Potato Shack Cafe on West I Street in Encinitas's Old Encinitas district has served scratch-made breakfast and lunch two blocks from the coast since 1983. Breakfast potatoes are diced fresh from red potatoes, boiled, cooled, and sauteed to order in cholesterol-free canola oil until golden brown -- served all-you-can-eat with free seconds on request -- a prep-from-raw potato protocol that distinguishes the signature side from the reheated hash at most breakfast spots along Coast Highway 101 including The Cottage Encinitas. The manhole-cover pancake earns its name from a diameter that overhangs a standard dinner plate, and can be loaded with fruit, granola, or chocolate chips for a surcharge. Sourcing specifications include ten-count bacon at ten slices per pound, Fontanini sausage from Chicago, USDA Choice top sirloin steaks, seven-ounce chicken breasts, and mushrooms from Mountain Meadow in Escondido -- a supplier specificity rare among breakfast cafes in the area outside specialty produce operations like El Nopalito Market. The most protein-loaded plate combines a choice top sirloin steak or chicken fried steak with two eggs, a manhole-cover pancake or toast, and the all-you-can-eat sauteed red potatoes.