Riverside Rendezvous – Breakfast at Art’s Bar and Grill

Filed under: On the Road — StyleGuide @ 8:14 pm

Some people spend romantic weekends in Paris pied-a-terres.  Others squirrel up in palm-fringed Santa Barbara resorts, or drink in the sun a deux in Mid-Century Modern Palm Springs hideaways. 

We spent our anniversary in Riverside.

I won’t go on about the extenuating circumstances that brought us to that point.  Suffice it to say we made the best of it, and ended up having an amazing time.

Turns out Riverside really is for lovers. 

First we took a room at the Mission Inn (saving $40 booking through hotels.com).  Occupying an entire square block in downtown Riverside, it is a meticulously maintained, eclectically designed, ironically constructed and completely bustling Spanish hacienda — a lovely place to wile away a weekend. 

For breakfast, we asked the concierge to recommend a local greasy spoon.  This very young woman, who threw out words like “awesome” and “dude” when she spoke on the phone, did not inspire faith.

Nevertheless, she knew what she was doing.  She pointed us to a moody dive bar three blocks away, which at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning was filled with daiquiri-drinking women and beer-swilling older gentleman, alongside a couple of families with small children. 

We started with Bloody Marys, wonderfully boozy little things that went down like water on a hot summer day, garnished with a dill pickled green bean (which I started craving even as I was eating it, and have not stopped craving since).  From the full menu we chose Art’s Breakfast: two eggs, toast and potatoes (or biscuits and creamy gravy), and a choice of meat.  We picked a butter-tender filet tenderloin steak and some of the best meaty, smoky bacon I’d ever had. 

The price for this glorious repast?  A mere $8.25. 

As we sank into our 1950’s style breakfast, we were reminded of an important lesson:  When life hands you Riverside, make it to Art’s Bar and Grill.

Price:  $$

Where:  3357 University Avenue, Riverside, Ca 92501 (at the 91 and University)

Call:  951.683.9520

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