where she recommended Shirley's Kitchen for their version of my latest obsession...
which is Chicken Fried Steak. I figured today was as good a day as any since we were in La Mesa.
It's on University and literally just steps away from the awesomely old school Wong's Golden Palace which Cathy has posted on back in 2009 and more recently, last year. Just west of Wong's is Shirley's. They have their own parking lot which is a plus.
The interior is a mishmash of knick knacks...
My favorite is the white tiger on laquered wood. It looks like it's been there forever, which it probably has.
Shades of Siegfrid and Roy anyone? Let's add some blood on its paws and maw. One of the tigers attacked Roy Horn in 2003. These animals are not meant to be tamed and do stupid tricks. Ya hear that Sea World?
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox right now.
Assortment of jellies, sauce and a shit load of creamers. A whole bowlful. I guess it beats having to ask the server ten million times. It's already there buddy.
Our breakfast trio - TC's Corned beef hash with sunny side up eggs and a side of pancakes. Bert's waffle special with two eggs over easy with two sausages and my Chicken Fried Steak with hashbrowns and two eggs over hard. Yeah, we had the whole gamut of fried egg cooking styles that morning. I HATE runny yolks.
The waffle was a bit on the fluffy side. Not as crisp as I would have liked it, but since it wasn't my breakfast, I didn't care as much, ha ha.
TC's hash was probably out of a can (a la Dinty Moore) but hey, it still tasted good!
As you can see, the hash browns had a nice and crisp crust. I liked that the "strands" were long and not short and mushy. They had a firmness (but not rawness) to them.
About my breakfast...
Let me focus on the positive first. I loved the hasbrowns and the eggs were cooked to my liking. The chicken fried steak itself was a good portion and I liked that it wasn't totally drowned by the gravy (which had bits in it, so yay). However...
my appetite was soon gone after I lifted a forkful of the steak and noticed...
a fucking hair.
It was short and fine and light brown.
I discreetly wiped it away with my napkin. I was kind of irked that I was enjoying my food up to that point and then this ruined it for me.
Haven't you ever had that feeling when enjoying a good meal and then, as you cut into your juicy steak or bite into a pizza slice you find a fingernail or bandaid or as you dig into a spoonful of pie, you find a hair?(Okay, the bandaid or fingernail thing never happened to me but you get the picture)
I didn't want to make a scene and complain about it since I had already eaten about 3/4 of my plate. I just was...DONE after that.
Bert noticed a few pieces of my uneaten chicken fried steak and actually speared it with his fork and I had to stop him...
"No, please don't eat that". He thought I still wanted it so he said, "How about that other piece then?"
Sooooooo..unfortunately, I had to share the news of my lovely hairy surprise. Geez, why the fk does this always have to happen to me, ha ha.
Anyhow, as great as the CFS started out to be, the hair was the downfall.
At least it wasn't a short and curly pube. Not much of a consolation though is it.
The blue sign...
Wow...it's like the sign at Que Huong where it says, "If you can't find parking here, park over at Burger King".
To lighten the mood, here's what I think of when I hear the name Shirley:
Shirley Feeney from the ABC tv show "Laverne and Shirley":
Played by the cute and cheerful Cindy Williams. This show used to air on Tuesday nights on ABC (there were only THREE NETWORKS back then children...) at 8:30, right after "Happy Days". My mom hated the show because she couldn't stand how loud and obnoxious Laverne DeFazio's character.
Another TV-related Shirley was the actress Shirley Hemphill who played a sassy waitress, also nmed Shirley from the TV show, "What's Happening!!!"
This is short but sweet, but one of the more well known one-liners from the disaster movie spoof, "Airplane!"
Leslie Neilsen's deadpan delivery is classic.
Digging way back, there was also 1930's child star Shirley Temple:
Shades of Jon Benet Ramsay? Sorry, I went there. As a precocious child actress, she was known as "America's Little Darling" and later became a U.S. diplomat. She passed away last year at the age of 85.
Who knew that a maraschino topped non-alcoholic drink consisting of ginger ale, a splash or grenadine would be named after her? TC had her first Shirley Temple drink last year at my former student's wedding. She thought it was so cool.
The very last Shirley references the very badass Shirley Manson (of the band Garbage), "Bad Boyfriend":
Who else went to Shirley's Kitchen?
Cathy of mmm-yoso has been here several times for lunch and posted on in back in June 2014
Shirley's Kitchen
7118 University Ave
La Mesa, CA 91942
(619) 462-5732
There is no website but here are reviews from that four lettered site and tripadvisor.
Hopefully if you ever go here, you will not encounter any stray hairs in your meal. Maybe I went on an off-day when the cook wasn't wearing a hairnet (or worse)...
Bert wanted coffee at a nearby shop, one we hadn't been to in nearly a year, so that was our next stop.
2 comments:
Nooooooo!! I'm so sorry that happened with the hair. Nothing ruins everything the moment you see it, it's like you just can't and you don't want anything else. I'll never forget when I was eating a spring roll at one of my favorite Vietnamese places only to have a bite where a hair came out, in my mouth, bleh, meh, gross. Sorry.
Christina C - No worries. It is not your fault. Other than the hair, I really liked the place. I wanted to try out your recommendation.
Eww, the spring roll with hair. Yikes! I actually had one like that at Sau Voi deli, the one that's in 99 Ranch. It wasn't in my mouth, but I could see it through the rice wrapper - the hair was black. Ugh!!!! I threw it away. I was so bummed because I really wanted spring rolls too.
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