Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Waffle Lion

Anastasia from Vladivostok brings my waffle.

Melissa — her family is from Guam — hands me my coffee.

The coffee’s Kona, from Hawaii.

The waffle is from heaven.

Sigh. Love a surprise. Here I was, ambling along Market. Biggest care in the world was a slightly grumbling gut.

Like, “Breakfast! Desayuno! What up?”

Because it is around two. I’m crossing First, heading east. Pass that gigantic earthquake fault.

Lion Coffee, from the earthquake fault

Local architect Rob Quigley had to break his building into two, one on either side of the fault, and leave the gulley as a piece of wilderness, right here in downtown. So, the two buildings can move independently.

It still looks wild down there. Trees, rocks, rattlers…or is that just my fertile imagination?

The fault line, right outside

“Breakfast! Desayuno!” Gut’s giving these guttural calls.

And as it happens, the first shop east of the fault gulley has a big red sign on its wall: “Hawaii’s Lion Coffee.” (It's at 101 Market Street #100, 619-299-5466.)

Plus, “Lion EATS.” It’s a menu in the window. Prices are good, $5-$7. And I have this thing about Kona coffee. Each time I get some, it tastes chocolatey, earthy, but mostly just smooth. Love it. ’Course, it costs more, and I see a Starbucks a little further east, but what the heck?

I head in.

First thing is the big welcome from Melissa.

"Hi!"

Melissa

Like that.

“Practice Aloha,” says the sign taped to the cash register. She sure does.

The small Kona coffee costs $2.50. (They do have ordinary stuff too, too.) But I figure I’ll save on the food.

“Still have breakfast?”

“All day,” says Melissa .

“Well, it’s ten o’clock somewhere,” I say.

“Like, Guam,” says Melissa.

“Or Vladivostok,” says Anastasia.

“Or, actually, Hawaii,” says Larry. He’s the owner.

Tracy, the other assistant, nods in agreement.

Tracy

Great thought! So the choice is basically breakfast burritos (bacon, ham, chicken, sausage or veggies), and they come with eggs, potatoes and cheddar, or ham or turkey breakfast sandwiches. Everything’s $4.95. For lunch they have $5.95 sandwiches where you pick your own meat, cheese, bread and extras.

And I’m almost tempted by the lunch combo: half a sandwich and cup of soup ($5.95).

But then I spot the waffles. Lordy. The basic Belgian ($5.95) or Macadamia, chocolate chip, coconut, or coconut chocolate ($6.95). And you get a choice of maple, coconut or guava syrup.

I go for the chocolate coconut. Would’ve chosen the guava syrup if I’d seen it in time. But the maple’s fine.

I could go outside, but it’s cool. Besides, good talkin’s goin’ on here.

Anastasia makes my waffle.

Anastasia

She says all this would cost about the same in Vladivostok. She’s studying here.

Larry says everyone who’s been to Hawaii knows Lion coffee.

“And mostly, when they think of Lion, and Kona coffee, they remember a good time in their lives. They get very sentimental about it. Maybe it was a family holiday over there, maybe a honeymoon. But people get dreamy when they see our sign up here.”

For sure, my coffee’s velvety smooth , and the waffle is a sticky, crunchy, chocolatey mess...

Beautiful.

Larry says the company started in Toledo in, hey, 1864. But it transferred to Hawaii 38 years ago.

Coffee bags

“We’re definitely #1 in Hawaii,” Larry says. But now he wants to bring it back to the mainland. He hopes this is the first of many Lion places here. “Right now, this is the only one,” he says.

We’re both standing near the window looking out to the wild earthquake gulley outside.

So does he hope to, uh, shake up the coffee status quo here?

“Well if I don’t, it’ll be my fault,” he says.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”

Anastasia from Vladivostok brings my waffle.

Melissa — her family is from Guam — hands me my coffee.

The coffee’s Kona, from Hawaii.

The waffle is from heaven.

Sigh. Love a surprise. Here I was, ambling along Market. Biggest care in the world was a slightly grumbling gut.

Like, “Breakfast! Desayuno! What up?”

Because it is around two. I’m crossing First, heading east. Pass that gigantic earthquake fault.

Lion Coffee, from the earthquake fault

Local architect Rob Quigley had to break his building into two, one on either side of the fault, and leave the gulley as a piece of wilderness, right here in downtown. So, the two buildings can move independently.

It still looks wild down there. Trees, rocks, rattlers…or is that just my fertile imagination?

The fault line, right outside

“Breakfast! Desayuno!” Gut’s giving these guttural calls.

And as it happens, the first shop east of the fault gulley has a big red sign on its wall: “Hawaii’s Lion Coffee.” (It's at 101 Market Street #100, 619-299-5466.)

Plus, “Lion EATS.” It’s a menu in the window. Prices are good, $5-$7. And I have this thing about Kona coffee. Each time I get some, it tastes chocolatey, earthy, but mostly just smooth. Love it. ’Course, it costs more, and I see a Starbucks a little further east, but what the heck?

I head in.

First thing is the big welcome from Melissa.

"Hi!"

Melissa

Like that.

“Practice Aloha,” says the sign taped to the cash register. She sure does.

The small Kona coffee costs $2.50. (They do have ordinary stuff too, too.) But I figure I’ll save on the food.

“Still have breakfast?”

“All day,” says Melissa .

“Well, it’s ten o’clock somewhere,” I say.

“Like, Guam,” says Melissa.

“Or Vladivostok,” says Anastasia.

“Or, actually, Hawaii,” says Larry. He’s the owner.

Tracy, the other assistant, nods in agreement.

Tracy

Great thought! So the choice is basically breakfast burritos (bacon, ham, chicken, sausage or veggies), and they come with eggs, potatoes and cheddar, or ham or turkey breakfast sandwiches. Everything’s $4.95. For lunch they have $5.95 sandwiches where you pick your own meat, cheese, bread and extras.

And I’m almost tempted by the lunch combo: half a sandwich and cup of soup ($5.95).

But then I spot the waffles. Lordy. The basic Belgian ($5.95) or Macadamia, chocolate chip, coconut, or coconut chocolate ($6.95). And you get a choice of maple, coconut or guava syrup.

I go for the chocolate coconut. Would’ve chosen the guava syrup if I’d seen it in time. But the maple’s fine.

I could go outside, but it’s cool. Besides, good talkin’s goin’ on here.

Anastasia makes my waffle.

Anastasia

She says all this would cost about the same in Vladivostok. She’s studying here.

Larry says everyone who’s been to Hawaii knows Lion coffee.

“And mostly, when they think of Lion, and Kona coffee, they remember a good time in their lives. They get very sentimental about it. Maybe it was a family holiday over there, maybe a honeymoon. But people get dreamy when they see our sign up here.”

For sure, my coffee’s velvety smooth , and the waffle is a sticky, crunchy, chocolatey mess...

Beautiful.

Larry says the company started in Toledo in, hey, 1864. But it transferred to Hawaii 38 years ago.

Coffee bags

“We’re definitely #1 in Hawaii,” Larry says. But now he wants to bring it back to the mainland. He hopes this is the first of many Lion places here. “Right now, this is the only one,” he says.

We’re both standing near the window looking out to the wild earthquake gulley outside.

So does he hope to, uh, shake up the coffee status quo here?

“Well if I don’t, it’ll be my fault,” he says.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Breakfast with a Side of Fun

Next Article

Ice Cream and Hot Waffles

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader