The White House Restaurant has called Laguna Beach home since 1918, and it fires on all cylinders – breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner and late-night live music. This review, though, is strictly about its breakfast and brunch menu. I honestly don’t think many locals think of the White House for breakfast, which I’m convinced is one of its better inventions.
I like the White House because it offers a much larger breakfast and brunch menu than most of its breakfast peers in Laguna Beach. It’s also very reasonably priced for a serious heaping of very good food. Although I believe the White House is much more innovative, fresh and tastier than chains like Ruby’s or Denny’s, it offers that great menu variety that is apt to please any palette in your group.
If you’re craving Eggs Benedict, there’s really no better option in Laguna Beach
The White House serves up at least five perfectly crafted versions of the English muffin-poached egg affair, in a range of options from your standard homemade Hollandaise to filet mignon, mushroom bordelaise sauce, Cajun chicken sausage and the ever-popular “Billy Bob Benedict,” which favors fried eggs, bacon and country gravy.
The White House Restaurant serves up a mighty omelet, too, with crowd favorites being the White House Omelet topped (again) in its own homemade Hollandaise (hey, this Hollandaise could be ladled on every item on the menu and I’d be happy), and Wyland’s omelet, which is the artist Wyland’s actual request of fillings with a side of his favorite homemade salsa.
On the weekend brunch menu, the pricing doesn’t go up, but the selection expands from about 25 items to more than 60 to include waffles, French toast, breakfast burritos, salads, sandwiches, every kind of burger and even light pastas.
The servers are down-home friendly and attentive, fresh coffee is always making its rounds, and anything I order arrives quickly and piping hot. I guess after 95 years of serving Laguna customers, you might say the White House has it down!
White House Restaurant Logistics
The White House
340 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, 92651
(949) 494-8088
Breakfast, $8-$10, Weekend Brunch, $8 – $13
Hours: Breakfast weekdays, 8 – 11 a.m., Weekend brunch, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Noise level at busiest: 5 out of 10 on patio because of PCH traffic, 3 out of 10 inside
Good for kids? Yes
Dogs: No (most folks leash their dogs to nearby parking meters, which are just a few feet away from the patio seating)