Diner Revival Mixes Best From ‘50s, ‘80s at the Earthquake Cafe

The waiter at Mission Valley’s new California Earthquake Cafe clearly was taken aback when told to hold the mashed potatoes.

His wondering “Huh?” carried none of the force of the “No substitutions!” Eileen Heckart barked at Jack Nicholson in the classic diner scene in “Five Easy Pieces.” But, still, it bore a message.

To not want the mashed potatoes, or, as the menu describes them, “lumpy home mashed with skins, black pepper and gravy,” is, in the scheme of things at the Earthquake, tantamount to rejecting Mom and apple pie. That is because the Earthquake is a diner, a real, all-American, 1950s-style diner at which consuming such plates as meat loaf with mashed potatoes almost implies a spiritual communion with the flag itself.

The opening of the Earthquake is the local expression of the nationwide diner revival that has been taking place for two or three years. The idea behind it is to return to the supposedly carefree days and styles of the Eisenhower era, when diners epitomized casual, inexpensive feeding on unsophisticated, home-style cooking. The demise of the diner has been blamed on any number of factors, but the two that deserve the most credit are the spread of fast-food joints and the introduction of frozen TV dinners. Neither, as time has shown us, was an improvement.

Nostalgia for the 1950s has brought the Chicago-based Ed Debevic’s chain (named after a fictional character) and other purveyors of glorified truck stop cuisine, and business at these places is booming. The Earthquake, too, is the prototype for a nationwide chain, and in the assumption that it will succeed in turning the premises of the old Victoria Station into a moneymaker, other defunct Victoria Stations in Los Angeles and elsewhere have been purchased by an entrepreneurial group that includes Pacifica Grill partner Kipp Downing.

The Earthquake obviously was designed with 20-20 hindsight, because no diner in the 1950s ever looked this good. That era had to find its own way and develop its own motifs, but all of them were available to Earthquake’s designers, and all of them were used. Thus every decor and design element ever developed in that funky decade has been incorporated in this large, spacious, cheerful place, and, with the recorded ‘50s hits and the largely youthful crowd, it seems almost like a Broadway stage set borrowed from the musical “Grease!”

The recipes of that era also were available to menu designer Neil Stuart (executive chef at Pacifica Grill and Cafe Pacifica), but a funny thing happened on the way to the chicken-fried steak and baked macaroni and cheese: Stuart decided to add a goodly number of contemporary cuisine listings, including several drawn from the trendy Southwest style of cooking. These last, because they emphasize beans and other relatively heavy, hearty preparations, suit the diner mood while lending it a new dimension.

Dining at the Earthquake is easy and fun, and given that the food is cheap and served in almost unbelievable portions, it is little surprise that the median age of the guests (as well as of the staff) seems to be well under 25.

After snuggling into a banquette, guests simply help themselves to the menus stuck between the napkin and sugar dispensers (to name a few of the thousands of carefully researched details that make this place overwhelmingly authentic in style), and make their choices from a wild collection of dishes. There is an appetizer section, which is something that most 1950s diners never had, but the real attention grabbers are under the “deluxe” and “blue plate specials” headings.

Here, grilled maple-glazed chicken leads an entree selection that includes chicken pot pie; mustard crumbed catfish; barbecued beef brisket on garlic toast; fried filet of sole with lemon and parsley, and charred skirt steak with beer-braised onions. Less formal choices include a cold meat loaf sandwich; Baja California-style fish tacos; a grilled “tube steak” (frankfurter), and even a hamburger. Pasta is not forgotten, the trendiest choice being the New Mexico red chili linguine with chorizo sausage and salsa (not sampled), and a very successful dish of linguine with large shrimp, broccoli and garlic butter. And, of course, there is baked macaroni and cheese, a one-time staple of school and other institutional dining rooms that some people, for reasons known only to themselves, recall with affection.

Meat loaf is the centerpiece of the contemporary diner menu, again for unfathomable reasons of nostalgia. Institutional meat loaf always had a certain industrial quality to it; it was heavy and tough, and gray in color, rather like a building material, which perhaps explains why it is considered one of the culinary building blocks of our society. The Earthquake’s version, carved into a hefty slab, fills all these requirements, and has the classic flavor, which is almost impossible to describe but is recognizable from the first bite. As do most entrees, it arrives sided by mashed potatoes, which are as lumpy as the menu says and coated with the sort of thick, pale gravy for which diners were (and are) famous. Vegetables are anything but diner-style, though; fresh carrots and pea pods were cooked to the appealing, tender-crisp finish favored by contemporary California cuisine.

Among other dishes, the barbecued brisket was very enjoyable, the large hunks tender and richly textured, and the flavor of the sweet, spicy sauce quite invigorating. Mustard crumbed catfish suffered from the amount of American-style yellow mustard used as a glue for the crumbs; no other flavor was noticeable. A blue plate special (there is one for each day of the week) of fried squid steaks with french fries and red pepper mayonnaise was excellent.

The appetizer of spicy black bean cakes (very Southwestern) with sour cream and salsa failed not because of flavor, but because the beans were not tender, and the dish was served cold. A skewer of grilled chorizo and bell pepper strips also came off poorly, largely because the chorizo was tough, an unusual circumstance for a sausage. But the corn chowder impressed on several counts, not the least because it echoed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Served in an immense bowl, the level of the soup never seemed to sink, no matter how quickly one slurped it up. In any case, the thick broth studded with corn kernels and bits of red and green pepper was savory and satisfying.

Because meals are sizable, one might as well skip the appetizers and hold out for dessert. The chocolate malts are big enough to splish, splash and take a bath in; the sundaes are glorious (including the miniature versions, served in a shot glass and priced at 63 cents), and the lemon meringue cake stuffs a moist white cake with pudding and tops it with soft, chewy meringue.

Downing’s influence shows noticeably on the wine list, which goes well beyond what one would expect of a diner and offers more than a dozen good choices by the glass as well as the bottle. His influence shows less in the service, though, which, while exuberant and pleasant, needs some polishing; there is no excuse for dirty dishes to be left on the table from course to course.

CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE CAFE 7919 Mission Center Court. 297-3603 Credit cards accepted. Meals served 11 a.m.-midnight, until 2 a.m. weekends. Most plates priced from $5 to $7.