Ruby’s silver year

NEWPORT BEACH — It didn’t cost Craig Morissette very much to order breakfast at Ruby’s Diner on Friday morning — and it didn’t take very long to read the menu, either.

Morissette, a regular for 18 years at the original Ruby’s location on the Balboa Pier, stopped in to take advantage of a one-day-only special at the all-American diner.

Ruby’s, which opened 25 years ago Friday, celebrated its anniversary by reverting to the 1982 menu — meaning that all items sold at 1982 prices and more than half the choices on the current menu disappeared.

“I haven’t had one of these breakfasts in a long time,” Morissette said after receiving his eggs and sausage with potatoes and toast. “I usually get a cinnamon roll combo.”

Even though some of their favorites may have been unavailable Friday, Morissette and other Ruby’s regulars packed the diner to enjoy meals at a record low price. The original RubyBurger went for $2.15 throughout the day, while the price for a milkshake dropped to a mere $1.60.

Ruby’s has expanded to more than 40 locations across the country. Founders Doug Cavanaugh and Ralph Kosmides modeled the restaurant after a 1940s diner, with red vinyl booths, white tables and Coca-Cola posters and other old-fashioned art.

The 25th-anniversary menu was offered Friday exclusively at the original pier location.

General Manager Mike Benvenuto said he didn’t know whether Ruby’s would ever offer the special again.

After the turnout Friday, however, he said wouldn’t mind if it did.

“It’s been great,” he said. “The restaurant filled up from the time we opened at 7 this morning, and it’s been steady ever since.”

In anticipation of a packed crowd, the restaurant stocked up before Friday with 20 cases of hamburger meat, 25 cases of shake mix, 20 cases of fries and five cases each of chili and clam chowder.

Despite the 1982 prices, though, at least one part of the event was timeless — the 1940s swing tunes played over the speakers just as they have for 25 years.

Some customers said they intended to take advantage of the menu as much as they could.

Dale and Anne Hollingshead, a couple who live in Newport Bluffs, stopped in for breakfast and planned to return with their children for dinner.

“We would have taken them for breakfast if they didn’t have school,” Anne said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].