As mentioned in the previous post, the next day was Father's Day. Instead of eating the spaghetti and pizza leftovers from Guido's, we got up early so we could go to Porto's in Burbank.
Thankfully it was only a few minutes away and we were able to snag some coveted parking in their private lot!
Turns out they opened way early today (6 am) for Father's Day. The place was already crowded by the time we got there but no so terribly crowded that we couldn't get a table. There are three Porto's in the L.A. area: Downey, nearby Glendale, and this location in Burbank. This turned out to be a great breakfast choice to celebrate Father's Day. Below, the founder of Porto's.
Filling up...Lots of locals here too.
Speaking of which, here they are! Ground beef stuffed into heavenly soft potato balls that are rolled in breadcrumbs and fried to perfection. We bought a dozen for ourselves and another for our neighbors.
One of these is pretty filling I must say. We were trying to save some room for our actual breakfast!
But first, another porntastic look at that potato ball which is calling your name!
Here were our Cuban sandwiches (love how they are sliced on a dramatic bias). One was chorizo, egg and cheese. Another was cheese with bacon. The croissant had ham, eggs, and cheese as well.
One half of the sandwich was pretty substantial. We saved the rest for later (except for Bert).
My eyes were bigger than my stomach. This was my chocolate croissant which was melt in your mouth awesome.
More pastries: Cinnamon roll, mango turnover and guava and cream cheese danish. Bert had the cinnamon roll which was pretty light and fluffy. The turnover wasn't that great. The mango was actually not real fruit but mango jam or jelly. That's why is was so inexpensive ($1.50 I believe). Same with the guava pastry; it was jam.
There are two counters to order your food, pastries, and specialtry drinks in Porto's. It was packed by the time we left.
Bert said it was the best Father's Day breakfast he ever had. The service was superfast and friendly here. Everyone was so nice! It was also cool seeing so many happy people in one place. Great food, pastries (they also make really fancy cakes here), and potato balls!!!!
Thanks for enduring this long drawn out saga of our summer trip. But seriously, it was a great trip because we got to see our friends and cousin, my godparents, and visit some really cool places along the way. I'm hoping we can do another road trip next summer. As for the destination, we still have to decide!
Our trip can be read in this order:
Day 1:
The Drive Up and Apricot Tree
Merritt Bakery -Oakland
Around Oakland
Fenton's Creamery
Around Berkeley
Toyose - Sunset
Eggette's - Sunset
Polly Ann's Ice Cream - Sunset
Day 2:
On Our Way to the MMC
The Marine Mammal Center - Marin Headlands
The Bay Model Visitor Center - Sausalito
Mission San Rafael
IScream and Solano Avenue - Berkeley
Jayakarta
Day 3:
Lake Merritt - Oakland
No Worries, I mean, Do the Dougie!
Around Oakland again
Scream Sorbet
Tara's Organic Ice Cream
Return to the Fish House and More!
Burma Superstar
Day 4:
Bite This! (Burlingame)
The Garlic Shoppe - Gilroy
Gilroy Bowl
Choke on this! (Castroville)
Pebble Beach Bound
Le Normandie - Pacific Grove
Day 5:
From Scratch - Carmel
Mission Carmel
Henry Cowell Redwoods - Felton
Santa Cruz Boardwalk
The Penny Ice Creamery
The Whole Enchilada - Moss Landing
Day 6:
Heading down the Coast
Cayucos - Brown Butter Cookie Company
Enjoying Cayucos
Cayucos - Candy Counter
DeBu of Pismo Beach
Splash Cafe
Pismo Beach Car Classic
The Scoop Ice Cream Parlor
Philippine Islands Condos
Giant What?
On Our Way to Guadalupe
Shaw's Steakhouse Tavern - Santa Maria
Day 7:
Mural in Guadalupe
Guadalupe Dunes
Samantha's Filipino and American Diner - Lompoc
Filipino Heritage Mural
Lompoc Farmer's Market and the Lacambra Sisters Filipino Fiesta
Solvang
Nojoqui Falls
Santa Maria BBQ Land
Day 8:
Jovi's Delights - Santa Maria
Royal/T Cafe - Culver City
Whimsic Alley - Los Angeles
Graumans and the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Guido's Pizza
and Day 9 was this post!
7 comments:
I miss Porto's! Sounds like a great Father's Day!!
I believe the photo of the potato peelings are actually their plantain chips that they usually serve with their sandwiches and sell by the box. It's great with their garlic oil sauce. When we go to Porto's -- which is a must stop whenever we're in L.A. -- we try to get two dozen cold potato balls cold to go so we can freeze when we get home.
hi darlene - thanks! i made the correction. i'm so blind! if we go there again, i want to try that garlic oil sauce you're talking about. good tip about getting the potato balls cold too. will do that as well!
I am impressed with your list of posts from your road trip! You visited so many places!
I miss Porto's too. I want one down here! Though, it might be dangerous to be so close to those delicious potato balls.
hi mary - that was a fkg bitch to link up man. it looks long because i did a post for everything instead of combining it (like i did with my chicago posts in 09 or nyc in 07) but it takes too long to write an epic post. i like doing shorter ones for just one place.
yeah, you know we'd all be at porto's every other day, ha ha. scarfing up those PBs!
mary - me again...i'm also pretty ocd. i usually have a pre-set itinerary along with backup places in case the first choice doesn't pan out. most of the time we don't hit them all up but we try our best. bert and tc roll with it tho'!
When we go out of town I also plan out where we will eat. I don't have back-ups in place though... so you win. :D
hi mary - nice to know that i'm not the only anal one! i really don't do well "winging it". i like to know stuff ahead of time.
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