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

Late Breakfast in the Living Room

Aah.

Nothing like breakfast in the living room.

Except this is in the Living Room (2541 San Diego Avenue, Old Town, 619-325-4445, also in National City, Point Loma, El Cajon Boulevard near SDSU, Southwestern College, La Jolla).

And this is eight at night.

I swear, for all the historic places around Old Town, Living Room has made one of the best things out of a li’l old clapboard house that people have been living in since as far back as 1868.

Historic marker plaque

Living Room at night

That’s just a little after Judge Roy Bean (“The Law West of the Pecos”) was in town. In the jail right near here in the plaza. I’ve jes’ been looking at it.

He was in for dueling with a Scotsman. Almost killed him. Got two months.

Escaped by digging through the adobe walls with a knife that a lady admirer had brought him concealed in a tamale.

I swear. Right here. Only separation? Mebbe 160 years.

So I’m sitting out in the garden among fire pits and fountains and foliage, waiting for Martin to bring my poached eggs on wheat with fruit ($6.99) and cawfee ($1.90).

Martin

Nice solid coffee cups

I’d been to - and loved – the original on El Cajon Boulevard, but this is just as good.

They have about a couple dozen black wire mesh tables outside that make you wanna bring a couple of the books you never get time to read, plus your laptop, and settle back for the evening.

Just what a bunch of people are doing, now I look around.

“We have been here 11 years,” says Martin, when he brings my breakfast.

I think it’s so cool that they’ll make this brekky anytime, no grizzles about the cook being in dinner mode, whatever.

Only thing he won’t do at this time: waffles and pancakes.

And atmosphere? In the background you hear the jungle tom toms of two guys I met on Twigg, Mark and Marco.

Marco, Mark

They just get together and sing and pound bongos for the hell of it. And do it well.

Gives the whole area around the Campo Santo (the old cemetery) and the church of the Immaculate Conception (right across the road from here) a real exotic feel.

The poached eggs pass the Goldilocks and the Three Bears test. They’re not too hard, not too soft, just right. Nice and golden. Bread’s good rough stuff.

’Course what I should have asked for was a tamale.

In memory of Judge Roy Bean.

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

Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon

Aah.

Nothing like breakfast in the living room.

Except this is in the Living Room (2541 San Diego Avenue, Old Town, 619-325-4445, also in National City, Point Loma, El Cajon Boulevard near SDSU, Southwestern College, La Jolla).

And this is eight at night.

I swear, for all the historic places around Old Town, Living Room has made one of the best things out of a li’l old clapboard house that people have been living in since as far back as 1868.

Historic marker plaque

Living Room at night

That’s just a little after Judge Roy Bean (“The Law West of the Pecos”) was in town. In the jail right near here in the plaza. I’ve jes’ been looking at it.

He was in for dueling with a Scotsman. Almost killed him. Got two months.

Escaped by digging through the adobe walls with a knife that a lady admirer had brought him concealed in a tamale.

I swear. Right here. Only separation? Mebbe 160 years.

So I’m sitting out in the garden among fire pits and fountains and foliage, waiting for Martin to bring my poached eggs on wheat with fruit ($6.99) and cawfee ($1.90).

Martin

Nice solid coffee cups

I’d been to - and loved – the original on El Cajon Boulevard, but this is just as good.

They have about a couple dozen black wire mesh tables outside that make you wanna bring a couple of the books you never get time to read, plus your laptop, and settle back for the evening.

Just what a bunch of people are doing, now I look around.

“We have been here 11 years,” says Martin, when he brings my breakfast.

I think it’s so cool that they’ll make this brekky anytime, no grizzles about the cook being in dinner mode, whatever.

Only thing he won’t do at this time: waffles and pancakes.

And atmosphere? In the background you hear the jungle tom toms of two guys I met on Twigg, Mark and Marco.

Marco, Mark

They just get together and sing and pound bongos for the hell of it. And do it well.

Gives the whole area around the Campo Santo (the old cemetery) and the church of the Immaculate Conception (right across the road from here) a real exotic feel.

The poached eggs pass the Goldilocks and the Three Bears test. They’re not too hard, not too soft, just right. Nice and golden. Bread’s good rough stuff.

’Course what I should have asked for was a tamale.

In memory of Judge Roy Bean.

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

I’ve gone crazy and ordered a breakfast salad

And the bread bowl is not just a cheaper choice on the menu, it’s delicious
Next Article

Whoopi's Breakfast

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