Rooster Cafe, Costa Mesa, CA

Taking the place of our friend, Autaka’s dearly beloved Mitae Ramen noodle house is now a newer, more contemporary cafe. Rooster Cafe now occupies this cool little hidden corner street behind The Camp in Costa Mesa. We’ve driven by it a gazillion times on our way to work and have been wanting to stop by since the first day we saw them open (probably almost a year by now). Don’t know what evil (or busy) forces kept us from chowing down at Rooster (excuses! excuses!), but today was the day that we specifically set aside to eat at this breakfast and lunch stop, no matter how busy we were.

To put it in three simple words, Rooster Cafe is small, simple and satisfying. Barely awake at 11:00, we arrived intending to order breakfast. The breakfast menu looked good & cheap, however the sandwiches sounded pretty damn tasty, too. After ordering up a cappuccino and Mexican hot chocolate, we decided to make their BLTA and Roasted Vegetable sandwich our breakfast of champions.

Upon receiving our meal, the decision proved wise. The tasty and moist, roasted vegetable sandwich on toasted rye was STUFFED with at least 6 kinds of veggies; 3 types of bell peppers, eggplant, onions and mushrooms. The BLTA was very satisfying with it’s thick cut bread, bacon done just right, ripe avocado, and lettuce nice and crisp. The drinks were equally pleasing and it was nice to find a place that doesn’t use burnt coffee beans for their espresso. Their cups had Lavazza, so we assume that is what they are using, and that is always an excellent Italian standby. What we had definitely demands that we return again. We have found our home turf sandwich shop. And we are sure Autaka would be proud to know that her baby is doing just fine.