On the west side of Pacific Highway, a few steps north of the Old Town Trolley Station, breakfast house Perry’s Café rests nestled in the corner of a substantially sized parking lot. Open daily from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Perry’s gives patrons a great opportunity to eat well and still leave with enough time in the day to be productive.
As a Perry’s customer that had visited at least two times before, I had not seen the place anything less than packed, and this trip was no exception. After walking through the entryway enclosed by two sets of transparent double doors, the normal crowd of people lingered near the waiting bench opposite of the cashier as they waited for their parties to be called. Once we were called, we were escorted to our booth, which was separated from an adjoining booth by two rows of opaque, decorative panes.
We appreciated the cute, rectangular basket filled with a substantial amount of single-serving packs of Smucker’s sitting on our table.
My friend ordered coffee and I ordered orange juice while we decided on what we wanted to eat. We focused on the first half of the menu — the rest of it offered lunch options, a la carte items, and a children’s menu. The breakfast options included a variety of waffles, French toast, pancakes, fruits, egg breakfasts, omelettes, frittatas, and a section of Mexican breakfasts. Our waitress came and went, and our table was soon occupied by our two dishes.
The first to arrive was the savory paisano frittata, which was described both as an Italian breakfast and a fancy omelette by the menu. The frittata,$9.75, was made with ham, tomatoes, mushrooms and mixed cheese. My friend said it reminded her of Serbian pizza. It was served with hash browns and a blueberry muffin. A muffin which, by normal muffin standards, was basically a mini blueberry cake.
Next, the sweet $7.95 pecan waffles entered the arena. It was ordered without whipped cream, but the option was there. The plate was accompanied by a baby plate, which carried a small pouring tin of syrup that instantly made me think of Laura Ingalls Wilder as well as an exceptionally spherical scoop of butter.
Compared to the French toast dishes that I could not help but be drawn to on previous visits to Perry’s Cafe—listed on the menu as strawberry, blueberry compote, apple compote and plain — this breakfast option was less overbearingly stuffing and more satisfying in a simpler way. I appreciated that, even after my usual overly-generous serving of syrup, the nuttiness of the pecans still stood out to my taste buds.
We wiped our mouths and fingers and left our booth with a full box of food that we could not finish. By that time, there was different man at the cashier counter. He cheerfully handed me a pen with a fake daisy at the end to sign my receipt, which amounted to total of $27.69 with the tip. We left the restaurant with smiles and slight food comas.
