Restaurant Reviews

Greetings friends and neighbors. It seems like this was restaurant week, so here are three reviews, followed by comments about some other establishments:

El Buen Sazon

The formula is simple enough here – but delightfully unconventional.

You acquire the use of an old Taco Chain Store on 11^th Ave., north of the Post Office, in near-north old Greeley.

You establish simplistically memorable hours – 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. In English, the restaurant's name means, "The Good Season," and/or "well-seasoned" food.

You offer Mexican food "autentico," but there will also be U.S.-style hamburger sandwiches and real breakfast. Bacon, ham, hashed brown potatoes, eggs not necessarily huevos.

The place is spotlessly clean, the wait staff courteous and quick, the prices more than reasonable, the clientele, cosmopolitan. We plan to return.

Producers

It's likely I went here with my grandfather when I was a child. It's likely this was the very place where I got into trouble for "bidding" on calves. (I was just waving my hand like all the other "men" in the auction grandstands.)

Not much has changed at Greeley's Producers Café since the 1950s. The food is still mediocre, the staff is still friendly but distracted, the floor is still filthy. Looks like they herded some of the sale cattle through the restaurant. Take your chances, eating here.

Banner Bistro

Best of today's trio, this place served a grilled salmon sandwich which greatly pleased Laura. This fact gives it a "First Place Blue Ribbon" and gives the other two cafes distant second and third places.

I had pizza – good hot pizza at $2 a slice. Again, the clientele is cosmopolitan. Ya gotta eat, even if you're at the North Colorado Medical Center hospital visiting someone or you're an employee there.

Daily specials are made to order, which takes some of the sting out of eating cafeteria style. Prices are quite reasonable, service is friendly and relaxed.

This place also is squeaky clean. I like that. The drawback to this joint is that they're closed weekends. Hey. Laura has had a desire for a grilled salmon sandwich for a long, long time. I'll guide us back there, soon.

Another time, I wouldn't eat at the Producers. Not unless, that is, I was a high-roller in the cattle business and I was too busy at the sale to go to El Buen Sazon or the Bistro.

The Double Clutch -- reprise

Ya lost me again, Clutch. Darn.

Norma Jean, Shirley and Carla are very good at their jobs, but their superior, personal table service can't make up for it when the quality of the food droops.

I ordered green chile, which the menu says includes pork. They weren't no pork chunks in my green chile. I think they're cutting corners, which is deadly when you have a loyal but teetering clientele (me).

It's also a tough job to actually get TO the Double Clutch.

There's a feud going on between the Stampede Truck Stop and the City of Evans, and so far it's a war without a winner. The Clutch is trapped in the middle of this senseless brouhaha.

Evans has petulantly blocked off one of two street entrances to the truck stop. The city sees to it that the other entrance is four-wheel-drive territory. It's rough. It tests even the best in truck and auto suspensions.

All of this is like the city's little reverse boycott. The city is having a temper tantrum because of some long-ago lie told by long-gone developers of the truck stop. (Remember? Something smelled "Fishy" when the truck stop was being developed.) Move somewhere else, Double Clutch!

The feud also makes it rough on patrons at Randy's Pub and Grill across the street – I guess getting there is half the fun.

When I think about how much dust the trucks kick up going through Randy's nearby truck wash, and how rough the Evans city street is, I'm probably going to give up on Evans eateries for a while.

Cappy's

You'll have to go all the way to the west end of Rawlins, Wyoming, for the pleasure of eating at Cappy's.

Laura and I have made multiple trips to Idaho, and usually this necessarily includes Rawlins, a rough-and-ready Wyoming Interstate Town.

The Cappy's Reuben sandwich is supreme, almost as good as the breaded halibut steak dinner. After having eaten at yet another yukky Village Inn (Rock Springs) we both think Cappy's is the shining star of the interstate.

Cappy's is unique in that it moved from another small town, I think they said in Kansas. Cappy's retains a small-town feel. When we asked the hostess "Where is the nearest mailbox?" she offered, "Oh, don't drive downtown in all that dust and mud. I'll take your mail on my way home."

All our cards and letters arrived where they were intended to go, proof positive that we'll go back to Cappy's another time.

Country Market

You'll have to travel all the way to Cokeville in extreme western Wyoming to have the pleasure of dining at the Country Market.

There's quite a large dining room – which we didn't even see the first 15 times we bought gas at the Flying J there. The café is quiet, almost hidden around the corner.

But the food is yummy. The soup is freshly made, the salad bar has none of the customary rusted lettuce, and the menu is immense. American and Mexican dishes abound, any one of which will be served hot.

Our fave waitperson there is Jackie. We used to see Jackie at The Ranch Hand in Montpelier, Idaho, 30 miles up the road. The Ranch Hand seems to have fallen on hard times, and lost her. Oh well, the food is better in Cokeville and we still have the benefit of Jackie's service.

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Words of the week: Dubious and doubtful. Never fear, even the esteemed Catholic writer George Weigel blew it on this one.

"Doubtful" means something is in doubt, not clear, ambiguous, uncertain, unsure. "Dubious," however, means "causing doubt," as in a "dubious remark." To be safe, just don't use "dubious."

Next week's word: Alchemy.

Gripes? Complaints? Whines? or Comments? Adoration? Puppy love? Reciprocal rant? Feel free to express yourself in the comments!