Breakfast on the Beach – Stuft Surfer Café – Newport Beach, CA

One of the things I like most about this Blog is it has forced me to open my eyes and look around for food. One of the biggest complaints people have that live in Orange County is there is nowhere to eat that is not a chain. Breakfast spots are even harder to find. Like I said all you need to do is open your eyes.

Recently Kim and I went on a bike ride up and down Balboa Peninsula. We had a lot of fun riding out to the “Wedge” and down to the Newport Beach Pier. We found the Stuft Surfer Café by accident. This is a little tiny beach snack shop sitting on the beach between the Newport Beach Pier and the Balboa Pier. It is right on the bike path and usually has a line on the weekend so it is hard to miss.

Spinach, Swiss cheese, and Mushroom Omelet

We waited about 20 minutes in line but it went pretty quickly. We were at the beach so it was all good. Kim ordered their Spinach, Swiss cheese, and Mushroom Omelet. It came with red potato home fries and toast. The omelet was cooked perfect, with just the right amount of cheese and of plenty spinach and mushrooms inside. Simple but executed perfectly.

Special Meat Lovers Breakfast Burrito

I ordered their Meat Lovers Breakfast Burrito that was on special that day. It came with home fries and a small Dietrich’s coffee. This burrito was a monster filled with sausage, bacon, ham, red potatoes, green peppers, onions, cheese, and of coarse scrambled eggs. With the red potato home fries there was actually too much for me to eat. We both really liked their home fries. Tender potato chunks with a nice crust and perfectly seasoned.

We both enjoyed the Stuft Surfer Cafe and will be back again. Pretty good food for a snack shop on the beach. Finding cool places like this is making it harder for me to complain that there is no place to find good breakfast in Orange County!!

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4th of July Breakfast in Old Town Orange – Kimmie’s Coffee Cup

Nothing like a three-day holiday to inspire us to partake in a breakfast foodie adventure. This holiday morning we finally made our way over to Kimmie’s Coffee Cup in Old Town. My wife Kim found them online a couple of months back and for some reason we kept forgetting about it until now.

The Kimmie’s Coffee Cup in Orange is one of four in Orange County. The one we visited has a European country kitchen feel with about twenty tables available inside and out along with a counter.

Kim ordered their special of the day, which was blueberry pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. Very red, white and blue! These were served with eggs and sausage. Kim almost gave me her sausage but the waitress was kind enough to proactively ask if she wanted something else instead. This worked out well as she ordered a side of hash browns. It made it easier for me to decide what I wanted. The pancakes were fluffy and tender and they had a lot of blueberries. Fresh strawberries are always a nice touch. The only area of improvement on this was they used the canned blueberries for the batter on top as garnish. Considering it is a special it makes sense maybe to not have fresh berries but maybe not have them on the outside if that is the case. The eggs were scrambled perfectly and you can tell they were cracked fresh! The hash browns are awesome, nice crunch on the outside and buttery on the inside.

Red, White and Blue Pancakes

I ordered the Country Benedict. This was an open-faced biscuit topped with their own homemade sausage patty with two eggs and country gravy. I really liked their sausage. It had a ton of flavor and a small touch of spice! The biscuits were fresh and my over medium eggs were right on the money. The benedict was served with redskin potatoes with peppers and onions. They were seasoned well and had a good flavor to them. If they were crisped up a bit they would have been as good as the hash browns. But the hash browns won that battle. They reminded me of a time when I was a kid and would go to breakfast with my grandmother. Dang, I really love "good" hash browns!

Country Benedict

Kimmie’s Coffee Cup did a good breakfast. The servers were all very friendly and super attentive. Coffee was never less then half full which is nice when you need a caffeine boost. I am sure we will visit them out again!

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Hard to Find Good Breakfast Outside the US - Pop's Cafe - Santa Ana, CA

It is good to be back home. We recently returned from a vacation in Scotland. We had a great time and had some spectacular food, however that is another story coming soon. As you may have noticed we like food trucks, diners and breakfast. Well if you have ever traveled outside the US you know that breakfast is something that is just not the same no matter where you go. That is not saying you cannot find a good breakfast but it is nothing like what we can get on a regular basis here in the states.

This past weekend we decided that we would try something new. Kim did a quick search and found Pop's Cafe located in downtown Santa Ana. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. It is a place that looks like they have been there forever. I was surprised that we had never heard of them.

We got there early on Sunday morning so were able to easily find a parking spot and sit outside. They have a pretty straightforward menu. The normal omelets, meat with egg dishes and so on. We tried a couple of things that you don't find everywhere but are still distinctly American.

Deep Fried French Toast

First was their deep-fried French toast. All I can say is "WOW". This alone was worth the visit. Two one inch thick slices of bread that were battered and fried. It had a wonderful texture which was crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. It was salty but with the butter and syrup it was a well-balanced and perfect bite. This is something you should try! I am not sure it is something that you would want every weekend but it was amazing.

Pop's Country Breakfast

We also got the Pop's Country Breakfast that is a sausage patty in biscuit covered in pepper gravy with an egg and Irish potatoes. Irish potatoes are hash browns with peppers and onions. I really liked the concept of the biscuit, sausage and gravy. Overall it was good. The Irish potatoes were just okay. Lately getting hash browns that have a nice crust to them has spoiled me and these were not quite done that way but they had a good flavor.

The Sausage and Biscuit - Yum!

The staff was friendly and the food came out very quickly. On top of that it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the amazing weather we were having. That alone made it a good experience. All in all I think we will be back. Their French toast should be on your list!


And yes, they absolutely took care of our breakfast craving.

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