5-egg omelettes, huge pancakes available 24/7

I had the worst luck on Saturday night.

I was planning all day on a trip to Marc Burger, Top Chef Master Marcus Samuelsson’s South Coast Plaza burger house, but Wifey Nadia got home at 7:30 p.m. and the restaurant closed at 7. Next, I checked around for a food truck I haven’t tried yet … no luck there either.

I dug into the short list and came up with Chicken Dijon, a Middle Eastern spot in Irvine, but by the time I had it all figured out, they were nearly done for the night (at 8:30!). Same with Arthur’s Family Restaurant in Orange.

There was a moment where I yelled to Wifey Nadia something along the lines of “I’m not eating dinner anymore.” (That’s the clean version.)

South County nearly had the best of me. And that’s when I remembered the stalwart — my savior – Corky’s Kitchen in Ladera Ranch.

The first time I went, we dug in to chili dogs and chicken fried steak, but left the diner’s breakfast menu virtually untouched.

Not this time. The wife finally gave in to my request to eat breakfast for dinner and there was so much food that we not only got our fill at night, but had more than enough left for breakfast in the morning.

Nadia loves sweet breakfast foods and I’m for the savory dishes, so we decided to go splitsies.

First up was the bacon omelette ($8.59, at top), made with five eggs, chopped bacon and a mound of what I think is colby and jack.

As you can see, they don’t mess around. The cheese and bacon were packed into the thick, buttery eggs. You can have the eggs with hash browns, home fries or fruit. We went with the home fries, cooked crispy. They where crunchy in all the right spots and kissed with fresh parsley. Better than hash browns, in my opinion.

Nadia was leaning toward French toast, but I begged her to order the pancakes. I remember seeing these cakes out of the corner of my eye during a previous visit and had to order them because I remembered them being 1) delicious-looking and 2) massive.

I was right on both counts, as shown in these photos:

… and …

You’re looking at the short stack — that’s two pancakes — for $6.29. I got a little bit of pancake on my cell phone to show how big these suckers are, and for the record, Nadia and I didn’t even get through half of this plate.

The pancake itself is solid. It’s a bit chewier than it is fluffy, and could benefit from a little more sweetness in the cake itself (I’m not big on syrup) but these are better than the average plate you’d get at Denny’s. Plus, you get twice as much for about the same price.

In the future I’ll plan on grabbing dinner a little earlier, but it’s always nice to know that Corky’s has my back, no matter what time it is.

Corky’s Kitchen and Bakery
27522 Antonio Pkwy.
Ladera Ranch
949-364-4439

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