Searchers of a Great Burrito at Duke's Cafe - CLOSED

Duke's Cafe

23030 Eastpark Dr. 

Yorba Linda, CA 92887

It's been a while since we've had breakfast out anywhere. There are a couple of reasons for this. We have been busy with family functions lately, and I have had to work on Sundays since my day job is short-staffed. I have yet to have time to watch my beloved Jacksonville Jaguars play this year. It's a blessing since they have started 2 and 5, but they are only one game out of first place in their dreadful division.

Anyway, I want to return to my search for the best breakfast burrito OC offers. It worked out perfectly because we would be up this way for my niece's birthday party, and they would just have pizza from Domino's. We opted out of that business and instead tried 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 Fridays and Wahoo's Fish Tacos, this is 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 every neighborhood seems to have. You know, the spots with many 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 many other options.

I was surprised walking into Duke's and finding such a big dining room. Ordering is done at the counter, and the food is brought 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. The decor here, like the TVs, has an auto-racing theme. Even though it was football Sunday, all the TVs were turned to some motor sports. This could be a nod to famed Yorba Linda resident and drag racer John Force, who has headquarters about a block away. 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 lacked 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, as if 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 types of meat; ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cheese, and salsa. I agree with Katie that this was a very manageable burrito. I had no problem finishing it, but it did have its flaws. I like the meats in bigger chunks than here, and the grease poured out of this burrito. I did enjoy the hash browns, and there was plenty of cheese included in this, which was on the plus side. As I ate this breakfast burrito, I liked it less with each bite. It's not awful, but it's not my favorite breakfast burrito in OC to date by a long shot.

I knew these Buttermilk Pancakes ($5.49) would push me to the limit of my eating, but sometimes, I just crave pancakes. These three pancakes soaked up the syrup but were still dry, no matter how much I poured on them. They were like sponges. 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. This restaurant is very average when it comes to breakfast. Maybe their omelets are the way to go here or something else we did not get to try during this visit. We had no qualms with the prices here or the service 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. I hope to get some more Sundays off to 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