Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Oakland, CA – update, breakfast
Review date: September 2012
(previous reviews appended below)

Rudy's is celebrating its tenth year in Emeryville. He was fortunate to open up at a time when rents were still cheap and Pixar Animation Studio had only just opened their new Emeryville headquarters across the street with what was still a modest staff. It wasn't a promising location, with the economy still in the dumps, Emeryville's City Hall building damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake and the new one being in the process of completion.

Times have changed, but Emeryville's commercial success marches on, the envy of every other Bay Area city. The nearby Home Depot's failed designer-style Expo store has closed, but it's been replaced by a Target whose parking lot is always full. Best Buy lingers on, despite being reduced to little more than Amazon's storefront for electronics and a modest competitor to Sears for appliances. A massive senior living community, the for-profit AgeSong, has 160 residents and 100 employees right on the corner of 40th St., only a couple of hundred feet away from Rudy's. And Pixar is riding high after numerous successes and finally a buyout from Disney, so the lovely fenced-in park across the street from Rudy's is now filled by a massive new addition holding 1100 people, or roughly 33 times their original headcount. 

All of these people can walk to Rudy's in less than five minutes. Is it any wonder a chain-store Panera Cafe has opened just down the block? The hot dog cart vendor who has been hanging out on one of the corners opposite Best Buy for years is making a killing at last. With things looking good, Rudy's has been able to open a second branch in Oakland's Uptown area.

But the original remains the same – the same parking lot with six tight spaces, the same funky-diner outdoor seating area, the same 1990's metal rock music inside. The only change is the 20' long wall case of Barbie and Ken dolls in diner uniforms is gone, but sometimes change is a good thing. 

There are booths, but the benches are just plywood so it's really more comfortable sitting at the regular tables. The coffee is strong if not necessarily great. Service is pretty darn good, even if the waiter likes to call himself "Rambo" on the computerized receipt.

Carlos chose the "Green Eggs and Ham", while I picked the "Tower of Power." Rudy's isn't afraid to show a sense of humor edged with biker irreverence, and it's more fun to go with the flow. We appreciate that they are also fine with numerous substitutions and customizations, all of which are handled efficiently.

My "Tower" was actually a modest concoction of a layer of hash browns, topped by (in order going upwards) hot pepper jack, thin slices of fried red tomatoes, tiny Morningstar vegetarian patties, two eggs ordered "over easy" which came "over medium", and two slices of whole-wheat toast on the side. I'm very fond of Morningstar's sausage-substitute patties, although these looked like miniatures compared to the ones you buy in the freezer section of your local market. Unfortunately, Rudy's uses cheap hash browns which Carlos likes but I don't. They never brown well, just getting mushy in the middle. It was okay, not great. The last time we were here in August 2010 I had gotten the chicken chilaquiles (still on the menu), which was much better than this "Tower".

Carlos picked a winner, however, with the "Green Eggs." It was a beautiful scramble, done properly so the eggs remained moist and didn't brown at all. It was filled with diced, thin-sliced ham and green onions. He asked for Swiss cheese instead of Jack, and there was a generous amount melted over the eggs. It comes with grits, so he requested it on the side, with butter and honey. Carlos likes his grits with a serious amount of honey! But he loved the egg scramble even more, as it came with a half-cup topping of a superior salsa verde that was definitely housemade. It took the eggs up to a whole 'nother level, and he said next time he's going to ask for more salsa. He called this the best breakfast scramble he's ever had except for the ones we make at home.

Coffee was strong, but I'm no longer in love with Peet's coffee overall. Some of the blends have definitely declined in quality, with much more acidity than before. Coffee commodity prices have eased down, so we can only hope Peet's goes back to higher quality beans in the future. 

Rudy's is doing a better job than when they first opened, and we're happy to find the Mexican breakfast entrees worthwhile. If they would only improve their hash browns I'd be a happy camper who would rank them equal with Mama's Royal/Oakland and Royal Cafe/Albany. As it is, they're close. But if they were crowded I wouldn't wait around unless I was yearning after that salsa. We're a little surprised it was so easy to get in, but it was that magic time between when the breakfast folks leave but before the lunching-out diners hit en masse.

Two people, breakfast: two entrees, two beverages, with tip $46.

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe
4081 Hollis St., Emeryville
http://www.rudyscantfailcafe.com/
Review date: August 2010

Rudy's is kitty-corner from Pixar, which is building a humongous new facility that will probably make it impossible for us to ever eat here again (it's literally six times as large as the original, or at least looks that way). Over the last four years we've been to Rudy's half a dozen times, always for breakfast or lunch, although they are open for dinner.

Rudy's has never been our first choice for breakfast, mostly because they're very close to Mama's Royal Cafe, which is our hands-down favorite for a great breakfast. Not to mention we like Mama's music better, LOL – even though I've never heard Sly and the Family Stone again save for that once. 

Still, Rudy's is less crowded if you hit it between the late breakfast-early lunch diners. Mama's was unexpectedly busy when we tried it this time, so we got back in the car and drove down 40th to Emeryville instead. 

This place is guaranteed to make any Boomer feel old. It's an aggressively young crowd, with the loud harsh rock music to match. This doesn't bother us so much as the fact that up until now, Rudy's breakfast cook just wasn't as good as Mama's. The hash browns were greasy and undercooked – bleh. The eggs were okay, the meats good, and the coffee is better than Mama's, so overall they were a decent back-up choice. Still, it had been over a year since we'd visited them, so a good time for a review.

We were right to pick Rudy’s for a revisit, as they clearly have a new short-order cook. Carlos got the chorizo omelet and I got the chicken chilaquiles. Both use hot pepper jack, and I was pleased to find the jack wasn't salty, the way poor quality jack cheese often is. The chorizo was nicely crumbled and spicy, the chicken cubes were tastily grilled with just the right amount of sliced corn tortilla shreds sprinkled in. And neither one was salted, which was even better!

The coffee (Peet’s) remains very good. The hash brown rectangles were for once well-browned, although still mushy inside – a perpetual failing of almost all breakfast restaurants who use cheap frozen pre-formed potato patties. The bread, especially the whole-wheat, is good although the jam is a step below Smuckers. 

So the menu is the same, but the breakfast cook is definitely better. Rudy's is a bargain, too, with each of us getting a 3-egg dish, two beverages, with a generous tip for a mere $30.

Mama's is still our first choice....but Rudy's has narrowed the gap noticeably.