My widow support group has been together more than nine years. None of us knew each other until our spouses passed away, and we all say that without the group we never would have survived ourselves.
People would say to us “I am so sorry; I know how you feel.” And, quite frankly, they have no idea how we felt because we didn’t lose just a person – we lost our lovers; our confidantes; our companions; our bread-winners, etc. Because of our close ties, some of us still get together at least once a month to reinforce our friendship, have a nice lunch out, and renew our ties.
Since everyone loves to come to the beach, I usually find the restaurant that we will dine at that day. This time Irene asked me to find someplace that was on the water because living in Santee she only hears about the high waves that are hitting the shore, so I thought the restaurant I was choosing was behind the Islandia. A former student took me to a very nice restaurant there and I was sure that I had picked the same one.
Wrong! I chose the Olive Café, which is really in the center of Mission Beach. But we were game, and there was a public parking lot just a few feet from the restaurant and we thought it would be fun to try one that none of us knew about.
The Olive Café is an old house that has been made into a restaurant. There is eating outside, as well as a small dining room, with an active fireplace, inside. You place your order at the counter and the food is brought to you. Breakfast and lunch are served all day.
There is an extensive menu, featuring “eggs and things,” pancakes and French toast, breakfast bowls, burritos, sausage, etc. The lunch has quesadillas, burritos, wraps, salads, soup, sandwiches, flatbreads, etc. They also have an extensive non-alcoholic drink menu.
We decided to have breakfast, and Irene ordered the Cinnamon Swirl French Toast. It was topped with sliced bananas, strawberries and powdered sugar for a reasonable price of $7.75. I have never seen her finish a meal. She always takes it home for another meal. Not this one! She finished it completely! 
Candy ordered the “basic beach breakfast,” which was also very reasonable at $6.95. She had two eggs scrambled, two slices of bacon and she had her choice of toast, pancakes or hash browns.
I had the mixed berry pancakes, that was too much for me to finish at one sitting. There were two large pancakes and the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries were part of the batter, not just thrown on top. It was covered with banana slices. The total was $7.65.
Everything that we ordered was delicious. Candy even ordered the White Hot Chocolate ($3.25) and she said it was some of the best that she has ever had. There is no question that we will go there again. Maybe we will see you! Olive Café
805 Santa Clara Place
858-488-1224, Olivecafe.biz