On our recent trip to San Diego, we had an early morning flight out of Chicago - as in 5:30 a.m. early. We had a brief layover in Denver and we found ourselves standing at baggage claim at the San Diego International Airport just past 9 a.m. local time. After getting the rental car, we headed up to La Jolla to have breakfast at a place I had picked out from a quick search on the Internet - Harry's Coffee Shop. It's been in business since 1960 and the founder has an interesting back story as to how he ended up in La Jolla.
Harry Rudolph, Jr. grew up in Brooklyn and was an avid fan of the hometown Brooklyn Dodgers. He eventually became a bat boy for the Dodgers spending almost every summer day at Ebbets Field. Deep into his 20's, Harry's beloved baseball team made the move west to become the Los Angeles Dodgers. Instead of wallowing in pity for losing the Dodgers, Harry decided that he and his new bride, Cathy, would pull up stakes and move to Southern California, too.
They arrived in the late 50's and Harry knew that he had to do something. He scouted out locations for a coffee shop that he wanted to run that was patterned after some of the Brooklyn diners he grew up with. Harry found a sleepy coastal town just north of San Diego that captured his heart as the quintessential California town. He opened Harry's Coffee Shop in 1960.
Harry was at the diner every morning at 3:30 a.m. getting everything ready for the day. When the diner was open, Harry would work the crowd making sure that they had enough coffee and that the food was good for his customers. Harry and Cathy had nine children and all of them worked in the restaurant from time to time.
In 2005, Harry decided to sell the restaurant to three of his children - Elizabeth (Liz), Harry III (a former professional golfer), and youngest son John. Harry, Jr. had a stroke in 2007 and coupled with a fall not long after that, he had trouble getting back to full health. Harry, Jr. died in May of 2009, a few weeks short of his 80th birthday.
It was around 10:30 by the time we got to Harry's in downtown La Jolla. (see map) There's a parking lot in the rear, but it was understandably full when we pulled in. A quick trip around the block and someone had moved their car, so we were able to find a place to park in the lot.
From the look of the decor, I not certain much has changed since Harry Rudolph, Jr. opened in 1960. There's a counter with the old style stools, booths with dark brown Naugahyde coverings, Norman Rockwell illustrations on the front wall, and some photos of Harry with sports figures. It was cozy, but people didn't seem to be on top of one another.
We checked in with the hostess up front and she said that it would be about a 15 minute wait if we wanted to eat inside, but there was immediate seating in the small patio out front. It didn't matter to me, but my wife was leaning toward dining alfresco, so we decided to eat outside. After we were seated at a table under an umbrella in the shade and a couple menus were given to us, it was immediately apparent that the breeze off the ocean about a quarter mile away was brisk and somewhat cool. I had a short-sleeved shirt and shorts on, Cindy had a light top with chino jeans. I was a bit cold, so I knew that Cindy had to be freezing. (She's cold when it's 72 degrees outside.) But she said she was fine, so we stayed outside.
Our server, Ellen, a vivacious blonde lady whose naturally good looks belied her true age (when she told us later on how old she was, we refused to believe it) came over to greet us. She got some coffee for Cindy and left us alone for a bit to look over the menu.
The breakfast menu (there's also burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads on the menu) is very extensive at Harry's. They feature about a dozen different styles of omelettes, pancakes, waffles, cheese blintzes, breakfast burritos and - as a nod to the local naval base - creamed chipped beef on an English muffin.
I ended up getting the special thick egg dipped French toast topped with blueberries with a side of Harry's housemade corned beef hash. Ellen wanted to know if I wanted whipped cream with the French toast and I couldn't say no. And I'm glad I got the French toast. I don't exactly know what they did with the batter, but it was some of the finest French toast I've ever tasted. (And I make stellar French toast at home, if I do say so, myself.) The egg batter just hung off the bread. The blueberries tasted liked they had just picked them out back. They were plump, fresh, juicy and - oh! - so tasty.
Cindy was torn between the eggs Florentine or the eggs Benedict with the smoked salmon. Ellen said, "Get the eggs Florentine with the smoked salmon." And that's what she got. The poached eggs sat on a bed of spinach leaves and smoked salmon slices on top of a couple English muffin halves. A side of hash browns came with the eggs Florentine, but Cindy knew that she wouldn't be eating much of those. "This is a lot of food, " she exclaimed.
While the French toast was very good - especially with the fresh blueberries and the whipped cream - the corned beef hash was just sort of so-so. I mean, it was good, but the menu completely oversold the corned beef hash. I would have guessed that it was processed corned beef hash if they hadn't said it was housemade. Oh well, it was still fine.
We had swapped bites because Cindy was raving about the smoked salmon and I was telling her how good the French toast was. The smoked salmon with the spinach, poached egg and the hollandaise sauce was very good. I like good smoked salmon and this was right up there in taste and quality. Cindy thought that the French toast was good. But she said, "I think the French toast you make at home is better, though." It's a mutual admiration society - I think she makes the best pancakes I've ever had.
Ellen came over to check on us and Cindy was almost finished with her eggs Florentine. "Didn't I tell you those were good," she said to Cindy.
"Oh, my god," Cindy said in amazement. "They WERE good! But they were so rich!"
I told Cindy that was probably a good thing since we'd been up since 3 a.m. and we probably wouldn't eat again until that evening. Ellen said, "3 a.m.? Why would you be up that early?" I explained to Ellen that we had just flown in from Chicago for breakfast, she was amazed and somewhat confused. "So, you just came out here for breakfast?" Then I told her that we had a 5:30 a.m. flight out of Chicago to get us into San Diego early in the day so we could have a full day in Southern California at the start of our vacation. She understood fully, then. Ellen was a great gal.
In doing research on Harry's Coffee Shop after we got back, I found that they were not only one of the top breakfast spots in San Diego, but some travel magazines called Harry's as one of the top destinations for breakfast in the U.S. I'll have to attest, it was one of the better breakfasts I've had in all my travels. Ellen's service was impeccable and the atmosphere - even outside - harkened back to a couple generations of when coffee shops ruled the landscape. Many of those from the 60's are gone, but Harry's Coffee Shop lives on with a combination of great food, great service and a comfortable and laid back atmosphere.
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