The New Best Corned Beef Hash & Eggs Breakfast In America

Heading to the airport in San Diego Wednesday morning, I gave myself an extra half-hour for breakfast at a place I passed on the day I arrived. I was unsure as to the official name of the place, as huge letters across the slanted roof line read “The Breakfast House,” while smaller, lighted signs over the doorways read “Perry’s Café.” Upon entering, I noticed that the bus staff’s t-shirts are emblazoned on the back with “Perry’s Café, The Best Breakfast In Town.”

I checked the menu and decided that this place was a satisfactory entrant in my nationwide quest to find The Best Corned Beef Hash & Eggs Breakfast In America. They offer just about the same portions and serving style of the current leader, Mac’s Diner, in Park Ridge, Illinois: Two eggs to order (in my case, over medium); corned beef hash, of course; potatoes; and toast. Perry’s Café offers the potatoes done two ways – hash browns or home fries – where Mac’s offers home fries only. I ordered the hash browns.

The meal came quickly, almost as quickly as it comes at Mac’s. I did my usual, dunking my rye toast into the egg yolks until they were dry, and then chopping the egg whites and folding them into the corned beef hash and potatoes to make a greater hash. It was all very tasty and filling, on a par with Mac’s, and the waitress who served me kept my coffee cup full.

The bill came, and this is where I noticed the weird things. The cost of the meal came to $9.10, which is currently the exact same amount the same meal at Mac’s comes to. And then, the other weird thing occurred to me – the realization triggered by the amount of the bill: the name of this place is Perry’s Café, and the owner of Mac’s is named Perry.

Hmmm. A restaurant doppelgänger.

While both restaurants serve practically the same meal of the same quality with the same attention to service at the same price, Perry’s Café does offer a choice of potatoes. So the very slim edge goes to Perry’s Café, at the corner of Pacific Highway and Taylor Street in San Diego, and so goes the title as the current purveyor of The Best Corned Beef Hash & Eggs Breakfast In America, which does not mean that anyone passing through Park Ridge, Illinois, should pass up Mac’s Diner, by any means.

(Hint: If you’re ever in the city of Chicago and you’re heading to O’Hare Airport or back on I-90, you’re passing through Park Ridge. Mac's is on Higgins Road on the northeast corner of Higgins and Cumberland Avenue, next to the 7-11 or whatever gas station.)