Route 66 Eats & Treats

Eating Along the Mother Road

Restaurants, Cafes, Diners, Dives & Drive Ins

Ephemera, loosely defined is bits of paper that were not intended to be saved.  I have lots of ephemera.  Intend to share so you will have lots of ephemera, too!  And you might find a good place to eat along the Mother Road.

This morning while sorting through yet another pile of papers that should have been filed in one way or another years ago, I found a few menus and business cards from places on Route 66 where we've stopped.  The scary part is that I know there is an even bigger stack of these somewhere in the building.   One thing at a time!  If I scan them and put them here, at least I'll know where a few of these are and perhaps those of you reading will enjoy them, too.

Earl's Family Restaurant

Since 1947

1400 East 66 Avenue - Gallup, New Mexico

Menu, business card & photo from our February 2009 Route 66 Adventure

This menu is a very short version that we grabbed when we had dinner at Earl's in February 2009.  The real menu is of monstrous proportions and has traditional American and Mexican fare.  Lots of it.  Seriously, it's a huge menu, one of those places where it is hard to narrow down what you'd like to eat because you're faced with too many choices.  Native Americans are allowed to show their crafts to people who are dining.  If you're not into this & prefer uninterrupted dining, you can tell them when you're seated that you don't want anyone coming to your table to show you their wares, but it seems like this would take away at least half the fun of dining at Earl's.  We had about 10 different people show us their jewelry while we ate.  I didn't buy anything because nothing caught my eye and goodness knows, I have more than my fair share of beautiful Native American Indian jewelry.  We had some nice chats with the roving vendors and it was easy enough to say "No Thanks" and they moved on to the next table of diners.

Earl's info posted August 1, 2010

El Cafecito

820 E Santa Fe Avenue  Grants, New Mexico

El Cafecito menu from February 2010 Route 66 Adventure

We've been to El Cafecito on Route 66 in Grants, New Mexico several times, the latest being in February 2010.  El Cafecito is a family owned restaurant and we note that many of the customers are locals, that is always a good thing.  Very friendly people, I feel right at home here.   I love their enchiladas - try them when you go to El Cafecito.  We've also tried the Fritta Frutta dessert, if only because it had such an odd name and we had never had one and I'm glad we did. But we come back here for the enchiladas which they even make for Frank without onions.   The last time we ate here, there were big decadent chocolate frosted brownies sitting on the counter when we paid our check.  Of course, being a chocoholic, a couple brownies went out the door with us.  The brownies, if you're lucky enough to be there on the right day are to die for, I'll take those over the Fritta Frutta any day! 

El Cafecito info posted August 1, 2010

Bun Boy

1890 West Main - Barstow, California

 Bun Boy Business Card from ca. 2008 or so Route 66 Adventure

We drove by the Bun Boy many times before we finally decided to stop and check it out.  For one thing, from the outside it looks too much like a chain restaurant and we make every effort when we're on the road to try to visit the indie cafes and restaurants.   OK, so now I can verify it is not a chain.  Thee food was good.,  but  still reminds me of the menu at Big Boy or Denny's - I think you get my drift.  However, there are a couple of things that really stand out - the decor is pure 1950s with big padded booths.  The waitresses which I'll refrain from calling by the modern word servers have the 1950s kitsch down, too.  Waitresses, not servers.  Oddly,   there was a bar in the back part of the restaurant, wasn't expecting to see that.  Big Boy and Denny's do not have adult beverages, score one for Bun Boy!  Lots of locals who were obviously regulars since they didn't even need to tell the waitress what they were having for lunch.  Bun Boy was packed to the edges of the bun with the lunch crowd and the two waitresses on duty handled it all in stride.  I guess they've had a lot of time to get this all down since they were established in 1926.   

Bun Boy info posted August 1, 2010