Labeled as the “best home cooking in the harbor,” Gaffey Street Diner has the qualities to back it up. Adorned with photographs of local scenery, nestled on a hill overlooking the Port of Los Angeles and saddled with a dirt parking lot, you cannot judge this one from the outside. It’s slightly obscure but not without treasures. It is these treasures that landed it a visit from Guy Fieri, host of Food Network’s famous show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
For those who have seen the show, this restaurant is hugely popular among the local San Pedro and surrounding communities, and is adept at recreating family recipes for their trusty clientele. Fieri focused on the menudo, a Mexican dish known for being a hangover cure, and the Eggs Benedict, made with a secret home-made hollandaise sauce. Since these items have already been broadcast through TV land, I ventured into some different territory.
My visit focused on breakfast. I ordered the Country Breakfast, a standard at Gaffey Street that includes two biscuit halves topped with sausage and covered with country gravy, two eggs, and home fries. Admittedly, I was feeling particularly hungry this day. If you have one of these days, order this plate, and it will satisfy intense hunger. I ate well and still took home a sizeable to-go box.
The draw on this dish is the biscuits and gravy. Eggs and potatoes are relatively run of the mill, so I wasn’t expecting to be surprised on that front. But biscuits and gravy is something that can be done well, done poorly, done differently, or done in memorable ways. Gaffey’s take on this dish is not different per se, nor particularly exciting, but they were done well. The large flour biscuits were crunchy on the outside and fluffy and dense on the inside. The biscuits provided a nice base for the significant amount of country gravy poured on top. I enjoy it when gravy is prepared this way – light in color, slightly creamy but not gooey, and with a healthy serving of sausage chunks mixed throughout. Thumbs up on the biscuits and gravy.
My colleagues both ordered the John Wayne Breakfast, a large tortilla topped with home fries, two eggs and cheese covered with Spanish sauce and surrounded with sausage. This dish was also quite large, conveying to us that this place is for those who like quality food but are also looking for quantity. Both of these individuals barely dented their dishes, but commented that the home-made Spanish sauce was noteworthy. It included large chunks of onions, tomatoes and peppers, and was seasoned to their liking. The ruling on the home fries? Like me, they enjoyed them but agreed that it wasn’t something to write home about.
For those who work downtown, the drive to this diner is quite doable. We made it in ten minutes and had plenty of time to eat. The service is quick to the extent that I assume they are catering to workers on a schedule. This may be due to the strong presence of port employees who discovered Gaffey Street Diner long before the Food Network did. Regardless, we were pleased with the visit, the service, the quality of food, and Gaffey Street’s ability to do food a little larger, a little more robust than other breakfast/lunch joints around.
Gaffey Street Diner is located at 247 N. Gaffey Street in San Pedro. A drive north on Ocean Boulevard will eventually get you there, following your exit from the Vincent Thomas Bridge.