Jane's Country Kitchen - Lemon Grove

What can you say about a place that immediately sends you back in time anywhere from 1957 to the present when you open the door. That is what Jane's does to you . A small hole in the wall dive in Lemon Grove. The place is filled with regulars. And everyone knows each other, where a cup of coffee and a "hey how Are you" greets a long timer before they even sit down.

The nice thing is when you walk in. They make you feel like your welcome. Just like a small town eatery would in The Andy Griffith Show. All that is missing is Floyd the barber.

This is unpretentious food of love at it's utmost finest. No trying to be anything other than what they have been since they opened. The best breakfast house in San Diego. And I would dare to say in Southern California. Beats out Roscoe's House of Chicken N Waffles and a few other institutions in Los Angeles. This place is still family owned and worked. This is the kind of place you would expect to find Anthony Bourdain sitting in, Drinking coffee and choking down a Marlboro. The sounds of the Beach boys and Zombies, Ritchie Valens and Gerry and the Pacemakers help you to slide into a constant summer of love feeling here. This place gets crowded in the mornings so I would suggest going after 11am.

The menu is all about breakfast. Simple like an In-N-Out menu. What sets the food apart. Is the Omelets. Better come hungry. This is a place you go to when you say to yourself. "This is the last day I'm eating, because tomorrow I go on a diet". This is that place. Omelets range from $6.95 for a small to $16.95 for a Jumbo! No way anyone on this planet has ever finished a Jane's Jumbo omelet by themselves and lived to tell.

The omelets are what they come for here. These boys are not made in an omelet pan. no such pan is big enough to hold these at times shoe box sized concoctions. You have to try the Machaca omelet. I can only eat a small one and that is when I am very hungry. The Machaca at Jane's is in my humble opinion the best I have had in San Diego period. So tender and tasteful. not dry but juicy. Filled with the right amount of shredded beef and bell peppers. The eggs here are used basically as more of a wrapper for the fillings they put in. More of a Protein tortilla.These omelets are bursting with stuffing.

The cook cracks the fresh eggs per order and then pours them on a stainless steel grill. No flipping of the omelets. They fill them with your choice of fillings and then gently fold the egg over it until it looks like a small rolled sleeping bag. Then a cover is put over the top and they are allowed to steam until finished cooking.

They come with fresh and warm large tortillas. The chickens gladly gave up they're eggs for these omelets.

The table has various bottles of homemade salsa as well. The bottles are very old and you can barely make out where it used to say "hot" or " Mild". But either is a good call. the hot ain't so hot and the mild is very mild. Bottles of straight up Habanero sauce are available on request.

Taylor had the Pancakes with bacon , scrambled eggs and potatoes. Large plate and large portions.

The potatoes are very interesting as well. Not really a hash brown, more of a shredded and slightly fried concoction. Very good stuff.

Worth going out of your way to come here. You leave not only feeling full, but also with a sense of what the days of old were all about. Good food, good people Jane's will have you singing some old tunes you haven't heard in years, For the rest of the day.

So Remember, What's your name? Who's your daddy? Answer. Small omelet. Machaca.

Jane's Country Kitchen

8125 Broadway

Lemon Grove

Chow

Michael