Saturday, November 7, 2015

Searchers of a Great Burrito at Duke's Cafe


Duke's Cafe
23030 Eastpark Dr. 
Yorba Linda, CA 92887

It's been awhile since we have had breakfast out anywhere. There's a couple of reasons for this. We have been really busy with family functions lately, and I have had to work on Sundays since we are short staffed at my day job. I haven't even had time to watch my beloved Jacksonville Jaguars play this year. Kind of a blessing since they have started 2 and 5, but they are only one game out of first place in their dreadful division.

Anyways, I have been wanting to get back into my search for the best breakfast burrito that OC has to offer. It worked out perfectly because we were going to be up this way for my niece's birthday party, and they were just going to be having pizza from Domino's. We decided to opt out of that business, and instead try a reader's suggestion to try Duke's Cafe in my hometown of Yorba Linda.

Duke's was not here when I lived up this way. Located right near the TGI Friday's and a Wahoo's Fish Tacos, this is a little off the beaten track, but it was still pretty busy on this particular Sunday just before noon. Duke's reminded me of all those restaurants that every neighborhood seems to have. You know the spots with tons of items on their menu, like Tom's Place in Anaheim, Ted's down in Laguna Niguel, and Troy's in Orange. These restaurants all have breakfast as the focus of their menus, but there are tons of other options as well.

I was a little surprised walking into Duke's and finding such a big dining room. Ordering is done at the counter, and the food is brought out to you. Even at this late breakfast hour, we had trouble finding a seat in the dining room. There's an attached private room that would have added more than enough seating, but it was closed off, and only used for parties I guess. Decor here, like the TVs is auto racing themed. Even though it was football Sunday, all the TVs were turned to some motor sports. Maybe this is a nod to famed Yorba Linda resident, and drag racer, John Force, who has his headquarters about a block away from here. Like John Force in his races, I was excited to see if Duke's was worth burning rubber to try the food here. Let's check it out.



Katie is not usually one to have a breakfast burrito, but she succumbed to the pressure and tried their Egg Burrito ($4.79). This burrito had the absence of breakfast meats, but contained hash browns, cheese, and salsa, which she opted for on the side. She felt this was a very manageable size for a breakfast burrito, like they were not trying to shock you by serving a massive burrito. She enjoyed what she called, "a solid breakfast burrito effort."




Since Katie tried the basic burrito model, I went with the all out Ultimate Breakfast Burrito ($6.49). This one contained all three breakfast meats; ham, bacon and sausage, along with hash browns, cheese, and salsa. I do agree with Katie that this was a very manageable burrito to eat. I had no problem finishing it, but it did have its flaws. I like the meats in bigger chunks than they were in here, and there was an over abundance of grease pouring out of this burrito. I did enjoy the hash browns, and there was plenty of cheese included in this, which were on the plus sides. As I ate this breakfast burrito, I liked it less with each bite. Not awful, but not my favorite breakfast burrito in OC to date, by a long shot.



I knew that these Buttermilk Pancakes ($5.49) were going to push me to the limit of my eating, but sometimes I just crave pancakes. These three pancakes really soaked up the syrup, but were still dry no matter how much I poured on them. They were like a sponge. The buttermilk flavor was spot on, but I was not too big of a fan of these.

Duke's failed to live up to the hype of having one of the best breakfast burritos in OC. I'd classify this restaurant as very average when it comes to breakfast. Maybe their omelette's are the way to go here, or something else that we did not get the opportunity to try during this visit. We had no qualms with the prices here, or the service that we encountered. They could have relieved the congestion in the dining room by clearing tables a little quicker, but that's just our casual observation on this particular Sunday afternoon. Hopefully I will get some more Sundays off, so I can continue my search for great breakfast burritos in OC.

Out of five stagecoaches, (because my favorite John Wayne movie is Stagecoach, and of course his nickname was Duke), five being best to zero being worst, Duke's Cafe gets 2.5 stagecoaches.

You can see their menu and get more information about Duke's Cafe by clicking here: http://www.dukescafeyl.com/#home

Duke's Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

3 comments:

  1. I've been to Duke's many times. They're pretty average. You should try their burgers. Pretty good. Hand shaped. Nice gourmet bun. I like their greek burger.

    BTW, I finally tried the burger at Riders Club Cafe in San Clemente. Wowzers! Too bad it's so far away

    - Anon

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  2. Anon - We'll try to get back to Duke's for their burgers sometime. We recently went to Rider's Club also, and that review is coming soon. Their pork sandwich is amazing, as well as their burgers. As always, thanks for taking the time to reach out and reading the blog.

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  3. Per Yelp, PERMANENTLY CLOSED. Sometime during 9/19-11-19

    ReplyDelete