RESTAURANT REVIEW:

The Shore House Cafe is the warm, ratty blanket that you’ve had for years and swear you are going to throw out. But you can never seem to part with it, no matter how many times you say you will.

My first experience with the all-night cafe was when I was going to Cal State Long Beach in the late ‘80s. I didn’t study much and was too busy hustling poker and pool to pay for my education. After those pursuits, it was usually late at night and most places were closed.

Shore House in Long Beach was open 24 hours, so my friends and I would go over there and eat with the winnings I had made. It was a nice luxury compared with the dorm food we were forced to eat.

What was so appealing then is the same thing that has kept college students and bar hoppers coming back for decades — cheap food and plenty of it. The food was greasy and the portions huge, and it was the perfect antidote to sop up the alcohol.

Now my tastes have graduated, and my selections at Shore House have gotten a little more sophisticated.

That makes my visits to Shore House less frequent, but still enjoyable.

With 11 menu pages, I don’t ever have to worry about finding something. There is little the restaurant doesn’t offer.

It starts with the appetizers. There are 21 of them, many the standard fare, such as nachos, potato skins and mozzarella sticks.

A couple of them, however, are intriguing. The New England style Lump Crab Cakes are served with creamy roasted red pepper roulade made with real snow crabs.

Another one I had never seen was deep fried artichoke hearts. They are served with lemon butter, fresh garlic and melted mozzarella and the trio of tastes disguise the gritty taste of artichokes.

Some of the other choices are deep fried Mahi-Mahi bites, beer battered and very tasty, though a little too greasy. The other is tender prime rib strips, sliced and served in au jus with horseradish and garlic bread.

The entrees take over after the page of appetizers and routine selections like deep fried shrimp, Yankee pot roast and chicken fried steak dominate the page.

There are two that I would suggest. One is Steak Diane, a 12-ounce choice top sirloin skillet seared and deglazed with cognac, Dijon mustard and a touch of cream. The surf and turf is priced well at $18.85 with a 12-ounce T-bone or bacon wrapped petite filet mignon, with colossal shrimp on a skewer or deep fried.

Some of the house specialties do little to excite my imagination but are made well if you are looking for dishes like chicken and biscuits, grilled pork chops or meatloaf.

I wanted to relive my college days, so I chose a calzone. I was taken aback by the $13.45 price, quite a bit more than I expected to pay.

When it arrived, it was apparent why it was so much. It was double the size and could have easily fed two or three people.

The first two bites on either side is nothing but bread, but get through that and the generous amounts of ingredients start spilling out.

One I wasn’t expecting was chopped garlic, which would have been better minced and roasted rather than chopped raw and baked with the entire calzone.

The calzone is on the same page with the vast arrays of pizzas they serve, including the White House, which is Alfredo sauce, chicken breast sauteed with fresh spinach and feta cheese — something I will get the courage to order one day.

The rest of the menu is a dizzying amount of salads, sandwiches, burgers and pastas. The renowned Shore House burger is an 8-ounce certified choice ground beef patty charbroiled to order, with several optional toppings.

The breakfast may be the most ordered items. It is served all day long and has every imaginable item, from eggs Benedict to carne Asada and eggs.

What the restaurant lacks in quality, it more than makes up quantity, and when hunger overtakes you, this could very well be the place to quell it.

THE SHORE HOUSE CAFE

Address: 801 E. Balboa Blvd., Balboa Peninsula

Phone: (949) 673-7726

Cuisine: American

Specialty dish: The Shore House burger

Alcohol served: Full bar

Dress: Extremely casual

Family friendly: Not really, bar atmosphere and no kid’s menu

Credit cards accepted: Visa, MasterCard, American Express

Rating: *** (out of 5)