Letter to Brians' American Eatery

Owners
Brians’ American Eatery
1451 Washington Street
San Diego, California 92103

Phone: (619) 296-8268

Dear Sirs:

We finally made it to your restaurant for lunch, having been there many times for breakfast and late-night eating. Your menu is so vast that it will take many more visits to try everything we’d like to try. Our lunch experience today was as excellent as any of our other experiences.

On a beautiful sunny day, it was nice to sit on your shaded patio with its cool cross-breeze. We were seated immediately, which normally doesn’t happen on the weekend, though your service is always good and friendly. To drink, we ordered the Hillcrest Sunrise and a 22 ounce draft of the Bear Claw Ale. The Hillcrest Sunrise, with sparkling wine, orange juice and cranberry juice, is one of our favorites and The Bear Claw Ale was a very good pale ale.

I had a Cobb Salad and my dining companion had the soup and sandwich combo (chicken tortilla soup and the BLT Supreme). Even though the Cobb Salad was a half order, it was still more than I could eat in one sitting. The bed of fresh greens was covered in large pieces of fresh avocado, quartered hard-boiled eggs, chunks of fresh cold deli turkey, chopped tomatoes, bacon and crumbled bleu cheese. I requested the bleu cheese dressing on the side. I liked the bleu cheese; it was rich without being too pungent. My only criticism of the salad was that there was too much bacon for my taste, but it didn’t detract from the salad as a whole. I often order chopped Cobbs and I was very happy with yours.

The chicken tortilla soup was unlike any tortilla soup we had ever had. Although most tortilla soup is broth-based, yours was tomato-based. It had pieces of stewed tomato, corn kernels, kidney beans, onions, chicken, green peppers and tortilla strips. The tortilla strips were blue, red and yellow, which was visually appealing. They also gave the soup a nice crunch. We were pleasantly surprised that the soup did not taste acidic, overly tangy or tomatoey. It was simple and well seasoned, without being spicy. We especially liked that you used chunks of juicy chicken because chicken in tortilla soup is often shredded, dry and overcooked.

The BLT Supreme (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, Swiss and mayo on toasted whole wheat) was very good. The bacon was cooked just to the point of being crunchy. Although I may order the BLT without Swiss next time, I appreciated the avocado and mayo, which provided a creamy contrast to the salty, peppery bacon. The crunchiness of the bacon and toast and the firm sweetness of the tomato complemented the creamy, rich avocado and mayo so that each bite was perfect.

In the past, we’ve had many items from the breakfast menu. Your biscuits and gravy are a standout and even the side order is too much to finish. Your biscuits are light and fluffy and your gravy is thick, creamy and peppery (everything you want on a biscuit). We’ve also liked all of the frittatas and omelets we’ve had. The crab cake benedict is also a breakfast favorite of ours. The crab cakes have generous portions of crab without too much filler. The savory breading and natural crab flavor taste great with the Hollandaise sauce.

We noticed your dinner specials and appreciate that you’re doing classic American cuisine. We plan to come back for the all-you-can-eat honey fried chicken with all the fixins (your Monday night special). We also noticed the chicken and dumpling special (not on the menu), which we wish we could return for tonight. In fact, there are many items on the dinner menu that we look forward to trying. Notably, the spaghetti with chili con carne (a regional American classic) is something we haven’t seen on any menu in San Diego.

It’s also nice to have a local diner that’s open 24 hours on the weekends. For the most part, restaurants in San Diego shut down at 10:00 p.m., even on the weekends (which is ridiculous, considering this is the second largest city in California). Even when we come in late at night, the food and service are better than most.

When friends visit from out of town, we take them to Brians’ because we know they will get great food and plenty of it (the sandwiches come with two home-made sides). Brians’ is one of the very few places in San Diego that does good, classic diner food and for that reason we will continue to be loyal customers.

Yours Very Truly,

San Diego Restaurant Review