Restaurant Review:

The axiom “the simpler the breakfast, the better” is proved to me over and over again.

The Rooster Café exudes simple, but does so on a grander scale than most breakfast places.

The breakfast and lunch joint has been popular with people for years, and despite its somewhat hard-to-find location, is not a very well-kept secret.

That is evident when coming to the restaurant at peak hours, especially on weekends.

The space is small, seven tables inside and three outside. They open at 7 a.m., and on the weekends you can usually get a table until about 9. After that, it’s hit or miss until well after noon.

There is good reason for that. The food is relatively inexpensive, and the menu is fairly compact but diverse.

There are eight breakfast items and 14 lunch offerings, so there is more than enough to choose from. Either meal is served all the time.

If you are like me, however, you will find one item and rarely deviate from it. The fun at this place is finding that one item.

For breakfast there are three that would make my short list. The first is the huevos rancheros. The two eggs with black beans and cheddar cheese mixed with hot sauce, red potato and avocado is a great choice. I like the hot sauce, which has a nice punch to it, but won’t disable your taste buds.

The breakfast burrito is probably one of the best I have had.

The flour tortilla is packed with scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheddar cheese and a choice of bacon or Portuguese sausage.

The choice of the sausage is a no brainer. It is a nice touch and a great taste for the burrito. One change I make is substituting brown rice for the hash browns. It makes the burrito even lighter, and no grease leaks from the bottom.

The only thing I would like added is grilled onions. That would be an easy way to dress up an already impressive dish.

The third item is somewhat of a newcomer, and curiosity got the best of me. I had never had a breakfast taco before, so I tried the concoction that uses corn tortillas and loads them up with scrambled eggs, avocado, bacon and cheddar cheese. Again hot sauce is put in it, but you can certainly ask for it on the side.

One of the features of the café that most appeals to me is that almost all the produce used in the meals is bought at local farmer’s markets.

In addition to the commendable practice of supporting local merchants, the freshness of produce, like the avocado, is evident.

There are far more choices for lunch and narrowing down a favorite would be even more difficult. I was excited to see the pastrami sandwich but a bit disappointed in the quality of the meat. It was lean enough but a bit chewy. I did like the thick rye bread it came with, and the mustard was nicely tangy.

I would probably opt for the Randolph, which is turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado on ciabatta bread.

Another sandwich that I like is the meatball sandwich, which despite having only two meatballs, is a good ratio of meat to bread.

The three salads are all packed with items, and I like the summer salad, which features brown rice and tahini dressing.

My preference is breakfast over lunch at Rooster Café, but both are perfectly acceptable and affordable.

Rooster Café

Address: 750 Saint Clair St., Costa Mesa

Phone: (714) 754-1944

Website: www.eatatrooster.com

Cuisine: American

Specialty dish: Breakfast burrito

Alcohol served: none

Entrée price range: $3.99 to $6.99

Family friendly: yes

Credit cards accepted: American Express, MasterCard and Visa

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at Nolimepublishing@aol.com or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.