Breakfast at Tiffany's Wahoo's

Wahoo's Fish Tacos 120 Main Street Huntington Beach, CA 92648 (714) 536-2050 Listing on Google Maps Listing at Local.com Official Site

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and:

Wahoo's Fish Tacos 13791 Newport Ave, #4         Tustin, CA 92780 (714) 544-1154 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Urbanspoon Official Site

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I first encountered Wahoo's Fish Tacos in 1994 when I was at Laguna Beach's Sawdust Festival to see an acoustic set by the Swamp Zombies and noticed a little taco stand with a walkup window there. I didn't realize at the time that this was part of a burgeoning Orange County-Based chain. Some people question if the food Wahoo's serves is "authentic Mexican." I simply see it as beach or surfer Mex with some Asian, some Brazilian and some Polynesian influence (it's not "Tex-Mex," a term that's applied to too many non-Tex-Mex places, since there's nothing Texan about it); or maybe that isn't a simple answer but my laissez faire attitude allows any restaurant to be whatever it wants to be without feeling like they have to pander to the many vague, often conflicting notions out there of what establishes authenticity. I've had many of Wahoo's fish tacos over the years but have lately grown partial to their Maui bowl. I also think I may have placed a few stickers on their famously bestickered walls during several visits.

I recently learned through their Twitter feed that two of their locations, Tustin and Huntington Beach, are now offering breakfast. I went the very next morning to the Tustin one only to find it closed or at least doing a very good job of seeming closed. I went a few days later and this time it appeared open so I went in, saw their breakfast menu, and ordered their huevos rancheros. When I got it this dish was immediately recognizable as a Wahoo's item, on their signature ovular white plate, their signature black beans (this time with melted cheese on the top), and the main entree served as two fried eggs over corn tortillas, topped with cheese and your choice of red or green sauce and big dollops of sour cream and guacamole on the side. Pretty good stuff but I think next time I might try it with red sauce and ask for half rice/half beans instead of all beans. An employee there was about to eat her own breakfast so she let me take a picture of her Banzai veggie omelette. Other breakfast items include a Mexican scrambled egg dish, a "Tofurrito," and a machaca burrito.

Call ahead of time to make sure they are open before you head there.