Thick ass bacon. Mmm! Even the Original Pancake House in Orange doesn't have the same bacon. They can't even do the eggs and hash browns right over there. Anaheim's place to be!

Slightly crispy... perfect.

They tell me it's ham and eggs but I can only see Elmo.

No food dishes named after bands here, but you still get rockstar quality. You can have breakfast feeling like you're in somebody's home here. That's probably because this used to be! This house turned restaurant has definitely got charm.

They close at 2pm so if you're a night owl like me... set your alarm clocks!

And don't forget to carve your initials on the gimonstrous tree outside.

Original Pancake House
1418 E Lincoln Ave
Anaheim, CA 92805

Shot with Emil's Canon S90.

The Food
This is egg noodles with some bite to it--served with sliced pork, wontons, bean sprouts, lettuce, in a rich, hot broth. I love this with soy sauce soaked jalapenos on the side. I feel so Asian dining at these kinds of restaurants.

You can get these noodles served with about 10 combinations including pork, chicken, duck, shrimp and wontons. Some places even have deep fried shrimp in the soup. At $5-$7 each, this is pocket change.

Lately I've been eating this with the broth on the side. My dad usually gets it this way and now I see why! The soup is sipped in between bites instead and this changes up the Mi experience. A very nice worker at Mi La Cay #4 suggested me to add about 2-3 tsp of spicy mustard (from the yellow squeeze bottle) and vinegar (yeah that bottle of red stuff isn't soy sauce!) to the noodles, mix, and to be fearless.

If you are on a diet don't even think about it. The meats are fatty and the broth is rich with oil too...

It's almost making me forget about Japanese ramen.

Oh, soo good!

The Restaurants
But why are there three different Mi La Cays? And why do some of them have "China Chef" as part of the store name? I wish I could tell ya.

That nice worker I mentioned earlier turns out to be one of the family members and owners!. She let out that all of the owners of Mi La Cay are related and that this is a family run chain, but each place has their own recipe. Apparently it's their game to talk smack and brag about how their own restaurant is better than the others.

Soup-wise I can barely tell the difference. But personally, my money's on #4 (10078 Westminster Ave) because of the ever-so-friendly waitress and their smaller-cut jalapenos .

Mi La Cay
14092 Magnolia St #116
Westminster, CA 92683

China Chef Mi La Cay #4 (Uh, what happened to the others?)
10078 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843

China Chef Mi La Cay
8924 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

Food: A
Value: A
Service: A
Ambience: B

Popeyes Chicken. Not his, apparently. Just a type of chicken.

Anyways, 99 cents for 2 pieces of chicken on Tuesdays. Don't forget the Cajun Fries and mashed potatoes! $24 fed four junk junkies with leftovers to look at in the fridge until its too old to eat.

Got a greasier, tastier, $6 alternative?

Popeyes Chicken
1244 E 17th St
Santa Ana, CA 92701
(714) 834-9709

Bun Bo Hue. Hue (a city in central Vietnam) style beef vermicelli soup.

50% off bun bo hue is on their business card!!

Dec. 25th search for good eats led us to Thanh Noi. You also get a light tropical retreat feel to this restaurant.

I tried
bun bo hue,
banh khoai,
and some iced coffee.

Having never tried bun bo hue outside of home, and never having banh khoai (banh xeo though), the food here is well worth the low price.

Service was a bit slow but I'll let that slide just because it was Christmas.

Thanh Noi Restaurant
413 N Euclid St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 554-9900

We drove all the way out to Rowland Heights because Thai Nakorn is an early sleeper.

Bring a friend, or thirty. It's really more of a party hall than a restaurant. Waiters and bussers wear earpieces/headsets JUST to annoy me.
Banana's Bay was only at about 30% capacity and it still was a never ending wait for our food. I think the waiters are just using up their rollover minutes at work.

The menu here is pretty extensive and filled with typos and Engrish. I love that there's a section called "Seafood Galore".

We probably could have dined and ditched this mess and no one would have known for hours (I can't believe Emil hasn't ever). It was very affordable though--we made out under $16 each.

Tonight, we stuck with some of the more familiar options:

Oh yeah, no unlimited Thai Tea. =\

Food: B- (probably hunger-skewed)
Value: A-
Service: C-
Ambience: B

Banana Bay
18230 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 839-5511