Dinerwood on the Road: Keith's is now Aunt Emma's?- San Diego

Update 7-28-10: In this modern world, sometimes things change. The bottom becomes the top, what was right is now wrong, your aunt becomes your uncle, your uncle becomes your aunt.
Keith's in now an Aunt Emma's.





Original review-
Dammit, Keith make up your mind! Are you a restaurant or a coffee shop?

Either way though, you're pretty cool.

Last year when I was in San Diego for (NERD!) Comic Con, I saw the sign for Keith's from the freeway several times but never had the chance to stop. This year, however, I made it an agenda item to hit this place.

Keith's is something like a chain with two locations in the San Diego area. Number 1 Diner Companion Antoinette, her brother, Diner Lad Alex, and I hit the one in south San Diego off the 5 freeway. Technically it is in National City. It's kind of weird to have a town named National City so close to an international border. Seems almost hostile.



Keith's is a locals place. Neighborhood folks walk over for breakfast or stop here after church. Because it's this kind of place, you'll find a homey charm and a genuine friendliness to the staff. I will say that at 9am on Sunday it wasn't very crowded. Was it a sign? We were sure we liked the atmosphere but atmosphere does not equal quality of food.

And of course, they have a crane machine by the door. #1DC Antoinette noted that the claw was too loose to really grab anything. Save your dollars.

Regular readers will remember that I go ga-ga over places that start off with a coffee mug on the table and all you have to do is turn it over to indicate your desire for coffee. Keith's does this. And their coffee has a nice mellow flavor. Diner Lad Alex ordered the hot chocolate and said "This is the best hot chocolate in the world....at least at the bottom." He's 13, he doesn't like anything, but he likes the bottom... of this hot chocolate. A lot. They gave him a hot chocolate refill for free, which was great and rare for any restaurant.



He also liked his simple bacon and cheese omelet.



I ordered the biscuits and gravy with one egg and hash browns. It didn't blow me away, but it was good. Walking in, I knew the food at it's best would be "good." I was just glad it wasn't awful. At this point Keith's was just so enjoyable, I didn't want it ruined by the food.



#1DC Antoinette was especially hungry this morning and went with eggs (scrambled well), bacon and an apple and cinnamon waffle. She was really impressed with the waffle. It's far more common to have a disappointing waffle.

The pie was served warm and had delicious flaky crust (I'm not usually a fan of flaky crust) but it did get mushy toward the bottom. I liked that I could tell that the apple cinnamon from the waffle was not the same recipe as for the pie.



Keith's was a no unnecessary frills, comfortable place. You're not going to get any surprises here--well unless you manage to get something out of that crane machine. You'll have a decent meal in a friendly environment, along with some good coffee.


UPDATE-

I saw the sign from the freeway and thought- "Whoa- I don't remember being able to see an Aunt Emma's sign from here...now where's the Keith's sign...Ohhhh.. Oh." My fears were confirmed when we drove up.

I asked the waitress how long it had been since the change-over and she said almost a year exactly. So basically right after the last time we ate there.



Greg ordered a Monte Cristo. The sandwich was good, but didn't come with any jam. He used the strawberry syrup in its place and that made up for it. The hashbrowns were not every good, not crispy and cold on the inside.



I ordered the special which was "bisteak ranchito." It was chunks of steak in a pico de gallo like sauce with re-fried beans, an egg and tortillas. It was really awesome, quality chunks of meat and really flavorful.

Food: Good.
Service: Good.
Price 6-12
Pie: Yes. -UPDATE- NO pie!

214 National City Blvd,
National City, CA -
(619) 477-4358‎

Spy in the House of Pies

Let me say one thing first- I love House of Pies. This is my favorite establishment in all of Los Angeles. I dare say my favorite establishment since the establishment of democracy in Greece. Let me say a second thing second- I do not go to House of Pies for the food. I go for the pie.
The food at House of Pies can be good, don’t get me wrong. It can also be awful. It can be a great patty melt with delicious crispy french fries. It can also be a hair fried into a Monte Cristo sandwich. I’ve had breakfast lunch and dinner, morning, noon and night and you never know exactly how it’s going to be.

These are the things you can always count on at House of Pies-
Coffee. This coffee comes from God’s own South America. It’s always good. Strong and never burnt. The staff is always there to fill your cup. If I lived closer to the House of Pies, I would come in everyday just for the coffee.
Pie. The best pie this side of the Hollywood sign to be sure and possibly the whole state. I've never had a disappointing slice of pie here. The fruit pies are heavenly. The cream pies are devilishly good. They recently added a peanut butter cream pie that is so wonderful I often wish I could abandon my human form and become a slice of it. Why would I do this? Sounds strange doesn’t it? The reason- I know that I could never bring as much joy to another person as I’d give if I were that pie. That’s how fucking good this pie is.

These are things you might experience when you go to House of Pies-
Service of various quality. Your service at the House of Pies depends entirely on your waitress. This isn’t like the 101 Coffeshop where you can count on bad service because that’s how they do it. At House of Pies I’ve had good service and I’ve had lacking service. I hesitate to use ‘bad" to describe it. I’ve had times where getting the check was an ordeal. It tends to be very consistent with specific waitresses. There’s the older lady with the bum leg who is great up until its time to get the check or order another slice of pie (Yes, I said ANOTHER slice of pie). There’s the obese woman who reminds me of an unhealthy version of my mom who is sweet and never forgets about you. There’s the young Latina with the tight curls pulled back in a severe ponytail who always seems just two steps behind.

Closed for health code violations. A few months ago it was unexpectedly closed for a few days. If that isn’t hardcore diner eating I don’t know what is.
And finally, Captain Pimp. He is an elderly black man with a sweet leather jacket with small chains hanging off it and a captain’s hat and large sunglasses.

This particular morning I sat at the counter. I don’t do that but today was a day for counter service I believe. I was there early enough for the Early Bird special. These are meals for old people. Usually an egg, an english muffin, plain omelet, etc. Light stuff and cheap at under five dollars. I got the diced ham and egg and english muffin. The eggs were a little slimy as usual but certainly edible and enjoyable.




When it came for pie, I had to figure out what kind of mood I was in. Fruit of cream? I’m most often squarely in the cream pie camp. I thought about a chocolate cream pie, which I had not had in some time. The pull of the peanut butter cream was too much and I had to have it.


They serve the peanut butter cream pie with two pecans on top. Why? No clue. Am I curious enough to ask? Nope. This is an incredibly rich pie. The peanut butter flavor might be too much for some but those people are weak so disregard them. If you are one, I have disregarded you. The crusts on the cream pies are crumbly, not flaky. This is how I prefer my pie crusts. Without a tall glass of milk I just can’t do a flaky crust. I have been known to leave the crust uneaten if that’s the case.

Two interesting things from this particular time at House of Pies- An old man put pepper on his cottage cheese. I had never seen that before. I'm sure that man was CRAZY.
A woman sent back her chicken fried steak because she ordered it well done. Which is completely her prerogative, however she also thought her chicken-fried steak was actually chicken, so there you go.


UPDATE: 7-15-2010


I went to House of Pies with my friend Skylar last night. I had not been there in a couple of months and I recieved quite a shock.

What the hell was this? They completely redid the counter. They added two flat-screen tvs and lights and silver. It looks incredibly out of place and bizarre. I can't tell if this is just an odd design choice or if this is the first step in a slow conversion of House of Pies into Ten-Forward from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The pie was as good as ever. We had the fresh peach and the german chocolate cream pie. The peach was amazing. It had thin slices of fresh layered peaches and was naturally sweet. I always forget that the cream pies they serve you are basically a fourth of a pie. It was rich and I only ate about 3/4 of it.

I am starting to dislike the whipped cream tops on the cream pies though. It's too dense and I often find myself scraping most of it off to get to the good stuff beneath it.

Price: $6-14 for most entrees
Food: Hey, it's your call dude.
Service: You take the good, you take the bad.
Pie: Well, yeah!


1869 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles in the Los Feliz - Silverlake District
(323) 666-9961