The Broken Yolk Café on Garnet Avenue has been part of San Diego restaurant lore for 30 years this month. Owner John Gelastopoulos greets his customers with a warm, ingratiating smile, a big handshake and a no-nonsense attitude. For the last 17 years, he and his wife, Chris, have run the café at its current location at 1851 Garnet Ave. The restaurant moved to Pacific Beach in 1984 from its former spot on Sports Arena Boulevard. Nearly every day from 6 a.m. to late at night, Gelastopoulos works alongside his employees to make the café into a familiar neighborhood breakfast joint that serves everything from breakfast omelets and waffles to Angus burgers and Reuben sandwiches. “South of the Border” dishes add a touch of Mexican to the menu. Their formula seems be working. Now, with Broken Yolk Cafés in Eastlake, La Costa and one planned for the Gaslamp Quarter, Gelastopulous and partners continue to ingrain the restaurant into local folklore with one secret: “You know what it is? Common sense,” Gelastopolous said of his secret to success as a restaurateur. “And never think about the money. You’ve got to stay connected to the customer. Hands-on.” Gelastopoulos first brought his hands-on style to the restaurant business after emigrating from Greece in the ’70s. Working in San Diego restaurants and making a living in real estate taught him all he needed to know to settle in the restaurant business with the Broken Yolk Café. When Gelastopoulos first arrived in Pacific Beach, there were about four major restaurants in the mostly residential Pacific Beach community. Since then, he’s been schmoozing with customers, working with long time employees and offering thousands of visitors a year a chance to immortalize themselves into the Broken Yolk lore. Two challenges let anyone become part of the Broken Yolk family. The first is to create a breakfast dish so amazing that it’s named after you and is offered on the menu. For example, the Tony G, an open-faced, egg-white and veggie omelet. Tony G, a regular customer who orders the dish, popularized it so they added it to the menu, Gelastopoulos said. Another, more difficult way to become part of local tradition uses the brute force of appetite. Putting down a dozen-egg omelet, home fries and two biscuits in under an hour earns the grand egg-gobbler a special place on the 12-egg Omelet Hall of Fame. Rows of golden plaques look like trophies dedicated to awesome omelet legends who’ve eaten the humongous egg creation the size of a half a pizza. It’s an open challenge with open slots on the wall that invite the excruciatingly daring. If you wonder how it’s done: “It’s the technique,” Gelastopoulos said. “You got to eat slowly, chew slowly, but people think I’m telling them that on purpose so they’ll [fail].” Maybe one out of every 10 people can eat a dozen-egg omelet. Those that can finish the monstrous omelet eat for free and get a T-shirt and their name on the wall. But if you don’t finish, the yolk’s on you. The dish cost $24.99. “You don’t eat. No shirt. No name. No free,” Gelastopoulos said. But as a thank-you to loyal customers and first-time challengers, the Broken Yolk Café will offer customers a reduced-price menu for some of its more traditional dishes this Tuesday, Feb. 24, and Wednesday, Feb. 25. Dishes like “The Mom,” a veggie omelet with avocado and alfafa sprouts, are only $3. The dish gets its name because it’s made of all the veggies mom always said were good for you, Gelastopoulos said. Other dishes include Eggs Benedict, Blueberry Pancakes and the No Name, which has bacon, avocado, tomato and mushrooms topped with sour cream. Although the 12-egg omelet challenge remains at the regular price for these few days of celebration, look on the sunny side; it’s free if you finish. Plus, 30 years from now, your name might still be firmly scrambled into Broken Yolk legacy.