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<strong>March</strong> <strong>2016</strong> THE <strong>Reader</strong> • 23<br />
reStaurant reView<br />
Crazy Otto’s Diner<br />
Makes SCV Debut<br />
Antelope Valley institution<br />
opens outpost in Canyon<br />
Country<br />
By Michele e. Buttelman<br />
Features and entertainment editor<br />
Crazy Otto’s Diner was founded on<br />
Sierra Highway, adjacent to the train<br />
tracks, in Lancaster in 1975 by Otto<br />
Lindsel. The diner, which started with only 12<br />
seats, now has five locations. Canyon Country<br />
Just because it’s a diner doesn’t mean you can’t get a<br />
spectacular salad. The Cobb Salad ($10.99), with lettuce,<br />
tomato, turkey, bacon and blue cheese crumbles<br />
includes a thinly sliced hardboiled egg, as well.<br />
Crazy otto’s Diner in Canyon Country is decorated in “diner kitsch” with old license plates and a replica of<br />
the famous numbered wheel to be spun every time a train passed at the diner’s original location in Lancaster.<br />
The seat corresponding to the number on the wheel won a free meal.<br />
hosts the newest member of the Crazy Otto’s<br />
family and joins locations in Lancaster, Acton<br />
and Rosamond.<br />
The diner serves breakfast and lunch 5<br />
a.m.-2 p.m. daily.<br />
The restaurant is located on Soledad<br />
Canyon Road in part of the location that once<br />
housed the El Chaparral Mexican Restaurant,<br />
a fixture in Canyon Country for decades.<br />
The cozy, brightly lit diner is decorated in<br />
“diner kitsch” with old license plates lining<br />
the walls and a variety of posters and other<br />
“memorabilia” on display. Behind the counter<br />
is a replica of the famous numbered wheel<br />
that was spun every time a train passed at the<br />
diner’s original location in Lancaster. The<br />
seat corresponding to the number on the<br />
wheel won a free meal. The original location<br />
was so close to the tracks that the restaurant<br />
building would shake as trains passed by.<br />
After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake<br />
Metrolink expanded rail service to the Antelope<br />
Valley and Crazy Otto’s had to give up its<br />
original location.<br />
Crazy Otto’s is famous for their huge<br />
omelettes, and has held the world record for<br />
The Club house sandwich at Crazy otto’s ($10.99) is<br />
a huge mouthful of ham, turkey, bacon, lettuce and<br />
tomato on toasted white bread. Choice of sides.<br />
making the world’s biggest omelet several<br />
times.<br />
If you are a breakfast aficionado then this<br />
is your place.<br />
In June of 1993 Crazy Otto’s Diner broke<br />
the world record for the largest omelette creating<br />
an omelette that measured 1,364<br />
square feet.<br />
The omelette gauntlet had been thrown,<br />
though, and Japan broke enough eggs to steal<br />
the “World’s Largest Omelette” crown.<br />
In October of 2002, Crazy Otto's Inc.,<br />
brought the “World’s Largest Omelette” title<br />
back to the U.S. More than 200 volunteers, we<br />
were able to assemble an omelette consisting<br />
of 34,000 eggs, 200 pounds of cheese, 50<br />
gallons of milk, 500 pounds of bell peppers<br />
and 75 gallons of crushed tomatoes. The<br />
omelette was prepared on 11 portable grills<br />
and took approximately 6.5 hours to create.<br />
The omelette measured 1,850.9 square feet.<br />
Unfortunately, in 2012, chefs in Portugal<br />
created an omelette weighing 14,225<br />
pounds, 6 ounces and made using 145,000<br />
See Restaurant Review, page 28
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