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The Sacramento Breakfast Club likes to review restaurants close to our home base in Sacramento, but we are open to road trips, especially when the reward is a restaurant, that serves outstanding breakfasts, that is located within an hour or so of the greater Sacramento area. Get this: If a friend and co-worker, who you'd known for many years, raved about a restaurant that served 101 kinds of omelets, well... wouldn't you be interested? Especially since this person is an ex-Air Force veteran, and you'd worked with her for the past, say, 10 years or so. Keep in mind, that a veteran of ANY branch of the U.S. armed forces can normally be considered a barometer
Left: Dan and David pose in a couple of the chairs in front of Sandy's before enjoying a wonderful meal. Right: The white board greets us and beconds us, as it advertises S.O.S. for breakfast. Susan is an auxilliary member of the Sacramento Breakfast Club, as she's a night shift co-worker, a friend, and a nice person, not to mention, she's an ex-Air Force veteran. It so happened, on Saturday, April 28, 2007, core Breakfast Club Members David, Dan, and webmaster Eric were working the weekend, and interested participant Susan was working as well. Consider that Sandy's 101 Omelets is located in Fairfield, CA, about an hour drive west of Sacramento, but Fairfield happens to be the town where Susan lives, and she had recommended Sandy's, so a road trip for the Sacramento Breakfast Club seemed to be in order. Heck, it was a beautiful Saturday morning in late April, so if you have to work the weekend, why not enjoy a delicious breakfast after work? As previously mention, Susan had talked about Sandy's, as she and her family had visited the restaurant a few time, so the Sacramento Breakfast Club planned a road trip to Sandy's 101 Omelets. Feature this: We walk into the place at just past 9:00 on a beautiful spring Saturday morning. It's standing-room only, yet the wait for the table is mere minutes. As you walk into Sandy's foyer, you're greeted by a white board that advertises the daily specials, including... get this... S.O.S.! Ohhh Baby! If you've ever served in any branch of the armed forces, you know about S.O.S., yet how many restaurants dare to serve it, yet alone advertise it as a daily speical? Think about this: Sandy's 101 Omelets is located only a couple of miles from Travis Air Force Base, and if you've ever served in the military, you know that you love S.O.S., as it is one of the staple breakfast dishes served to all members of America's armed forces. Chalk one up for Sandy's.
Left: This interesting ornemant decorates Sandy's and states that it was caught in the San Antonio River. From what I've seen of Texas, I believe that statement. Right: The main dining room at Sandy's with the breakfast counter, a trio of friendly waitress, and the window to the kitchen in the background. Ka-ching... Sandy's is open from 0500 to 1400, and that means the restaurants focus is on breakfast, but Sandy's also serves lunch. Well, being an ex-Navy guy, if a restaurant keeps early hours, and closes just after the lunch time worker bees return to their hives, the bottom line is: YOU KNOW IF THEY SPECIALIZE IN BREAKFAST, and if you savor breakfast, like the Sacramento Breakfast Club does, you know you've come to the right place. Sandy's 101 Omelets is the right place. OK, you walk into Sandy's and you're greeted with the white board that advertises the daily specials. I pointed out the S.O.S. on the daily special, and it caught the attention to my buddies Dan, David, and of course, myself. Susan seemed to be a bit non-plussed, as was her charming daughter Heather, but the daily special board got the attention of all of us. We requested a table for the five of us, so after a 2-minute wait, we were seated at a table for six, in the rear dining room. As busy as the restaurant was, at the time of our visit, I can't complain about a 2-minute wait. Ka-ching... Our charming and cute waitress, (why didn't I get her name?...) brought our menus and, what a menu! The Sacramento Breakfast Club has never seen a menu such as Sandy's, indeed their menu really features 101 omelets, and much more, such as pancakes, waffles, scrambles, chicken fried steak, and whatever fantasy item that you crave for breakfast. As Dan, David and I were ohhing and awwwwing over the menu, Susan gave us a crooked grin, rolled her eyes, and softly mentioned, but quite to the point, "I told you so..." Indeed, Susan knows what she's talking about, as the Sacramento Breakfast Club was stunned, after scanning Sandy's menu. If you don't like omelets, Sandy's includes many, many, and many additional entrees on the menu. But... ka-ching! If you like omelets, Sandy's 101 Omelets menu is a slice out of heaven, as they truly feature 101 omelets, and they have a caveat at the bottom of their menu, which reads, something like, "If you don't find it on our menu, we'll make it for you." I will paraphrase that statement, in read back, military terms, as "My kind of place."
Left: The back dining room, where we were seated. Right: Our friendly waitress brings our delicious breakfast to our table. All of Sandy's omelets feature three eggs, with the exception of the "Kitchen Sink" omelet which features an overload of six eggs, and more meat than a carnivore can imagine. Most of Sandy's menu is devoted to their signature dish, the omelet. If you're a "old school" computer tech from the 1980's, like I am, you're surely a fan of D.O.S., and you will remember the days when real men and women spent their days with DIRECTORIES and SUBDIRECTORIES, and not the dummed-down folder system that Windows likes. Think as Sandy's as a D.O.S. computer, as their root directory is their main breakfast and lunch menu, and their omelet menus are divided into subdirectories, according to the type of meat that is featured in the omelet. So, the meat subdirectories will read as, pork sausage, hamburger, Spam, linguica, chicken liver, crab, shrimp, Hawaiian sausage, ham, bacon and chorizo, and probably a few additional choices that escape my memory. In the subdirectory located below each meat choice, there are files, errr... menu choices, of different dishes, that have in common the three eggs and the choice of meat, which offer various combinations of cheeses, sour cream, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and much more. I can't even begin to describe what the menu offers... it's mind-boggling! So if you do the numbers on your portable calculator, you'll find that Sandy's adds up to 101 omelets, and a whole lot more. It took the Sacramento Breakfast Club at least 10 minutes to decide what to eat. Naturally, while we were comtiplating our menus, we were served delicious coffee from a bottomless coffee pot, which is a requirement, in the eyes of our club. After about 10 minutes, and considerable discussion from members of the club, our friendly waitress took our orders. Dan was especially pleased, being an affectionado of a Chrysler Hemi V-8 engine, with headers, naturally... as he received a large glass of his favorite beverage, V-8, topped with a slice of lime. Don't get me wrong, Dan is an Air Force veteran, so he knows his fine coffee, but when he can get a tall glass of V-8, it brings a smile to his face, and he tends to forget is coffee.
Left: Another shot of our food arriving, as Susan is handed her breakfast. Right: The Sacramento Breakfast Club, sans the author, hard at work, doing what we do best. Looking at Sandy's huge menu, what was I to order? I like exotic dishes, so, do I choose between Hawaiian sausage, chicken liver, Span, or what? Speaking of D.O.S., getting down into the subdirectories, what do you want on the side? Sandy's lets you choose from hash brown potatoes, homestyle potatoes, biscuits and gravy, S.O.S., (more on that later...), toast, English muffin, grits (yes!), or, an astounding, fried rice... How many restaurant in California offer fried rice as a side dish at breakfast? Awesome! From the almost mind-numbing choices, I finally chose omelet #42, which is a linguica, cheese, onion, avacado and sour cheese omelet. I chose Sandy's homestyle potatoes, which are round slices, sliced very thin, and fried to a golden brown. As we were ordering, we were discussing the possibility of ordering S.O.S. on the side, but with some reservation, as $6.25 seemed quite steep for a side dish. Noting our dilemma, our friendly waitress piped up and added that if we ordered toast with our omelets, the gravy for S.O.S. could be added for an additional dollar, way on the cheap side! Dan, David and I jumped at her offer, as we're ex-military, and she made us an offer that we couldn't refuse!
Photo: The Saturday, April 28, 2007 edition of the Sacramento Breakfast Club, from left to right includes Heather George, Susan George, Dan MacLeod, David Demario, and the author and webmaster, Eric Rench. Note Heather's smile and David's toast to the camera. Our friendly waitress took the photo. From the mind-boggling choices, there were the choices made by our crew: Susan chose a Spam, cheese, onion, tomato and mushroom omelet. Heather preferred a sausage omelet, and Dan also chose a Spam omelet, although his omelet featured a different mixture of veggies than Susan's. David's choice proved the most exotic, as he chose a chopped chicken liver omelet, with onions, cheese, mushrooms and avocados. All of us chose either hash browns or homestyle potatoes. I kidded Dan on the fact that he didn't choose the "Kitchen Sink" omelet, due to the well-documented fact that he has a voracious appetite when it comes to breakfast. On a Saturday morning, Sandy's is the place to be for the locals of Fairfield, as the crowd is mostly a local crowd, dispute the fact that Sandy's is reasonably close to busy Interstate 80. I actually don't mind if it takes a bit of time for the order to arrive, as I enjoy the conversation with my friends, and the endless refills of coffee. Despite the fact that Sandy's was nearly full of smiling patrons, our delicious breakfast dishes arrived in about 15 minutes.
Photo: OK kids, it doesn't get any better than this, as the photo illustrates my delicious breakfast of linguica and veggie omelet, homestyle potatoes, a side dish of S.O.S., and a mug of coffee, served in one of Sandy's custom-made coffee mugs. Sandy's 101 Omelets is highly recommended by the Sacramento Breakfast Club! I can not begin to describe what a delicious breakfast that I enjoyed. The omelet was huge, and filled with fresh ingredients, cooked to perfection, and melted in my mouth. The homestyle potatoes were fried to a wonderful golden brown, crispy on the edges, yet tender on the inside, and not at all greasy. The quality, quantity, taste and presentation of the food excelled my wildest expectations. On the side, the S.O.S. was a rare treat, as how many restaurants serve S.O.S.? All of agreed that this restaurant combines the best of everything; fast, friendly service, delicious food, an incredible, mind-boggling menu, family-friendly atmosphere, huge portions, wonderful presentation, and reasonable prices. Probably the best accolade that I can bestow upon Sandy's is that it is worth the nearly 1-hour drive from Sacramento to enjoy a delicious breakfast at this lovely restaurant. The Sacramento Breakfast Club has eaten at many restaurants, and enjoyed many fine breakfasts, and although we hesitate to name a favorite, I can't think of a restaurant that we've visited that features the fine qualities that Sandy's has. You must visit this restaurant! Sandy's 101 Omelets
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