Back in January, Jake and I had a kid-free morning for some reason (I think T had baseball practice). Jake wanted to head out to El Cajon to visit a dealership to look at used cars and he let me choose a place to eat. Nothing new, eh.
I scoured around on Yelp to find a spot for breakfast and found a little placed called Izzy’s Cafe. It had decent reviews and seemed like a homey spot so we headed over to check it out.
We parked on the street right in front of the place. There’s parking on the left side and in the back, but we couldn’t figure out if it was for Izzy’s Cafe or for the other business around it. No matter, it wasn’t crowded and parking was easy.
Izzy’s Cafe has got that down home, small diner, country vibe going for it. There are oodles of metal signs and small knick knacks all around the restaurant.
Jake saw that the jelly tray was all out of order so he set out to fix that “problem” and to stack the same kind of jellies together.
[coffee cake]
We started off with some coffee cake, which was included with one of our meals. You had the choice of toast, muffin, biscuit or coffee cake. Coffee cake wasn’t actually listed on the menu, but the waitress offered it. I jumped on that one because it’s totally a legit reason to eat cake for breakfast. Put “coffee” in front and it’s magically okay! In my mind at least.
The coffee cake was served cold (sad face). It was a yellow cake base that was incredibly moist with a hardened vanilla glaze on top that made me think of the glaze on honey buns. There were little clumps of cinnamon and nuts spread throughout the coffee cake so you’d get a bit here and there. We really enjoyed this but really wished it had been warmed up first.
[biscuits and gravy / $5.99]
We kept things simple by just sharing two plates. One was the Biscuits and Gravy. It’s two biscuits that are split in half and then covered in Izzy’s country gravy. The country gravy has large chunks of sausage in it and a good dose of pepper. There wasn’t a ton of sausage in it but the gravy was seasoned well and had a nice thickness. The biscuits were also fluffy and tasty. Very simple!
[hot louisiana smoked sausage and eggs / $9.99]
Jake really wanted to try the smoked sausage. The menu says they use Hot Louisiana sausage but luckily I didn’t find it to be overwhelming hot. Just something that had a good spiciness and kick to it without making your tastebuds cry. It was maybe a little dried out but still had a nice flavor to it.
The hash browns had a nice crispy exterior to them but I felt they were slightly dried out on the bottom. Good though for what it was. Nothing too fancy or over the top.
Izzy’s Cafe is a nice little quiet and quaint breakfast post in El Cajon. There’s nothing super mind blowing here but they serve decent, down to earth food. We noticed that for lunch they also serve BBQ and the menu claims it’s cooked low and slow in a real wood BBQ pit (they have baby back ribs, brisket, smoked ham and smoked pork butt). We’re hoping to come back soon to check out the BBQ!
Breakfast Menu:
Lunch Menu:
Izzy’s Cafe
1252 Broadway
El Cajon, CA 92021
619-447-5067
Hours:
Monday-Wednesday 7am-2pm
Thursday & Friday 7am-8pm
Saturday 6am-2pm
Closed Sundays
I like the look of those hash browns. I spy Elvis on that wall too.
The hash browns were pretty good! I liked their decor, a little retro feel.
So nice to see you out in my neighborhood. We’re usually here on weekdays, when we get random coffee cups with breakfast. The BBQ is great, owners took a specific vacation East a few years ago just to learn the best techniques, then practiced before making it a menu item…now it sells out almost every night.
Hi Cathy – It’s great to hear from a trusted source that the BBQ is good! We were curious about it. We’ll have to try it out sometime, saw a lot of rave reviews for it on Yelp.
The pancakes ate delicious. Homemade. Not from a mix. Also if you want you can have pancakes instead of toast with your mesl. They are called toast cakes (silver dollar size). Also like the zucchini muffins. Homemade. Yum yum.
Went there twice this week, visiting from Utah, had the BBQ one day breakfast the next. Was nor disappointed with ither. Good quality, taste and large portions. Had some delicious desserts as well. The brownie Alamode was Yummy, Fried apple pie Alamode scrumptious. Very friendly staff, great service really earn your repeat business. Hey, I’ll be coming back to this place again. and again. John and Jeff Lehi, Utah
Hello John and Jeff – Glad to hear you enjoyed your experience at Izzy’s and are enjoying our lovely town. Cheers and happy holidays!