homemade cinnamon swirl brioche [all bread is baked in-house], ham scrambles with leeks and fontina cheese, and vegetable cassoulet at dinner).
But one day last week, a maple bacon donut from the diner appeared on my cubicle neighbor’s desk and I realized why this may have been a very good thing.
According to their website, the restaurant opened in 2010 and makes their own bread daily. Most of their BBQ dishes come with a side that you want just as much as the entreè (think: smokin’ mac & cheese, jalapeno potato salad, vinegar slaw, or baked beans with bacon.) What to choose?
It was some of the best pastrami I’ve ever tasted. Lean, paper thin pastrami bursting with flavor and moisture, not too sweet and not too sticky, sandwiched between fresh bread as fluffy as a cloud. The whole sandwich melts in your mouth and the meat stands confidently on its own (no need to hide behind globs of salty sweet BBQ sauce.)
And the portions weren’t enormous, as many BBQ places are with their heaping plates of meat and giant submarines they call Rubens. With the jalapeno potato salad (also intensely delicious — and spicy, living up to its name), it was just enough to fill our hungry bellies and for me to take home the last third. I ate it the next day, with slightly squishier bread but the same amount of vigor and flavor.
Next time, we’re stopping in Blythe just for the pastrami. You should, too.