Image courtesy of EncinitasCafe.com“Bacon and avo benny with browns and rye!” shouts a frazzled waitress over the clanging of dishes above the soiled aluminum countertop into the kitchen.
The hustle of the kitchen staff scrambling to prepare various sandwiches, omelets and salads in the cramped quarters of the tiny Encinitas Cafe combined with the overwhelming smell and sound of greasy eggs and sausages frying on the griddle is enough to make your head spin.
The glowing yellow signs reading “Breakfast… Lunch… Dinner” used to be a welcoming beacon for hungry travelers along Highway 101, but now they are simply lost amid the myriad of other neon signage littering this stretch of downtown Encinitas, offering everything from “Happy Hour 4-6” to “Vigilucci’s Italian Cuisine.”
Encinitas Cafe has been a downtown mainstay for many years, even surviving a fire that damaged nearly the whole block a few years back.
Granted, the cafe is more a relic of the past, with its menu brimming with hearty, high-fat, high-cholesterol offerings and steady stream of WWII veteran regulars, but it maintains its old-fashioned charm. EncinitasCafe.com
rachel grice 