Mitch Harmatz’s 75th Omelette

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

San Pedro--Early, every Saturday morning, San Pedro Plaza Automotive owner, Mitch Harmatz walks from his 25th and Western shop to the Omelette and Waffle restaurant for breakfast. May 12th marked his 75th omelet from the restaurant’s extensive menu.

It took Harmatz 18 months to reach number 75. The 57 year-old Harmatz thought he was at the end of the omelet menu when before he was informed that he still had a whole half page of omelets waiting for him and several more that simply appears on the restaurant’s special menu on their dry-erase board. The Waffle shop has over a 100 different kinds of omelets on its menu.

The omelets range from the regular cheese omelet to the crabmeat asparagus omelet. Harmatz’s 75th omelet was a shrimp omelet. His omelets are made with only egg whites and according to the Waffle shop’s proprietors, Mona Sutton and Leslie Jones, trans-fats aren’t used in the preparation of the meal.

When asked if he’s managed to stay close to his high school weight, Harmatz replied, “Yes… the short answer to that is yes.” He explained that eating the Waffle shop’s omelets wasn’t the sole reason, but regular exercise that include cardiovascular work, which recently included taking a Zumba class, and range of motion/connective tissue training which ultimately allowed him to run on a regular basis.

When Harmatz starting getting close to the big 75th omelet, Jones decided to spread the word. The end result was many of Harmatz’s closest friends joined him for an omelet.

“Mitch is so much about bringing people together and we thought it was just a good idea idea.” Jones said.

Indeed, Harmatz involvement in the community, aside from Plaza Automotive, has consisted of sitting on several boards in the community ranging from the Toberman Neighborhood Center board of trustees to sitting on the San Pedro Advisory Council to Marymount College. And that’s in addition to his giving time, resources, and energy to numerous other causes in town.