The Opinionated Loudmouth: Nona's Kitchen
Every now and then, the coastside beckons SFist, and the city-dweller takes to Highway 1 to see what can be found.
Beaches fronting bays full of wet-suited surfers, sheer cliffs, fog-shrouded hills with or without clusters of houses clinging to the craggy edge -- it's mostly gorgeous, but natural beauty appreesh is tiring and requires much quality fuel. But where to go? One shopping strip looks a lot like the next one, and surely you didn't drive all this way to eat at the first Denny's you saw by the road. That's where SFist Lydia, AKA The Opinionated Loudmouth, comes in.
First stop: Nona's Kitchen, in Pacifica's Pedro Point area. Good lord, breakfast-eaters! This -- this -- is why you bother to keep a car in the City: so that on weekends, you can motor 15 miles down the road whenever the desire for some truly kickass brunch or breakfast hits you. Point of reference: Our longtime diehard favorite morning/early-afternoon meal in SF proper is Mama's, in Washington Square -- and Nona's is the first joint to get near it.
Free of the usual crowds of trendoids and hipsters that clog up most City breakfast places on weekends, Nona's sits unpretentiously in an oceanfront strip alongside a gym that used to be an Atomic Age Safeway, a Nor-Cal store, and a Mexican restaurant that's one tasty step up from a taqueria. It can get a little congested at the door during peak times, but somehow the staff moves things along so nobody's stuck waiting forever.
And once you're seated (likely as not, by Chef Joreth Toropov himself), whether on the stools at the counter or at a table in the slightly cavernous dining area, you don't have to wait long to get something to cram into your pie-hole. They'll bring you water and other beverages right away (good, hot, fresh, plentiful coffee -- quick on the re-pour, they are -- and/or mimosas, wine, beer, fresh-squeezed OJ, etc.), and a plate of house-made biscuits with butter and two kinds of preserves. Maybe it's just that we're from Texas, but these biscuits -- they had us at that first buttery, flaky hello.
Breakfast and brunch specials are up on the chalkboard by the counter -- a good range of choices from corned beef hash to chocolate chip pancakes, plus curiosities like Sicilian Benedict and Eggs in a Hole -- and the menu features light lunch, sandwich, and burger selections. We sampled the eggs Benedict ($10), the blackberry French toast ($8) and the strawberry waffles ($8), and for all three, we have two words: "heaping" (as in, huge portions, especially for the sweet items) and "sublime" (as in, Jesus H. Christ in a sidecar drinking tequila, this s**t is good!).
The Eggs Benedict were served upon the house biscuits, instead of the traditional English muffin, a surprising and very tasty twist; the Canadian bacon was thinly sliced and crispy-fried, instead of the slab you get at most places; the eggs were perfectly poached; the champagne hollandaise was creamy and flavorful without a hint of heaviness; and the home fries on the side were perfect -- crispy on the outside, softer on the inside, and just salty enough. The waffle was GIGANTIC, topped by a huge mound of real whipped cream and beautiful strawberries, and the French toast struck that elusive balance between hot and crisp on the outside and bready on the inside, with ripe berries and whipped butter that pretty much made syrup an afterthought.
We sat at the counter on each visit, so we had the opportunity both to see the workings of the small but well-organized kitchen, and to drool at the sight of other plates going out: a behemoth hamburger, a lovely pasta pomodoro, a fat Reuben, several "kitchen sink" salads, a couple slices of divine-looking house-made apple pie ... all this, and we haven't even had the chance to go there for dinner yet! There’s a bacon-wrapped meatloaf on the menu that we've got our eye on.
Rating:
Gracious service, low-key crowd, zero pretension (either upmarket or down), and fantastic food -- in short, Nona's is every bit worth the drive all by itself.
Nona's Kitchen
5450 Coast Highway, Pacifica,
in the Pedro Point Shopping Center
(650) 557-1455
Hours:
Brunch 10:30 to 2:30 (Sat. & Sun.)
Lunch 11:30 to 2:30
Dinner 5:30 to 9:00
Closed Tuesdays
Miscellaneous:
Big groups: The setup is not great for groups of more than six, especially at peak times, but they'll try their best to be accommodating.
Takeaway: The bakery extension is two doors down, and the owner/chef plans to install a wood-fired oven there; get ready for pizzas and other goodness soon.