Located in a cute historic train caboose, Dad’s Luncheonette is worth the drive to scenic Half Moon Bay.

I’ve been wanting to come to Dad’s Luncheonette ever since they opened a few months ago. Since their opening hours are Thursday-Sunday, which are typically days I work, I took advantage of finally having a Sunday off! What intrigued me about Dad’s Luncheonette was that chef Scott Clark, the owner, used to be a chef de partie at Benu and then chef de cuisine at Saison, both three Michelin starred restaurants in San Francisco. He left his fine dining background to have a better work/life balance and opened Dad’s Luncheonette which serves fresh homemade comfort food. His menu is simple and straightforward with two sandwiches, salad, soup of the day, mac and cheese, homemade chips, and dessert of the day.

Menu.

Everything on the Menu.

So Good!

We ordered the entire menu and I have to say everything was delicious. The hamburger was served on white bread, a nice change from a typical burger bun. The meat was beautifully charred and juicy and the addition of pickled red onions cut through the richness of the beef and melted cheese. My boyfriend also tried the mushroom sandwich (not pictured above since he ordered it after finishing the hamburger) and he loved the roasted earthiness of the maitake mushrooms. The salad was a mixture of aromatic herbs with crunchy pieces of fennel and a tart lemon dressing. The soup of the day was carrot with homemade ricotta that had a nicely seasoned broth. The mac and cheese was creamy and comforting and the potato chips on top were a fun addition. The homemade potato chips were seasoned with nutritional yeast which gave the chips this really tasty addicting quality. Lastly, the dessert of the day was so scrumptious that we ordered a second one; it was a ooey gooey caramelized white chocolate blondie with pumpkin seeds. I love that everything is homemade, fresh, and uses local ingredients. Overall I’d rate Dad’s Luncheonette an 8-8.5/10.

After eating we walked to the beach, even though it was foggy, and just relaxed for a bit.