Clayton's Coffee Shop

While mom was in surgery...

My dad, sis and I had a late breakfast at one of Coronado's institutions...

Clayton's Coffee Shop, which is a vintage 50's diner. Recently they added a takeout window (see posts at the end) offering Mexican food; another walk up window sells desserts. My sis used to work on the island used to get takeout here. She's also enjoyed their breakfasts so we thought it would be good to spend some time here while waiting for our mom.



As you can see, there is an old school U-shaped counter with red leather seats. There are booths along the walls and the coolest thing of all was the jukebox in the corner as well as the mini table top jukeboxes at every booth!


One quarter gets you two songs of your choice.

My dad was really taken with the jukebox at our table. He said he hadn't seen one of these since the 60's.


What! No Metallica?

Coffee for dad and some sort of horrid type 2 Diabetes concoction masquerading as coffee for my sis. She said it was way too sweet but wanted to treat herself (I think it had coconut syrup in it).


Our entrees:

My dad wanted to try the breakfast special on the board, the Mexican benedict. The only thing that made it Mexican were the avocados and the ranchero sauce which was a bland tomato sauce. Sadly, he did not like this at all (he ate less than half of it). We offered to get him something else but he declined. Aw dad.

My sister's mainstay, the breakfast croissant sandwich. She said maybe it might have tasted better in the past because she found it to be too "oily". I told her it was just the butter from the croissant oozing out, ha ha.

As for me, I chose the Chicken Fried steak with eggs over hard, hash browns and toast.  There wan another choice to have the chicken fried steak in a biscuit but our waitress (a cheerful young lady) recommended the plate instead.  I liked the crust on my hash browns. The CFS was just okay. Same with the crust. It wasn't as tender inside either.  Gravy was alright and not totally drenching the CFS.  I've had better but I kept my expectations low so I wasn't that disappointed.

My sister, who is obsessed with coconut anything, could not resist. She ordered a slice of their coconut cream pie for us to share.  I really liked the crust. The pie was light and airy.


The atmosphere is really cool here with friendly servers and great service. As for our food, maybe we went on an off day or something. I'd still come again with Bert and TC!

Articles:
"The Legends - San Diego's oldest restaurants" SD Union Tribune, July 10, 2013
"Clayton's delivers Coronado's morning after comfort food" SD Reader, Dec. 26, 2012
"Clayton's Mex Kitchen" SD reader, Sept. 27, 2012
"Clayton's Coffee Shop adds walk up window" Coronado Times, July 3, 2010
"Coronado icon" SD Reader, Aug. 27, 2008
plus this photographer's cool post "All pop time was better" Lulight, Jue 27, 2013

Clayton's Coffee Shop
9769 Orange Ave
Coronado, CA 92118

fb page + reviews from tripadvisor & you know where

As for those jukeboxes, my dad put in a quarter for a couple of songs but crappily, our table top jukebox didn't work. When we mentioned it to the waitress, she said that it sometimes happens.  It would have been nice to have been offered another quarter, ha ha. My sis put in another quarter in the bigger jukebox so that my dad could hear the songs he wanted...

Which were...

"Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper (one of the men who died in the infamous plane crash that killed rock legends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in 1959). This song came out in 1958; my parents were already done with high school and he hadn't joined the US Navy yet.


and, strangely enough, the groovy 60's medley, "Age of Aquarius ("Let the Sun Shine in") by the Fifth Dimension:

This song originally appeared in the musical "Hair" but was also from the album of the same name by The 5th Dimension.  Released in May 1969 (one month after I was born! What!), my parents still have this album lying around the house along with my mom's Elvis and Tom Jones records.

Here is the "Age of Aquarius (Let the Sun s=Shine in)" homage played during the end credits of "40 Year Old Virgin" (2005), which I found hilariously joyful:

It was really funny seeing this happen in the theater. I never expected this song to experience a resurgence. 

There was a younger couple standing by the jukebox when this song was playing and I was amused by their dancing.

Although my mom wasn't expected out of surgery just yet, we made our way back to the hospital  waiting room so we could hopefully catch the doctor once he was finished...