Mexican hot chocolate

Roast beef hash and eggs

3795 Mission Blvd., San Diego, CA 92109. Phone: 858.488.9060 also in North Park and East Village.

Worth visiting in a 30-mile radius.

I enjoy American-style breakfast, but my problem with many breakfast-serving restaurants is that the food isn’t anything special⸺it’s food that my dad could easily make just as well at home. The Mission is one exception to this rule. Several trips to its North Park location plus one recent visit to the Mission Beach spot have yielded nothing but memorable food in a fun atmosphere.

Unless you arrive right when The Mission opens, expect waits of around a half hour. The inside atmosphere is boisterous but not crazy. Paintings of local artists are hung on the walls of the spacious, dimly-lit dining room, giving it a hip feel.

One of the great things about The Mission is its expansive menu, with options for every palate. The menu includes American staples like pancakes and French toast and gluten free plates. It also has meals such as breakfast burritos (the Zagat review of the East Village location goes so far as to call it a Latin American restaurant!).

The roast beef hash and eggs are my favorite entree. Served in a generous portion, it has a little bit of everything: steak tips, rosemary bread, scrambled eggs, and horseradish sauce, all neatly arranged on one plate. The steak tips are gristle-free and tender, and their flavor is intensified by the magnificent horseradish sauce, which is creamy but still has sting. The aromatic bread makes a good open-faced sandwich with the scrambled eggs, which are free of sogginess⸺the bane of many restaurant eggs.

Whatever you order at The Mission, be sure to get the rosemary potatoes on the side. These are crispy on the outside and steaming hot on the inside, with the added strong flavor of rosemary completing the delicious taste.

My favorite beverage is the Mexican hot chocolate, which is rich, intense, sprinkled with cinnamon and whirled with whipped cream to create a great version of the classic breakfast beverage. People usually avoid the dregs of drinks, but my favorite part of the Mexican hot chocolate is drinking the super-dark, cinnamony remnants off the bottom of the hot mug. This drink complements just about anything on the menu.

The Mission is a truly complete breakfast restaurant, serving an array of dishes and doing them all wonderfully, with friendly service and a cool space. The Mission’s prices are moderate, but the portions are so generous that sharing with another person is a good option, and the quality of the food is certainly well worth the price.