Dining Review -- Kathy Mader

Good breakfasts in this town are not really hard to come by. Really

good breakfasts, though, are a little more difficult to find. The

Omelette Parlor in Costa Mesa serves a really good breakfast consistently

and every day. That’s about as good as breakfast gets.

The Omelette Parlor is on 17th Street, back by Chester Drawers, and

anyone who spent their early 20s in this town knows exactly where that

is. In fact, the Omelette Parlor shares an entry with Chester Drawers,

which ensures some very early morning business. I know it did for me!

Let’s put it this way, I used to order off the kids’ menu because

that’s all I could afford. Now I order from it, because, well, you know.

Times do change. However, the Omelette Parlor has not, and that’s a good

thing.

The atmosphere is what I would call the “granny’s screened-in porch”

look, with an actual screen door smacking you on the behind as you walk

in. Another way to describe it is eclectic decor, not only because those

two words sound good together, but there are all kinds of artifacts, old

and new, to look at.

The wooden green and white booths aren’t much for comfort but sure are

cute. The painted vent pipes flaunt the virtues of eggs in old-fashioned

script, and there are plenty of cool old pictures of Costa Mesa and

Newport Beach in the old, old, old days. One picture is of the first race

car from Costa Mesa dated 1906. The Omelette Parlor, however, was not

open then. It has only been open since 1982. Come to think of it, I may

have been one of the first customers. That’s another story and depends on

Chester Drawers’ opening day.

It may not really look like granny’s back porch but someone’s granny

somewhere definitely had a say in the making of the menu. On the last

page is printed the rules of etiquette involving picking your teeth,

chewing with your mouth closed, and refraining from wearing your napkin

like a bib. I didn’t see any guards on patrol, so I think we’re cool.

They do warn you in advance that “there is no position where the

innate refinement of a person is more fully exhibited than at the table

and nowhere that those who have not been trained in table etiquette feel

more keenly their deficiencies.” I love that.

You can get one of their three-egg omelets “served high and fluffy

with bountiful filling,” accompanied by awesome home-fried potatoes, a

wheat nut English muffin and fruit any time. Our server, Amy, recommended

her favorite, the “South Coast Finest,” ($5.75) stuffed with avocado,

bacon and cheddar cheese. It’s now my favorite, too, but you can get just

about anything you can think of in your omelet.

Rest easy, because on the back of the menu, in the proprietor’s

statement, the Omelette Parlor assures you of its obsession with only the

freshest eggs, butter and cream. Yes!

Each omelet has a pretty cute name, like the “Banking on Ken Fowler”

($5.50) with chili con carne, shredded cheddar and fame, just like its

namesake, or the “Donn Hall Likes It; Coastal Commission Doesn’t” ($5.50)

with cheese and scallions. The whole menu is a good read.

Somehow, though, I missed, and I still can’t believe this, the Belgian

“Wonder Wa-fulls” ($5.25), topped with cold, fresh strawberries or hot

bananas and pecans sauteed in butter and brown sugar, topped with a

boatload of whipped cream.

Yeah, you can get “I Love Mush” ($1.25), oatmeal with stuff, if you

want, but why? You can also get a plate of eggs and any breakfast meat

you want, or egg sandwiches or whatever. It’s all there. Try the “World

Famous O.P. Potatoes,” crispy fried potatoes loaded with melted cheddar

cheese and sauteed onions. That’s what I’m talking about, not mush.

The Omelette Parlor has a rather extensive lunch menu as well, with

every sandwich you can think of, again with great names like the “Cashew

Doodle Doo” ($5.25), chicken salad with cashews, or the “Ooh La La, Dip

Dee Dip Dah,” a pretty tasty French dip with horseradish sauce. Yes, they

serve salads, no I didn’t have one, except for the tasty macaroni salad

with olives and onions that was served on the side. I love that they have

the “Just a Jiffy Burger ($4.95)” with peanut butter, thick-cut bacon and

jack cheese. I will try this. Life is so short.

Bottom line, Brian and I have switched our breakfast alliance from --

well, I won’t tell you -- to the Omelette Parlor. Better and more

interesting choices, inexpensive, very casual atmosphere, and a peanut

butter burger for breakfast -- that’s the kind of variety I like in life.

* KATHY MADER’s dining reviews appear every other Thursday.

FYI

Where: Omelette Parlor, 179 East 17th St., Costa Mesa

When: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily

How much: Inexpensive

Phone: (949) 645-0740