DINING OUT

Mary Furr

Huntington Beach is a patchwork of living spaces. It has trailer parks

and condos, apartments and bungalows, each neighborhood with its own

favorite eating places.

Jon’s Coffee Shop, on Bolsa Chica and Heil, is one of those places.

Jon’s welcomes you like your favorite pair of sneakers, with breakfast,

lunch and dinner served from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Though coffee shop is part

of its name, the extensive menu is more like a restaurant. Service is

brisk and friendly, just what you need for an early breakfast.

From eggs to waffles, there are 23 breakfast choices. Some originals,

like John Wayne’s favorite ($5.60), a flour tortilla topped with crispy

potatoes with two extra large eggs, melted cheese and sausage patties, is

enough to keep you going until dinner.

Simple but equally tempting is oatmeal ($2.65), with brown sugar, raisins

and spiced apples on top.

At Jon’s, meat is big as the servings. A recent lunch special was the

prime rib sandwich ($6.45), with layers of beef cut thick like a deck of

cards on toasted garlic bread with a side of fresh cole slaw and crispy

golden brown deep-fried onion rings. Super!

One side that’s great with dinner is the huge, foil wrapped baked potato.

It was perfect with another recent special, the sirloin steak strip

($6.95), a New York steak rubbed with a blend of ancho and chipotle

peppers, not too strong, a subtle taste of Santa Fe.

Kitchen manager Temo Hernandez has been with Jon’s for 20 years. His

influence can be seen with the quesadillas, ($4.65), or tostada grande

($6.20), a tortilla bowl filled with turkey, chicken, beef, refried

beans, cheese, sour cream and mach sauce.

Like the tostada, the curry turkey salad ($6.20), is tremendous. Loads of

lettuce topped with moist turkey pieces, diced celery, slivered almonds

surrounded by pineapple slices and quartered apples with distinctive

curry dressing, fill the salad. Jon’s servings are leftovers waiting to

happen.

A dinner selection not to miss is the broasted chicken ($6.60), four

pieces of chicken, leg, thigh, back and breast, that look heavy but in

reality are prepared in a pressure-cooker style broaster, which cooks the

tender chicken thoroughly but preserves the oozing juices. It’s served

with a nice mix of flavorful moist rice pilaf.

Jon’s will deceive you. Have a glass of champagne on the patio with a

Belgian waffle ($4.26), covered with strawberries and whipped cream, or

settle in a cozy booth with a manly meal ($9.85), of porterhouse steak,

three eggs, potatoes and pancakes, or waffles.

Opened 21 years ago by John Pence and now owned by his daughter, Candice

Dubrin, Jon’s Coffee Shop is a neighborhood place with the whole family

in mind.

MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments or

suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.

INFO BOX

Jon’s Coffee Shop

WHERE: 16490 Bolsa Chica St.

HOURS: 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

DRINKS: Beer and wine

PAYMENT: major credit cards.

CALL: (714) 840-1088