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Brunch was a lie...and then, Tobey’s

Toss back too many ’mosas and check out the best pisser view in town

Tobey’s isn’t one of the posturing snoot hives you’d associate with brunch. - Image by Chris Woo
Tobey’s isn’t one of the posturing snoot hives you’d associate with brunch.

If you’d have asked me about brunch a few years ago, I would have laughed in your face. Brunch is just breakfast with booze (hardly a novel concept). Brunch is where saps take new girlfriends to pretend they’re also crazy about $12 micro-servings of French toast. Brunch is where people without the foresight to rock a secret vodka and Minute Maid bottle at the neighborhood burrito shop go to spend half their paycheck on undercooked potatoes — potatoes, of all things! — and a couple of poached eggs. Brunch is bourgeois. Brunch is a bellyache. Brunch is a lie.

And then, Tobey’s.

After a long night of porch drinking with some friends in Golden Hill, when the beer ran dry and the sun reared its ugly bulb to the east, a few of us made the bleary trek to Tobey’s for 6 a.m. first call. We made our way through the clubhouse and out to the patio. Opening to the west, the view overlooks Balboa Golf Course’s first tee, oak trees along the green, Pershing, downtown, and out to Point Loma protruding between skyscrapers on the harbor.

The quintessential diner waitress, whose name is probably Dottie or Junebug, cracked easy jokes that made our impending hangovers disappear like wisps of coffee cup vapor. We ordered a round of Bloody Marys ($5) and scanned the menu. It became immediately obvious that this wasn’t one of the posturing snoot hives that I’d come to associate with brunch. No, this place was Basic. Zero-frills burgers ($5.50). Straight-ahead biscuits & gravy ($5). Heaping three-egg omelets ($6). The place feels like it hasn’t changed a bit since opening in 1934, and it’s redeeming.

Sponsored
Sponsored

You see, Tobey’s taught me what brunch is really all about: pre-noon drinking under the auspices of an appetite. A liter of mimosa or bottle of champs go for $15. They’ve got three basic beers on tap and another ten in the bottle, plus Red Hook and Stone IPAs for good measure. Bloodys, margs, and screwdrivers are all $5 a pop, and, you guessed it, as basic as pumpkin spice UGG lattes. Which is great. Breakfast boozing isn’t supposed to be glamorous.

Toss back too many ’mosas, take a glazed stroll through time in the Champions’ Hall, and be sure to check out the upstairs bathroom, which boasts the least basic pisser view in town.

Place

Tobey's 19th Hole Cafe at Balboa Park Golf Course

2600 Golf Course Drive, San Diego

Capacity: About 60

Prices: Beer, $4.50 pints, $13 pitchers; Cocktails, $5; Mimosas, $15 liter

Hours: Monday–Sunday 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

Parking: Ample spaces out front

Food: Basic brunch

The Deal: $15 mimosa carafes

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Tobey’s isn’t one of the posturing snoot hives you’d associate with brunch. - Image by Chris Woo
Tobey’s isn’t one of the posturing snoot hives you’d associate with brunch.

If you’d have asked me about brunch a few years ago, I would have laughed in your face. Brunch is just breakfast with booze (hardly a novel concept). Brunch is where saps take new girlfriends to pretend they’re also crazy about $12 micro-servings of French toast. Brunch is where people without the foresight to rock a secret vodka and Minute Maid bottle at the neighborhood burrito shop go to spend half their paycheck on undercooked potatoes — potatoes, of all things! — and a couple of poached eggs. Brunch is bourgeois. Brunch is a bellyache. Brunch is a lie.

And then, Tobey’s.

After a long night of porch drinking with some friends in Golden Hill, when the beer ran dry and the sun reared its ugly bulb to the east, a few of us made the bleary trek to Tobey’s for 6 a.m. first call. We made our way through the clubhouse and out to the patio. Opening to the west, the view overlooks Balboa Golf Course’s first tee, oak trees along the green, Pershing, downtown, and out to Point Loma protruding between skyscrapers on the harbor.

The quintessential diner waitress, whose name is probably Dottie or Junebug, cracked easy jokes that made our impending hangovers disappear like wisps of coffee cup vapor. We ordered a round of Bloody Marys ($5) and scanned the menu. It became immediately obvious that this wasn’t one of the posturing snoot hives that I’d come to associate with brunch. No, this place was Basic. Zero-frills burgers ($5.50). Straight-ahead biscuits & gravy ($5). Heaping three-egg omelets ($6). The place feels like it hasn’t changed a bit since opening in 1934, and it’s redeeming.

Sponsored
Sponsored

You see, Tobey’s taught me what brunch is really all about: pre-noon drinking under the auspices of an appetite. A liter of mimosa or bottle of champs go for $15. They’ve got three basic beers on tap and another ten in the bottle, plus Red Hook and Stone IPAs for good measure. Bloodys, margs, and screwdrivers are all $5 a pop, and, you guessed it, as basic as pumpkin spice UGG lattes. Which is great. Breakfast boozing isn’t supposed to be glamorous.

Toss back too many ’mosas, take a glazed stroll through time in the Champions’ Hall, and be sure to check out the upstairs bathroom, which boasts the least basic pisser view in town.

Place

Tobey's 19th Hole Cafe at Balboa Park Golf Course

2600 Golf Course Drive, San Diego

Capacity: About 60

Prices: Beer, $4.50 pints, $13 pitchers; Cocktails, $5; Mimosas, $15 liter

Hours: Monday–Sunday 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

Parking: Ample spaces out front

Food: Basic brunch

The Deal: $15 mimosa carafes

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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