Mini Cafe – Santa Ana | Eat in Orange

I visited the Mini Cafe in Santa Ana this morning for the first time and I’m already impressed. Tucked away in the corner of the Stater Bros. parking lot at Tustin Ave. and Santa Clara, right next to The Fling is the unassuming little cafe with its unassuming name.

Ask just about anyone that has lived in Orange County for the last 30 years to name their 10 favorite OC restaurants of all time and you are bound to hear the name Belisle’s come up more often than not, well Chef and I’m assuming owner Mario Gutierrez was once a chef at the famous OC restaurant. Of course Belisle’s closed many years ago, but it’s cool to see one of their cooks now runs his own little place.

When I say little, I’m not joking, there are only 6 tables, but size does not make a restaurant good I’m glad to say.

It was breakfast time and I was on my way to one of my normal haunts when I decided to give some local love to a place I’d never visited, my only hope was that Mini Cafe would not disappoint. And not disappoint it did. First off the prices seem to be stuck in 2000, since I don’t know any other place you can get a

Mini Cafe breakfast burrito with potatoes and salsa

breakfast burrito with bacon cheese and potatoes for 3 bucks. The burrito wasn’t much different than the usual fare; grill toasted tortilla filled with 2 light and fluffy eggs 1 salty piece of bacon broken up, along with some melted cheese. On the side were some grill fried potatoes and a little cup full of salsa. The burrito wasn’t huge; it was perfect in size for what a normal person should really be eating. Too many times I run across a huge burrito that has no reason to be ate by one person that stuff my stomach with. But the star of the meal was the salsa, if I had to guess I would believe it was made from scratch because I’ve never tasted such a salsa from any restaurant, it rivaled the salsa (sorry chile) made by one of my friends moms. Even the peppers were roasted!

I’ll have to do more research on their salsa and ask about it next time.

I’m almost hesitant to review Mini Cafe since I don’t want to let the secret out about how good it might actually be. Expect some updates soon, when I’m able to visit them for lunch and dinner and breakfast and lunch and dinner. I think this might actually end up being another one of my favorites, but only time will tell. And as Chef Mario sez: “CHOW DOWN!”