Lucky Boy Drive-In

Lucky Boy Drive-In
640 S Arroyo Pkwy
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-793-0120

Lucky Boy was listed by LA Eater as one of the best places to get a breakfast burrito.  Lucky Boy serves their breakfast burrito the entire day.

It's one of those greasy spoon type restaurants.  It's not really a diner, but then again it's not fast food.  There are some hidden gems in these types of restaurants.  Lucky Boy is cross the street from My Vegan. They have some outdoor seating on their covered patio.  There is the dining room inside.  You can order at the window outside or inside. 

Breakfast burrito-hash browns, eggs, cheese and choice of ham, bacon, sausage or chorizo, $7.58.  There is a ton of unseasoned hash browns, eggs, and cheese.  I know most people order with meat, and a salty bacon or sausage, may make up for the lack of seasoning on the hashbrowns, but they need to add seasoning!!  A very bland dish.  Another thing, I got this within a few minutes of ordering.  But, it wasn't hot!  As if the ingredients were sitting in a warmer and put together.  Maybe, they are cooked to order during breakfast hours. 

Service was good.

I wouldn't go back to Lucky Boy for their breakfast sandwiches.  Yes, the portion is huge, but very bland, and I doubt it was cooked to order.

Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery

Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery
2051 Rancho Valley Dr
Pomona, CA 91766
909-620-9200

Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery is an area chain, that's open 24 hours a day.  Their breakfast and lunch menu is served all day, but the dinner menu goes from about 3pm to 10pm.

The Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery in Pomona is located in a fairly new shopping center, with almost every kind of food you want.  The center where Corky's has a Golden Corral, a  pizza place, a Dickey's BBQ, a couple fast food places.  Across the street is a Target, and yet more restaurants including Panda Express.

I actually went to Corky's twice.  One time for breakfast and the other time for dinner.

Mushroom and cheese omelette-$11.49  This is a huge portion, 5 eggs, a good amount of cheddar cheese and fresh mushrooms.  A good, solid dish.

The hash browns were cooked perfectly on one end-perfectly brown, but the other end could have used a few more minutes on the grill.  But, the hash browns were not seasoned at all.  What professional cook forgets to season their hashbrowns?

Service during breakfast was ok.  The server never smiled, wasn't the friendliest, but, I didn't lack for anything.

Shrimp and chips -$13.19.  Eight frozen butterflied shrimp, four pieces that stuck together, so one side wasn't browned.  But, I'm not expecting fresh shrimp from a diner.  The steak fries weren't seasoned, but cooked perfectly.

Service for dinner was ok.  I had two servers, one must have went on a break.  I realize I was eating at the counter, but I won't want to hear the servers complaining about their hours, or boss.  Do that away from me.

I think some people would find Corky's a bit pricey, but for the amount of food you get, I think it's worth it.  You won't leave hungry.  I would go back, but I still can't believe the cooks don't season the potatoes!!

Flappy Jack’s Pancake House

Flappy Jack’s Pancake House
640 W Rt 66
Glendora, CA 91740
626-852-9444

I wanted to try Flappy Jack’s Pancake House since a San Diego carpetbagger, Broken Yolk, following in the footsteps of another San Diego carpetbagger who came to the LA area- Spanos SUCKS and his football team,  has come into Glendora sometime in late 2017 to early 2018.  Broken Yolk is following the Starbucks pattern of business- research an area with a successful coffee shop, and then open a location nearby!

Flappy Jack's is about 100 yards east of Petrillo's Pizza.  On weekends you will see tons of people waiting outside.  It's a huge place with seating on both sides of the building.  But, surprisingly there is no counter seating.  The walls have murals of landmarks along Route 66.

 

Veggie Omelette-$12.49- Four eggs with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and broccoli along with your choice of cheese, I got cheddar.  This is a huge omelette, but it was too well done on top.  Either the cooks left the omelette in the salamander or the grill too long.  But, it was pretty good.  The veggies were plentiful and fresh.  The broccoli was cut into small pieces not huge pieces.

Service is good.  They were busy but I didn't feel rushed.  I got my food quickly.

I would give Flappy Jack's another chance, but they didn't make an overwhelming first impression.  If the omelette was cooked right, I would have had a much more favorable impression.

Lamill Coffee

Lamill Coffee
1636 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-663-4441

A snotty, douchy coffee shop in Silver Lake?  That's Lamill Coffee!! A very pretentious, over priced coffee shop.  Lamill is a big place with two areas of tables, separated by a wall, and their counter.  It's counter service for a price!  What do I mean?  I saw their Service Charge Policy, on the counter, which states a 11.5% service charge will be implemented on all orders.  The fairy tale is that it will help the workers make a living wage.  In reality it boosts the profits of the company.  Also, it is more like a 21% service charge as it's taxes at the roughly 9% rate in LA county!

Breakfast sandwich- scrambled eggs, white cheddar cheese and chives.  $9 menu price when you add their service charge and tax, it is $10.99!! 

This is a good sandwich with well cooked scrambled eggs, a good portion of white cheddar and some chives in the eggs.  The bun was well toasted.  It was worth the price tag since it was a good sized portion and it tasted good.

Service was OK.  The cashier was friendly but had his mind on something else!  He kept going from one tablet to another.  He rang up my order on one tablet and while I was getting money from my wallet, he went to another tablet and tried to do something, then finally noticed I was ready to pay.  What I think happened, was he was ready to clock out when I walked in.  Instead of quickly taking my order, he would have been done within 2 mins, he kept trying to get the tablet to work, so he can clock out.  I know this because within a few minutes after I sitting down, he walked out the door to go home!  The runner who delivered my food to my table, was very nice and friendly.  And my food came quickly, and it was hot and right off the grill! 

I won't go back to Lamill Coffee!  While my breakfast sandwich was good and worth the price, other menu items are too expensive and when you add their service charge, it's just too expensive for the quality of the food!

Chango Coffee-Closed

Chango Coffee
1559 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90026
213-977-9161

A hipster coffee shop in the ever changing Echo Park area of Los Angeles is my review today.  I was there around dinner time and instead of going somewhere nearby for dinner, I figured why not just have a meal at Chango!  They have sandwiches, including a number of vegan options.  Of course there are a ton of coffee options!

A galley style coffee shop with tables along the right side as you enter and the counter area on the left.  It's a nice stylish coffee shop.  That neon sign you see was recently restored.  The sign has not be lit up in the five or so years that I have been coming to the area.  The sign used to say delicatessen but now only uses part of the sign to say Del Mor the name of the building, which is a mixed use building.  If you know the name of the delicatessen or the market, please email me!

Breakfast burrito-$6.50, scrambled eggs, black beans, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, sebre sauce.  The breakfast burrito sounded good, because some of the vegan sandwiches did not sound appetizing.  The breakfast burritos are heated in the microwave and then put on the panni press to warm them up.  It says the burritos are made fresh, but I don't see where they would make the burritos in house.  There isn't a flat top stove inside Chango.  I'm betting they have another company make their burritos.

Anyways, this was a filling, good burrito.  Lots of scrambled eggs and black beans.  Not as much cheddar cheese, but overall a good burrito.

Service was good.  The guy was helpful and nice.

I don't drink coffee, so I have no idea how their coffee is.  But, Chango has some nice options for a quick meal. 

The Trails Eatery

The Trails Eatery
7389 Jackson Dr
San Diego
619-667-2233

Ever watch that show Restaurant Impossible?  It's where Robert Irvine-the man who lied about his resume but he still hosts a show on Food Network- has two days to turn over a struggling restaurant.  I guess the story is that The Trails Eatery opened as Megan's and did so well they had to expand into the building next door.  Well the expansion didn't go well and Megan's started to lose business.  They called Restaurant Impossible and along came The Liar, I mean Robert Irvine.  He changed the interior, the menu, and the name to The Trails Eatery.

Whatever he did it worked because the place was busy the morning we went.   The Trails Eatery is located in a standard suburban shopping center.  Plenty of parking and and other stores nearby.  They are opened for breakfast and lunch seven days a week, but only open for dinner a few nights a week.  I'm not sure the exact days, so call if you want to go to dinner.

Meat Lovers Omelette Ham, bacon & sausage with cheese; 9.29.  I usually don't get omelettes but today the meat lovers omelette looked too good to pass up.  The first bite I took the omelette was luke warm.  I want an omelette that is hot.  You can see the unmelted string of cheese in the picture, that should tell you that the omelette wasn't hot.  None of the meats inside the omelette were't hot either!  Of course the meats were all precooked but at least warm them up on the grill or make the eggs hot.

Service was good.  Our server was very nice and attentive.

I wasn't  impressed at all with the food at The Trails Eatery.  I mean Denny's makes a better omelette!!  Happy Trails,  The Trails Eatery because I'm not coming back!

The Pot Holder Cafe

The Pot Holder Cafe
3700 E Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-433-9305

So, I'm in Long Beach on a Saturday morning and we're trying to find a place to eat that is open.   The Potholder seemed like a good place to try- a nice neighborhood diner.  The sign said closed but the door was open.  They were preparing to open and quite frankly the server didn't seem too happy to see customers walk in about five minutes before they officially opened.

Anyways, The Potholder is a big place that has the last three units of the building and by the time we left almost all the seats were taken.  So it's a popular neighborhood diner.

Frankie's Special; two eggs over hard, two strips of bacon, two pancakes, $5.95.  I'm really not a breakfast person.  I to eat out for lunch and dinner instead of breakfast.  But, when I do go for breakfast, it's my usual eggs and bacon and maybe some toast or pancakes.

I always get my eggs over hard, I hate runny eggs.  These eggs were cooked pretty well.  The yolk or the white were cooked, maybe slightly overcooked, but that's fine.  The eggs did lack salt, which is a basic seasoning.  The bacon was the standard bacon you get from the supermarket, nothing special or great about it.  But, the bacon was slightly undercooked.

But, the pancakes were awesome!  They were cooked perfectly-light, fluffy with a nice sweetness to them.

Service was below average.  While the orders came out quickly and we didn't lack for anything, the lady who maybe the owner or manager wasn't too friendly.  Like I said she wasn't too happy we came in five minutes before they opened.  If they didn't want customers coming in, maybe they should lock the damn door!!  If they want customers they need to be nicer to customers and cook the food better-overcooked eggs that lacked salt and slightly undercooked eggs?  Come on now.

I wouldn't go back to The Potholder, unfriendly service and poorly cooked food, though the pancakes were great, isn't a recipe for a return visit.