Schooner or Later

If you are a food network fan and loves to watch "drive-in, diners and dives with guy fieri. this is the place to go. my mum and i drove 40mins to eat brunch here. we had a 30min. wait. there was about 20 people to be seated. the place was jammed packed.

my mum ordered the CRAB & CHEDDAR OMELETTE, Crab with Cheddar cheese, and avocado topped with Hollandaise sauce. this was pretty good. the crab was not over powering.

i ordered a half order of the "THE MESS", This world famous, local tradition is a tasty blend of chopped ham, onion, and bell pepper grilled with hash browns and eggs. Topped with melted Cheddar cheese. Served with sourdough toast. WOW this gave me carb coma. it was filling and tasty. i could not finish it. can you imagine the full order?

it was worth the 30min. wait. i would come back again but make sure you have a snack. you won't be seated right away.

Living in Long Beach, California was probably one of the places I enjoyed most. Everytime I come back to Southern California to visit my parents, I always try to hit some of my favorite restaurants. My all time favorite for casual outdoor dining on the waterfront is Schooner or Later.

One thing about this place though is it's always busy on the weekends. I decided to take my parents today since it's my last day in town and the weather was just gorgeous in the South Bay. I've always been early for breakfast, but today we got there around 2pm thinking we'd miss most of the rush. Nope, 45 minute wait still. The beautiful thing is they have an outside bar so you can enjoy a cocktail while you wait. :-)People often bring the Sunday paper and hang out on the benches overlooking the water, sipping on a mimosa.

For me, the bloody mary is the way to go. I think they have the best bloody mary I've tried. Extra spicy, salt on the rim please! I will say their Madras is good too (champagne, orange juice, and cranberry juice). And for beer lovers (which I definitely am too), they have beers in the schooners! I don't believe they will serve the schooners while you are waiting (plastic only) but I could be wrong.

So, after about 20 minutes we were called and lucked out with the perfectly sunny spot overlooking the marina. For me, no need to even look at the menu - I always get their speciality dish, originally called "Schultzie's Mess", now just called, "The Mess". No changes allowed to The Mess - chopped ham, bell pepper, onion, grilled with hash browns and eggs. You have the option of the half mess, $7.75 or the full mess, $9.25. The half mess is pretty big but today I ordered the full so I have breakfast in the morning before I get on the road back to Northern CA! My parents both order their mushroom and swiss burger, topped with sour cream, $8.55.

One thing I love about this restaurant is it's family owned and the family presence is known. Some of the girls who work there are local friends of the family and the place just has that cozy neighborhood cafe feel. It's mostly regulars who go and I even recognized faces from when I lived there 4 years ago. The familyc(Denny and Denise Lund) who purchased the restaurant from the Schultz's are born and raised in Long Beach and have worked hard to keep this place an original.

If you happen to be in Long Beach, I definitely recommend checking it out. It's on the fringe of Long Beach in Alamitos Harbor, right at the border of Seal Beach. It's somewhat hidden behind the Seal Beach Yacht Club but in the same plaza as Joe's Crab Shack. Weekdays are usually a bit less crowded but note they are only open daily for breakfast and lunch.