On the morning of LJ’s Lil’ Cafe official grand opening in late November, the small Orange restaurant is packed with customers. There is a line of people waiting to order and a cluster of customers waiting for their food, but everyone is happy to be there.
The tables are all occupied by diners, some trying to capture the cheese pull that helped the burritos go viral on social media, before digging in.
Through all the excitement, co-founder Lydia Holmes calls out order names and hands out paper bags filled with hefty breakfast burritos.
Guests queue up to order breakfast burritos during the grand opening at LJ’s LiL’ Cafe in Orange on Nov. 21.
(James Carbone)
“Here you go,” she says, giving a bag to a customer with a smile. “Let me grab you some sauces.”
Holmes can usually be found at the helm of LJ’s Lil’ Cafe, along with husband and co-founder John Clarke. For the local couple, LJ’s truly is a family business.
The pair got their start in hospitality working at Seasons 52 in Costa Mesa but always talked about opening their own sandwich shop some day.
That dream manifested in 2021, when they took over a small shed in front of a Home Depot in Cypress. The menu offered hot dogs, burgers and sandwiches, but the breakfast burrito was the runaway hit.
The substantial wraps are stuffed with soft scrambled eggs, crispy tater tots and meat choices like Portuguese Hawaiian sausage or Chori-man red pork chorizo.
“We had not really tasted a whole lot of breakfast burritos that had texture in them, and crispy potatoes were something my mom used to do,” said Holmes. “John and I also love cheese, and we felt like breakfast burritos never had enough cheese.”
A cheese pull shot of a queso breakfast burrito from LJ’s LiL’ Cafe during a Nov. 21 grand opening of their second shop in Orange.
(James Carbone)
The couple developed a signature LJ’s sauce too, a mayo-based condiment they say was inspired by white Alabama barbecue sauce. All together, the simple indigents make for a delicious, complex bite.
Eventually the menu in Cypress was pared down to keep up with the demand for burritos, but even with a slimmed down selection, LJ’s was quickly outgrowing its shed. So, Holmes and Clarke began the process of locating and securing a larger space.
But while the family business was building momentum, at home, the couple was facing new challenges following the birth of their first son, Jack.
“We opened in September of 2021, and I had Jack in November, and he came two months early,” Holmes recalled. “So that in itself threw us for a loop.”
Then, when Jack was just 18 months old, he began vomiting blood and had to be rushed to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
“For the next two years, it was just an up and down roller coaster of different diagnoses thrown at us,” said Holmes.
Holding his niece and nephew, LJ’s Lil’ Cafe owner John Clarke helps guests with their order during a busy grand opening in Orange in November.
(James Carbone)
Even as Jack was diagnosed with a rare liver disease, business at LJ’s Cafe continued to flourish, thanks to positive press and social media.
At about the same time the family welcomed their second son, Liam, in 2023, the team began gearing up to open a second cafe in Orange. Holmes said the couple relied on extended family as they tended to their growing family and growing business.
“Our siblings stepped up, but at the same time they had their own aspirations and lives,” she said. “That’s when we found Joy.”
Joy Wilson, now general manger at LJ’s Lil’ Cafe, brought years of industry experience to the table and helped implement new systems and processes at the restaurant.
Manager Joy Wilson, left, with owners Lydia Holmes and John Clarke at LJ’s LiL’ Cafe in Orange.
(James Carbone)
“She really is an amazing anomaly who helped us keep the business afloat,” said Holmes.
Partly due to the owner’s family obligations, the new cafe location, on Orange‘s West Chapman Avenue, has been in a soft-open mode since June. Wilson said she’s grateful for the trust Holmes and Clarke placed in her.
“It’s not lost on me what a unique opportunity this is, and I genuinely feel like part of the family,” she said.
The Orange menu features the OG Breakfast burrito as well as variations, like a veggie breakfast burrito stuffed with grilled bell peppers, onions and tomatoes and a pastrami breakfast burrito filled with brisket pastrami, housemade pickled red onions and Oaxaca cheese.
The larger kitchen space means there is room for sandwiches again. Guests can choose from chicken salad, pastrami or a queso Philly cheesesteak on a real Amoroso roll — an homage to Clarke’s East Coast hometown. The cafe additionally offers special coffee drinks and lattes made with its own signature roasted coffee beans.
LJ’s LiL’ Cafe specialty breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches, along with lattes, are served all day at the business’ second location on West Chapman Avenue in Orange.
(James Carbone)
On the homefront, 4-year-old Jack underwent shunt surgery this summer and is recovering well, so the family decided to move forward with an official ribbon cutting on Nov. 21. During the month of December, LJ’s Lil’ Cafe will donate $1 for every seasonal latte sold at the Orange location to CHOC, paying it forward for the care Jack received.
Although managing a family and a successful business with two busy locations has been trying, Holmes said she is thankful they have been able to follow their dreams.
“Life is full of twists and turns, but everything has a reason,” she said.
LJ’s Lil’ Cafe official grand opening on West Chapman Avenue in Orange on Nov. 21.
(Sarah Mosqueda)
LJ’s Lil’ Cafe is located at 3070 W Chapman Ave, Ste C in Orange and open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. To order online go to ljslilcafe.com