Café 222, 2nd and Island, San Diego

Terryl Gavre is hard to escape at Café 222. Her face is on everything, made up like a B52’s album cover; even the staff shirts. Her biog on the website sounds interesting. She hails from the Pacific Northwest (always a +), ran an interesting business cooking for bachelors, and even had a TV movie based on her life. There’s a certain amount of ego at work here; more than I’m comfortable with as a shy, retiring Brit! But then again with Café 222 she’s got a lot to be showy about. Anticipation begins with the unavoidable line, which no matter how long it looks always seems to vanish into the building in record time (we had no more than a 5min wait on any day). By the time you’ve read the menu you’ve got coffee and juice and if you’re sat up front you can watch you’re breakfast being made in the open kitchen. Service rocked.

The food is just what you want for breakfast; hearty but not stodgy. Corned Beef Hash is very good – almost in the same league as Sears Fine Foods in San Francisco. Pork Tamales were almost as good. Orange juice is fresh squeezed. Well worth the wait.