Big Kitchen Café is a little place with a lot of history.  It’s tucked away on Grape Street in Golden Hill inside a cute little neighborhood full of houses that were built a generation ago.  The owner of Big Kitchen, known by all as Judy the Beauty, will greet you with a big smile and practically hug you on the way in.  You’ll be ushered around a maze like space with cozy seating and a great little outdoor patio guarded by a 3,000 pound statue of a goddess, which was made for Judy by one of her admirers.

Once seated you’ll really notice is the full walls of art and photos of celebrities- turns out Whoopi Goldberg worked here as a dishwasher long ago, giving you some idea that you are sitting in a piece of San Diego history.  Built as a carriage house in 1932, it’s a cool design with lots of little nooks to hide in for a cozy meal.

Now, I walked in on a rare morning people and I was not in a serendipitous mood so there was more of a chance of me running a 5k than giving a good review based on the rarity of the mood I was in.  Wow, did they turn that around!

They will squeeze fresh orange juice just for you, seriously! Judy the beauty is such a ray of light and just the best person to get you out of funk, served no, bombarded us with house made fluffy coffee cake with butter melting into the top, the best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had.  Sautéed mushrooms and spinach over rice- a vegetarian side dish- that gave me hope for meatless cuisine, and one big pancake so angelic, so melt in your mouth, it should come with its own set of wings. Drenching this thing with butter and syrup would be a crime.

And here, you get dinner and a show! Normally a group of super hung-over navy guys seated at the next table, complaining about their gastro funk would not be an ideal accompaniment to a nice relaxing meal, but Judy gives them a house made hangover remedy she calls a pep-up drink and serves it with an embarrassing lecture on drinking- right there in the middle of the café in front of all the other diners.  It is a hoot!

Try some Texas gunslinger sauce which Judy orders from out of state just because it’s tastes the best with her cream cheese and bacon scramble.  And where else in town can you order a ghetto burger without getting either beat up or laughed at?  Have her bubbie’s recipe chicken soup guaranteed to cure the sniffles and the Jamie’s burger which has ground bacon mixed right into the patty.  By the time you leave, you actually start to believe there is some kind of magic in the Big Kitchen- whether it’s the warmth or the food or the inner beauty of Judy, we don’t know for sure,  but I’m going back for another dose real soon.

Big Kitchen Cafe
3003 Grape St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 234-5789
Hours: 8am – 2pm Daily