Rico's Diner - 400 15th St - Oakland, CA

We didn't know what to expect when we hit Rico's Diner.

We knew that the folks on Yelp liked it, and we knew that the gravy was supposed to be good.

In fact, the entire reason we decided to stray from Telegraph (other than the fact that we wanted breakfast) is that my Partner in Chow was seriously in the mood for some biscuits 'n gravy. And it's hard to find good biscuits 'n gravy, even in Oakland. Or at least we thought it might be hard, not knowing where to find them. And so, with the help of the Yelpers, off to Rico's we went.

I figured this would be a run-down, questionably clean downtown locale full of locals. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find it recently remodeled with clean lines, nice tile and clean modern tables.

I was even more pleasantly surprised to find that, despite this being a true diner with a true diner menu, the bread is organic and there's an entirely separate vegetarian/vegan menu. This means that your veg friends can come to this diner and actually order a faux pork sandwich, rather than getting a cottage cheese and tomato plate. So Rico's gets extra bonus points for catering to the urban renewal that downtown (and the newly christened "Uptown" - ah, realtors and developers and your clever marketing ploys) is experiencing.

Which is to say that the loft communities springing up down Broadway mean an influx of yuppie and hipsters that want good food. And Luka's is both expensive and not open for breakfast on Saturdays.

Anyway, once we went in I was pretty happy with our surroundings. Note: you seat yourself and order at the counter. And they only take cash, so be forewarned.

What we ordered: Mexican egg-white omelette with a side of veggie sausage, biscuits and gravy with 2 scrambled eggs and bacon, 2 coffees
Service: friendly
Atmo: nouveau diner - they took care in redoing this place
Crowd: Hipsters + the neighborhood
Spent: $20
Overall rating: 4 sporks

This place gets extra bonus points for a focus on quality ingredients in basic diner food, as well as for cool and clean decor. The bathroom was even clean, and the tile and groovy metal sink show an attention to detail.

The good: The food was a notch above usual diner food. The omelette was well executed and full of vegetables, and the gravy was incredibly rich and definitely satisfying for someone with a hankerin' for good old fashioned biscuits 'n gravy.

The less good: The breakfast potatoes were too fried for my taste, but I'm all about protein in the morning anyway. PIC was "afraid" of her scrambled eggs, because they were "too yellow." They tasted good, but she was afeared anyway. We're not sure whether it's fair to ding them for that - they may have been just super farm fresh. Or they may have been nuclear. Who knows?

The coffee was good, hot and plentiful. Mmm. Coffee.

The other upside: this place is cheap. Cheaper than the Rockridge Cafe or Mama's, and the food is as good or better than both of them. Plus, you can't find that kind of gravy (or any, as I recall) at either location. And there was no wait. And they serve breakfast all day. And they have both cheesesteaks and meatloaf on the menu, which means we'll be back at some point to try these diner classics.

I talked with Rico himself about some awesome hand-painted signs I found upstairs while waiting for the bathroom. They're rad mid-century diner menu signs that were there when he took over the place, and we both agreed that they'd look awesome in a house kitchen. He told me that he's been running the place for about a year.

Nice guy, nice place. Go eat there.

But don't tell too many people. Waiting 45 minutes for brunch drives me up a wall. ;)