2 FOR $20

Pacific Beach's Café 976 features very close to 80,000 items on its menu. That's what was so weird about a recent visit to this popular venue: Except for me, nobody ordered any food! Coffee, tea, juices and bottled water were all over the place, but no eats-especially odd at 5 p.m., when you'd figure on a dinner crowd. Maybe the restaurant is the rallying point for some kind of hunger strike over this area's jaywalking craze. After all, it is in Pacific Beach, where crosswalks have long constituted an integral part of the village's open-air artifacts museum.

Truth be told, Café 976 does seem at first like an unlikely place for a restaurant, because you almost feel like you're in a house (actually, you are; the building is a converted old-style craftsman home). And there's lush vegetation all around, further setting the place off from the rest of the world. But rest assured: Deep within lies a tasty turkey-avocado salad the two of you can swim in-all the more remarkable in that you can have it for a paltry $8.50 (there's also a very good salad wrap for $7.95). And when's the last time you've gone to a small neighborhood eatery that offers 30-thirty-delicious breakfast items, the most expensive-huevos Mexicanos-running $8.50? Those hunger strikers, God bless 'em, have no idea what they're missing.

Café 976 takes its name from its address-it's located at 976 Felspar St. in PB. The number is 858-272-0976. The venue is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and serves late-night breakfasts and lunches from 8 p.m. until closing. That's quite a convenience for a place so determinedly off the beaten path. The least you can do is break the strike and order accordingly. www.cafe976.com.