I happened upon this little hole in the wall a couple years ago. It’s a few blocks north of Colorado on Holly Street, open until 3 in the afternoon and only takes cash. It has been there a while and the décor shows it. Ernie owns the place and will probably seat you, take your order and wait on you too. The menu consists of an odd variety of selections, breakfast foods, lunch sandwiches and burgers and some Chinese offerings. You could probably walk into the place with your jammies and no one would bat and eye (perfect for the morning after).
My favorite on the menu are the omelets. They are fluffy and filled with your selection of yummies. I love the spinach omelet, inside is melty cheese and pieces of crispy bacon. The spinach is fresh and is cooked into the egg and is perfect. The hash browns are crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside, no mushy stuff here. They also make a killer corned beef hash, if that is your thing. Sometimes it’s hard to find straight hash on the menu. There are all those hash variations that include things like, pesto or sun dried tomatoes, or some other trendy ingredient that completely ruins corned beef hash. Pancakes are stellar too. I stay away from the benedict since I am a hollandaise snob and the stuff here doesn’t cut it for me.
Go try 54 Holly. It will take you back in time. Say hi to Ernie for me.
54 Holly, 54 Holly Pasadena, CA 626.792.0506
