Since then, the stories just keep on coming.

"I've been here so long. There's an older man who hadn't been in here for about 10 years. He asked for my daughter and that was me," she says.

It's not easy to miss Kal's. In the midst of modern office buildings and hotels, the log cabin style building is a definite standout. Outside, there's a good-sized parking lot. Inside, rough beams and an "A-style" ceiling, combined with a fireplace, simply scream, "I've been here a long, long time."

Kal's first opened in 1965; Sheene is its fourth owner.

She arrived in the United States in 1975 from Seoul, South Korea. "When I was in Korea, I was a schoolteacher," she says. "Then I came here and a lot of my husband's friends were going into the restaurant business. Seemed like a good idea."

Since taking over Kal's, Sheene has made very few changes to the menu. Breakfast features omelets, hash browns, French toast and pancakes. But a discussion of the breakfast biz leads to yet another story. Sheene says, "Around 1996, a lot of young guys came in here and they didn't even have money for coffee. I gave them water. Now they're rich and retired and they still come here for breakfast meetings."

Sheene attributes much of Kal's longevity to word-of-mouth business. Perhaps that's why she makes a point of saying, "A lot of our customers are people visiting from Europe."

Surrounded by new hotels, high tech businesses and located on Mathilda Avenue, Kal's is a bit of a blast from the past.

And the prices also reflect the good old days--the days before a steak cost thirty-five bucks and a baked potato another five.

At Kal's, a 13-ounce rib-eye is $13.95. It comes with salad, French fries and garlic bread. There are also spare ribs and prawn dinners on the daily menu. The lighter and less expensive fare includes hamburgers, pastrami or ham sandwiches, Polish sausages, plus Texas-style chili and beans. Everything is cooked over a mesquite grill, and the meat comes from a mysterious butcher on the Peninsula (the same butcher used by Kirk's Steakburgers, but neither Kirk's nor Kal's will reveal the name; in Silicon Valley even that's proprietary).

There's also a full-fledged condiment bar so patrons can add whatever frills they like. However, Kal's BBQ is a no-frills, good-eats place, with down-to-earth prices and lots of homey atmosphere.

Kal's BBQ, 425 N. Mathilda Ave. in Sunnyvale, 408.739.5271. Hours are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; Saturday 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It's closed Sundays.