submitted by Doug Stokes

Luckily this joint is far away from where we live and work, or my wife and I would simply pitch a tent in their parking lot and camp out there so that we could be first in line for breakfast when they opened each day.

I know that this site is supposed to be about great breakfast places, (and respectfully) you might as well shut it down after you publish this one.  The remarkably simple Hays Street Café in Bridgeport, California is THE BEST BREAKFAST PLACE that there is gang.

Maybe it’s the altitude, Bridgeport is the gateway to the Eastern Sierras.  More likely its the fanatic dedication to getting every plate of food, no matter how prosaic the name (like “scrambled eggs and sourdough toast”), exactly right and tasting like the first time that you ever enjoyed a beautifully simple dish of fluffy cooked eggs and electrically-seared bread.

And, that first sip of their coffee is like your second time making love (much, much better, smoother, still very exciting, but relaxing, releasing, confident).  I don’t need to know the brand (but I did buy a souvenir Hays Street coffee mug) of coffee to know perfection in brewing.

Service?  Did your mother ever take better care of you at the kitchen table?  I doubt it.  These people genuinely love what they’re doing.  Bustling, cheery, but never frantic, the service is just that.  In fact, it exactly matches the food both in quality and “flavor”.

Lunch?  I’m sure that it is every bit as great as breakfast, but we’ve never “done” it there.  Breakfast is just too damn good.

21 Hayes Street  (760) 932-7141   www.haysstreetcafe.com
Summer hours:  6am – 2pm   Winter hours: 7am – 1pm

THANKS!
Doug and Dede Stokes
Duarte, Calif.

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