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THE COAST NEWS
APRIL 13, 2012
The Breakfast Club Diner serves breakfast with Greek influence DAVID BOYLAN Lick the Plate There are a lot of options when it comes to breakfast in North County, so it’s nice to see when someone does something a little different. The Breakfast Club Diner in Oceanside is owned and operated by Perry Roumbos, who is 100 percent Greek and that heritage shows on the menu with many Greek influences. The Athenian Skillet consists of eggs, hash browns, and diced gyro meat, spinach, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and feta cheese. The same dish is available wrapped in a burrito. I tried the skillet and really enjoyed the Greek touches. I’ll be coming back for that dish alone. Another Greek-influenced breakfast dish is the Athenian omelette with diced gyro meat, fresh chopped spinach, tomatoes, onions and feta cheese. Other skillet standouts include the California with tomatoes, onions, peppers, broccoli and mushrooms topped with cheddar cheese and avocado and
the Country Boy with diced country fried steak and homemade biscuit topped with country gravy. There are a plethora of breakfast options at the Breakfast Club. I counted more than 20 varieties of pancakes, waffles and French toast and all of them are made from scratch with fresh, homemade toppings. Or how about an 8-ounce tri-tip and eggs or corned beef hash and eggs, or a moist chicken breast? And of course all the classics are included as well. Everything is under $10 with the exception of the tritip, which comes in at $10.99. Feel like lunch for breakfast? Not a problem with close to 20 sandwich and burger options. I had a classic Rueben with corned beef smothered in sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing on rye bread. I don’t know what it is about a good Rueben but it really hits the spot sometimes. The Philly Cheesesteak looked great and the ultimate BC Burger was a hearty one at half a pound. All the burgers and sandwiches are priced under $9, which is a heck of a value as the portions are substantial. It’s a throwback to the
There are a plethora of breakfast options at the Breakfast Club, with more than 20 varieties of pancakes, waffles and French toast — all made from scratch with fresh, homemade toppings. Photo by David Boylan
1980s at the Breakfast Club with memorabilia adorning the walls ranging from vintage skateboarding posters to sports posters featuring the decade’s pop culture and sports icons such as Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Neon colored surfboards, skateboards and snowboards are mixed in with album covers movie posters from the era. A large surf mural covers an entire wall and has the “Back to the Future”
DeLorean car sailing over the beach. Huge stained glass images of Madonna, Slash from Guns N Roses and Billy Idol along with ‘80s music videos complete the throwback vibe. It’s interesting seeing young kids react to this stuff like it was prehistoric. I guess growing up during that time myself, I never thought about it as something that would become a restaurant theme, but it seems to work and resonate with customers.
Proprietor Perry Roumbos started in the restaurant business at age 12 as a dishwasher at his parents’ restaurant the Golden Ox in El Monte. He strayed away from the business for a while to earn a degree in architecture but decided to return to the family business. He has opened several successful restaurants since then. He remembered weekend surf trips down to Oceanside in the 1980s and
always wanted to open his own place in the area. That dream came true with The Breakfast Club, which occupies the space of the former Longboarder Café at Pier View Way and Coast Highway. He runs the restaurant with his wife Vicky, a former teacher who helps Perry out as a manager and waitress. She comes from a restaurant background, as her family owned a Greek eatery in Vancouver, British Columbia. They have a 4-year-old daughter and the breakfast and lunch hours enable them to have family time during the evening. The Breakfast Club Diner California, or BCDC as it is officially called, is located at 228 N. Coast Highway in Oceanside and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Find them online at thebreakfastclubdiner.com, on Facebook or call them at (760) 720-3124 for carry out orders. Lick the Plate can now be heard on KPRi, 102.1 FM Monday-Friday during the 7pm hour. David Boylan is founder of Artichoke Creative and Artichoke Apparel, an Encinitas based marketing firm and clothing line. Reach him at david@artichoke-creative.com or (858) 395-6905.
Chefs stir things up Spend evening at new outdoor market for Casa de Amparo DEL MAR — Nineteen chefs from Del Mar’s finest restaurants — with partners such as Young’s Market Company, Venissimo Cheese and Silver Oak Cellars — will wine and dine guests at the 16th Annual Meet the Chefs of Del Mar event, from 1 to 4 p.m.April 22 at the Hilton Del Mar, 15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd. The event benefits Casa de Amparo, which works for the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Tickets for Meet the Chefs of Del Mar are $150 per person. A special VIP reception kicks off the event from 12:15 to 1 p.m. with tickets at $200. Tickets are available at casadeamparo.org, by calling (760) 754-5500 or by email to ktidrow@casadeamparo.org. Restaurants Chefs who will be partic-
ipating include William Bradley/Addison at The Grand Del Mar, Randy Gruber/Americana, Mason Garske/Del Mar Brigantine, Tony Su/Del Mar Rendezvous, Dustin Anselm/Jake’s Del Mar, Scott Dolbee/Kitchen 1540 at L’Auberge, Izzy Balderas, Eddie Zamarripa and Jorge Benitez/Pacific Coast Grill & Belly Up, Mark Bolton/Pacific Del Mar, J e f f r e y Strauss/Pamplemousse Grille, Mourad Jamal/Poseidon, Jose Montano and Mauricio Pineda/Red Tracton’s, Antonio (Tigre) Ortiz/Ruth’s Chris Steak House Del Mar, Ian Espanol/Sbicca, Takuya Kudo/Shimbashi Izakaya and Francisco Castaneda and Marco Galliano/Silks at the Hilton Del Mar.. Guests will also enjoy live music by local band Coastal Eddy.
Getting to know the garden OCEANSIDE — The Green Thumb Gardening Club is busy teaching gardening and nutrition to Oceanside school children. In March, the group hosted Healthy Hawk Week garden tours at Alamosa Park Elementary. Members of the Green Thumb Gardening Club were tour leaders during a full day of garden tours at Alamosa Park Elementary March 20. Twenty classes toured to see the healthful plants being grown and learn about nutrition as part of the school’s Healthy Hawk Week. After the garden tour, students enjoyed a hands-on Compost Critter Encounter, handling worms, sowbugs, snails and larvae. The garden is used for after-school Gardening Club
meetings for first-grade through fifth-grade students. Club members learn about plant parts, composting, seeds, leaves, planting, worms, and nutrition each semester. Farmer Jones, Nancy B. Jones, is a retired first-grade teacher who has worked with students in the school garden since it was started in 1994. The group meets Mondays and will meet again from 2 to 3 p.m. April 16 and April 30. On May 14, members will hold the final Gardening Club meeting of the year making quesadillas with veggies from its own garden. The club receives financial support from the Alamosa Park Educational Foundation. Contact Nancy B. Jones (760) 822-6824 for more information.
ENCINITAS — Wednesday evenings will come alive in downtown Encinitas April 25 with opening of the new Encinitas Station Certified Farmers Market, sponsored by the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association (DEMA). Come see what’s fresh and new and be sure to bring your own reusable bags. This market will be taking a different angle than most markets in the county and will consist of close to 40 vendors who focus solely on specialty food items such as cheeses meats, honey breads and local farm fresh organic produce. May through September, the farmer’s market will run from 5 to 8 p.m. From October through April, the market will run from 4 to 7 p.m. The market has a strong partnership with Whole Foods Market and the North County Transit District. Look for special Coaster fares to the market and incentives for walking
and biking as well. The market is also going to be singleuse plastic bag free.This idea was adapted from the Santa Monica Farmer’s market. Vendors will not have bags to offer, however, DEMA will be partnering with Whole Foods Market to pass out bags to the first 200 hundred customers for the initial months of the market. DEMA has been working for more than a year on the new Encinitas Station Certified Farmer’s Market project. The market is intended to fill the need for a mid-week farmer’s market in Encinitas. Carris Rhodes, program assistant at DEMA was the lead on the project and is thrilled to introduce a evening option. DEMA has been the main coordinator of this farmer’s market and aims to bolster foot traffic in
the downtown Encinitas district while giving residents more access to fresh, organic local produce. Stacy Poynter of Herbal Gourmet Marketing will be the market manager and will be helping get the market off the ground. This will be Encinitas’ second farmers market. This market was designed to be a compliment to the Sunday Farmer’s Market coordinated by DEMA’s sister organiza-
tion the Leucadia MainStreet. The Leucadia Market is held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Paul Ecke Elementary on Union Street. For more information, visit encinitas101.com.
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