Diner Delights

I’ve driven by the Bread and Butter Café around 1,000
times—and that’s a conservative estimate. However, I never
bothered to stop in until it came time to go a-reviewin’.

Folks, do me a favor: You know that place you’ve always wondered
about, but never stopped at, even though you’ve zoomed past it a bunch
of times? Take the time to stop and see what the place is all about.
Maybe you’ll find a gem; maybe not. But at least you’ll know.

In the case of the Bread and Butter Café, I found a gem.

I was finally persuaded to stop at the Bread and Butter
Café—located in a little 22nd Street shopping center that
is also home to a liquor store, a 99-cent store, a Mexican grocery and
a car-parts store—by a friend who has frequented the place for
years. I’d also heard the pies there are excellent.

So off we went, for a Saturday lunch. Walking inside the Bread and
Butter Café is kind of like stepping into 1972: The restaurant
has that timeless, cluttered, bustling diner feel, right down to the
bar-style counter with miniature boxes of cereal and a specials board
just on the other side. The place is full of brown—the tables,
the booths, the faux wood paneling on the walls—but it’s clean
and welcoming (although the faux plants hanging from the ceiling appear
just a bit dusty). Vintage signs and memorabilia offer up some
old-school charm; one sign next to our table advertised Campbell’s
soup, available once upon a time as a bargain: “Six plates for 10
cents. Just add hot water and serve.”

No soup for us today; I ordered the huevos rancheros ($4.69), a
small plate of biscuits and gravy ($3.29) and a cup of coffee ($1.49).
Garrett ordered the reuben sandwich (spelled “ruben” on the menu) with
potato salad as his side ($6.05). We also decided to sample a small
loaf of banana bread ($1.99).

So let’s fill out the Diner 101 final-exam checklist:

• A bottomless cup of coffee. Check! On both of
my visits, my cup never got below the one-third full mark.

• Fast, pleasant service. Check! Our food was
delivered in less than five minutes on that first visit, and our
casually attired server made sure we were taken care of without trying
to become our new best friend.

• A way with eggs. Check! My huevos—served
on top of a hardened, fried tortilla with refried beans, “hot” salsa
(which was not hot at all) and a tortilla on the side—were cooked
to order and tasty.

• A way with sandwiches. Check! Garrett’s
ruben/reuben was warm and juicy, with just the right amount of Thousand
Island dressing and sauerkraut. Garrett said he’d have preferred more
corned beef in the sandwich, but the amount looked more than adequate
to me. The potato salad side was far better than the crap at the
supermarket, but not as good as the stuff your favorite aunt used to
make.

• A way with biscuits and gravy. Oops. Fail! This
was the biggest disappointment during our visits. The biscuits were
fine, but the gravy was a white, bland mess with no texture and hardly
any flavor. I was deeply concerned, knowing that on my second visit, I
needed to try that white-gravy-covered diner staple: chicken-fried
steak. (It’s a law that reviewers must try the chicken-fried
steak at a diner-like establishment. Look it up.)

On a positive note, the banana bread was splendid. We sampled a
little and took the rest of the moist, flavorful loaf home.

On the next visit, I, per the mandate, got the chicken-fried steak
and two eggs (normally $6.55; however, the restaurant had a special
that included coffee for $7.29, meaning I saved 75 cents). Garrett
selected the bacon-cheese burger, with cole slaw as his side ($5.05).
We also started eyeballing the list of pies available; I counted nine
options on this particular day.

The burger was, in Garrett’s words, “a burger,” served on a low-end
bun and accompanied by a tomato slice not quite on the cusp of redness.
The burger was adequate, and nothing more. It reminded me of a burger
you’d get at a company picnic.

But what about the chicken-fried steak, you ask? Back to the Diner
101 checklist:

• Tasty chicken-fried steak. Check! Thank
goodness. The gravy was infinitely better than it was during the
previous visit. This gravy was peppery and packed with flavor; there
was even a small piece of sausage or two included. (I am not sure
whether this gravy is supposed to include sausage; if it is,
they need to add more.) The moderately sized steak was tender with just
enough breading, and the eggs were again cooked to perfection.

• Fantastic pie. Check check check check! Don’t
ask for a slice; they call them wedges. That may be a bit of an
overstatement, but these are healthy-sized pieces of pie ($3.25). I got
the coconut cream (which narrowly edged out the intriguing custard and
peanut-butter-cream options), while Garrett got the Dutch
apple—and both slices wedges were marvelous. Garrett erred
slightly by declining to have his pie warmed up, but it was still good
cold. (One minor complaint: The crumble on top of Garrett’s added
texture but little flavor.)

The results are clear: Aside from the ho-hum burger and the gravy
flub, the Bread and Butter Café excels. The pies themselves are
worth a visit.

And to think I drove by the place 1,000 times without stopping.

This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2009.