Ramona Cafe

628 Main St., Ramona, CA - (760) 789-8656

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Posted By Michael Stern on 12/28/2001 3:39:00 AM

Southern California has no bigger breakfast than “The Kitchen Sink” at the Romona Café. In one broad ceramic skillet you are served what seems to be a pound of fried potatoes mixed with plenty of bacon and ham plus mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, sausage-dotted gravy, and two kinds of cheese, topped with a pair of eggs cooked as you like them and accompanied by a big, square biscuit. If you want a meal that is far less complicated, but nearly as satisfying, consider Ramona Café’s “blue ribbon” cinnamon roll: a half-pound circle of hot, sweet pastry veined with cinnamon sugar and accompanied by two paper cups of butter.

Other good breakfast options include omelets of all kinds, plus an array of egg-free “Home Fry Specials,” which are broad hills of good fried potatoes topped with any four ingredients from a long list that includes ham and bacon, taco meat and sausage, chilies, peppers, four different kinds of cheese, sausage gravy, and garlic. If you really like garlic, check out the “Gilroy Omelet” (named for the California town that has proclaimed itself the garlic capital of the world): ham, bacon, mushrooms, cheddar and jack cheese, plus lots of garlic.

While breakfast is the meal by which many travelers know Ramona Café, it also happens to be a fine place for hearty lunch. There are good-size cheeseburgers, hot meat loaf sandwiches, turkey pot pie, and superb fried chicken that is crusted with breading made from the café’s good breakfast biscuits. The list of pies is a long one, including apple and rhubarb and a chocolate peanut butter pie that we once had as dessert for breakfast before a long drive inland, where good eats grow scarce.

Scorecard

Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip

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"A “blue-ribbon” cinnamon roll sized for two"
Michael Stern

"Ramona Cafe seems to do the classic comfort foods really well. The hot meatloaf sandwich is served with excellent bread and real mashed potatoes with lots of lumps."
Cliff Strutz

"Note how crisp the edges of the corned beef hash are beneath the fried eggs: delicious!"
Michael Stern

"There is plenty of sweet fruit in this slice of boysenberry crunch pie."
Cliff Strutz

"You can barely see gravy, cheese, ham, and sausage peeking out from below the sunnyside-up eggs. Not shown: big biscuit that comes on the side."
Michael Stern

"This is an impressive pie selection!"
Cliff Strutz

"This café has been a waystation east of San Diego for the better part of a century"
Michael Stern