A comfy eat at any hour

Mary Furr

If you’re looking for a home away from home any day all year long,

you’ll find that welcoming place at Harbor House on Pacific Coast

Highway just south of the big wooden water tower in Sunset Beach.

The relaxed, casual warmth of the place greets you immediately. It

started as a small stool-and-counter place in 1939 but has expanded

backward through one dining room to a glass-protected back patio with

heat lamps and friendly servers.

If you’re looking for a place to sit down, open your paper and sip

your first cup of coffee, Harbor House is just right.

The back patio is our favorite with walls covered with vintage

black and white photos of movie stars like Robert Mitchum, James Dean

and Ingrid Bergman, and big colorful posters of Casablanca and From

Here to Eternity.

When given the extensive menu, read it carefully as there are so

many choices and combinations. First our server Summer brought

glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice ($1.95 to 2.35), egg dishes

($5.25 to 12.95), omelets ($6.65), light and healthy choices ($4.95

to 9.95).

On one visit we settled on the Club House ($7.45) that is so

filling you can easily skip lunch -- it’s a firm egg envelope stuffed

with tomato cubes, loads of fresh steamed spinach and big pieces of

lean bacon blanketed with a cover of melted cheddar. There are 30

varieties of omelets from the usual to the unusual -- chorizo Mexican

sausage, Bavarian with asparagus and sour cream.

This time it is the Guacamole Omelet ($7.45) for my friend. It is

generously stuffed with fresh guacamole, onions, big pieces of bacon

with cheese and spices, the whole thing covered with melted cheddar

and big dollop of spicy guacamole. It’s as large as a small frying

pan and served with buttered toast.

Though Harbor House has added New York and sirloin steak to its

egg dishes, I selected old fashioned bone in ham steak, ($7.45) the

kind that as a child I kept the bone for a ring. This, like

everything else here, is so generous -- it’s a whole slice of tender

ham big enough to serve two at least. Unfortunately, the plate and

two over-easy eggs which I returned to the kitchen were only luke

warm. It can happen when a cafe gets busy and the orders pile up. My

choice of bread was a big blueberry muffin.

According to owner Gary Quick, who bought Harbor House in 1975,

the restaurant has a history dating back to 1939 when it was known as

the Sunset Coffee House with one waitress and one cook. Now there are

50 employees and an extensive menu with items Quick says are

suggested by diners as diverse as athletes Mark McGwire and Shaquille

O’Neal, former TV stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and the lovely Brook

Shields.

According to Manager Bertha Cueva, who has been with Harbor House

for nine years, there are breakfast specials ($5.95) served from

midnight to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday. If you have a craving for

pancakes at 3 a.m., they’ll be there! With a round-the-clock menu and

warm friendliness, you’re always welcome at Harbor House.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have

comments or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail

hbindy@latimes.com