped her. "What about peanut butter and chocolate?" "Oh, I haven't tried that one."

I went with it. Some sips were more peanut butter, some sips were more chocolate. Each one was heaven.

Clayton's Coffee Shop just became my go-to spot in San Diego. I will drive over that giant bridge to get to the island any time. It was pleasant and absolutely a classic.

Food: Good.
Service: Very good.
Price: $6-$10
Pie: Various. And good shakes!

Clayton's Coffee Shop
979 Orange Avenue
Coronado, CA 92118
619) 435-5425

Dinerwood on the Road: Hash House A No-No? San Diego and Las Vegas

I have mentioned on this blog sporadically that if I go to place to review it and what-whatever happens and I don't get to writing the review until much later, I will often just stash it away. The reviews tends to suffer with too much distance from the experience. I've been staring at this half-written review for a long time and I just recently found my notes again, so I'm going to give it a try.

A long, long time ago, I was in San Diego with #1DC Antoinette and her brother Alex. I had heard such great things about Hash House A Go Go, that I had to make a point of going there.

After a bit of a wait outside, we finally made it in. I was surprised at how upscale it seemed. I envisioned something more mod or flashy with a name that ended with "A Go Go." Art prints of tractors were not what I expected.

The menu offered a lot of intriguing options. Everything seemed to be trying too hard to get my attention. They were all yelling ,"pick me! pick me!" I did like that there was a lot of variety within the categories, like eleven different flavors of flapjacks or five different kinds of Benedicts. Nearly everything is served with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. I was trying to settle on one of the hashes or a pancake dish. I decided to go with whatever the waitress suggested.

She suggested the Sage Fried Chicken Benedict. I was surprised as that was not really at all close to either of the things I was considering. It did sound good, so I went with it.

#1DC Antoinette and Diner Lad Alex went for less frou-frou menu items. Or in #1DC Antoinette's case, what she THOUGHT was a less frou-frou item.

As soon as our food arrived, we learned that it was all about presentation at Hash House A Go Go.



It looks like someone has been watching too much "Dexter" on Showtime. This dish is a crazy mess. That's the simple sounding Granola with Milk and Fruit. Yes, that appears to be an whole unpeeled banana and a whole peeled banana. It looked pretty, but those splatters could prove disastrous for someones clothing.


(sorry for the blurry picture)

Diner Lad Alex ordered the Tractor Driver Combo. That's a big, big-ass pancake.



The first time they brought this out, I took a few bites and realized that the chicken was dangerously undercooked. Not quite squawking, but certainly kill-me-if-I-had-eaten-any-more-of-it level preparedness. The waitress took it away and soon returned with one that ended up not killing me.

Let me correct myself, at Hash House a Go Go, it's not all about presentation, it's also significantly about portion.







We couldn't finish any of our breakfasts.

I do wish that as much thought was put into the flavor of the food as was put into presentation. Part of why we didn't finish was that the food wasn't all that good. We could easily stop ourselves as there was no desire to get more of that flavor onto our tongues.

They very sweetly took my meal off the bill, which I did appreciate. If they hadn't the bill for the three of us would have been nearly fifty dollars. That's a bit pricey for the quality but not for the quantity. If you really want to go there, definitely order something to share.

Food: Not that good.
Service: Friendly.
Price: Expensive. 12.95-16.95
Pie: None.

Hash House A Go Go
3628 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 298-4646

While Las Vegas, I went with some friends to the Hash House A Go Go there. The food was only marginally better here.



I just really wanted to include the picture below since I find it hilarious and kind of gross.



This looks like a sombrero vomited up some scrambled eggs. Yum!

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/