Category: Breakfast/Brunch

mmm-yoso!!! is a foodblog where Kirk and Cathy post about restaurants and recipes and locations of interest to folks in San Diego country and often throughout the world. Today Ed (from Yuma) has a long post that will mostly be of interest to folks in Yuma. You have been warned.

This last year has been tough for Yuma restaurants. Chains like Mimi's and Outback have closed Yuma locations. Local restaurants like The Mad Greek, Spanky's Chophouse, and El Papagallo are shuttered. Countering this trend, Frank's opened in July at the old Nick's Coffee Mill location,  a spot that I considered cursed because restaurant after restaurant there has failed over the last 10 or 12 years:

I guess this location is still cursed. At about the same time this post hit the Internet, Frank's closed this location and moved to 1245 Desert Hills Dr – basically just off of Avenue A, at the municipal golf course south of 32nd. This may be the fastest closure following a post in the history of mmm-yoso!!! Makes me feel like a typhoid Mary (or in 2014 parlance, an Ebola Ed). If Frank's sounds good to you, try the new location.

Frank's, however, seems to be a success, the restaurant and the parking lots generally full at breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. Most of the booths and a lot of chairs at the front of the restaurant are occupied:

As are the tables in the large back room:

There is a lot to like about Frank's. It is owned and operated by a local family, and almost every time I've been there, Frank himself is watching and supervising. The folks who wait tables are well trained and friendly. When I eat by myself, I am usually called "honey" or "sweetie." Us older gents appreciate that. The prices are also very reasonable, and most folks in Yuma appreciate that.

On the other hand, the food itself has been somewhat inconsistent. The coffee is pretty ordinary:

As is the iced tea:

The restaurant advertises itself as having the "Best Ribs and Fish in Town." So one Friday evening, Tina and I showed up for the ribs and the fish. Friday is all-you-can-eat fish fry ($9.99), and both Tina and I thought the fish platter was good:

I like the coleslaw here, the very fresh cabbage with a slightly sweet and goopy slaw sauce:

On the other hand, the crinkle cut fries are just like you would expect, pretty boring, and not at all crunchy, even when ordered extra crispy. The cod fillets, however, are outstanding:

The breading was crunchy and stayed on the fillets. But they weren’t overbattered. The fish was moist and clean flavored and tasted fresh. I would order this again happily. In fact, I wish Frank’s would add a cod burger to the sandwich choices. That would be yummy.

On the other hand, the best parts about the rib platter were the excellent baked beans and coleslaw and how this half rack looked on the plate ($13.99):

The parboiled ribs had been briefly grilled and then covered in sauce. While they were certainly tender and the meat fell off the bone, there was no discernible smoky flavor (in Frank's defense, the menu does not claim that the ribs are barbecued).

Lunches also have been somewhat inconsistent. On my first visit, I ordered the plain burger ($6.99). I loved the fresh and generous toppings – lettuce, tomato, onion slice, and dill pickles – though the french fries were meh:

The preformed half pound patty was not greasy, but a little overcooked. Next time, I would order cheese, and employ more condiments to flavor the burger:

And I wish Frank's served a better brand of ketchup than First Street, which I find bland and mediocre. Perhaps better ketchup would improve my appreciation of the french fries. Perhaps.

These days, the burgers come with coleslaw, but in the early days a salad (now $2.99) was an optional side. The quality of the greens and veggies were generally good:

I was impressed by the generous portion and the use of mesclun lettuce, instead of iceberg. Fancy lettuces make the salads here a little special.

In contrast, the club sandwich ($7.25) was a disappointment. I’ve been eating club sandwiches for close to 60 years now, and have fond memories of accompanying my grandmother to Woolworth's or Newberry's (she called them dime stores) for shopping and lunch, which for me was always a club sandwich – roasted turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato arranged on three slices of toast, cut in quarters and arranged around a small scoop of potato salad.

I knew I wouldn't be getting the potato salad, but I was still surprised by this:
The sandwich was buried under a generous portion of french fries. I expected that. The menu had also prepared me for the slice of cheese (cheese?), but the menu had not prepared me for the slices of mediocre ham, which were far more evident than any bacon, and the "oven roasted turkey" had clearly been roasted in an oven hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles away. A really good club sandwich should be focused on the flavors of bacon, real roasted turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Those flavors go together and complement each other. Other stuff is an annoying distraction. Grumble grumble.

Other sandwiches have been more enjoyable. The hot beef sandwich ($7.25) was more than I could eat for lunch. The mashed potatoes were made on premises and were full of nice chunks of potato. There were around six fairly thick slices of beef and at least two slices of white bread. It was all covered with dark brown gravy:

Nonetheless, the "oven roasted beef" was more like a good quality deli beef thickly sliced than real roast beef. The dark brown gravy was dark and brown and not too salty, but generally flavorless, the sort of thing I would expect to find in a jar of "dark brown gravy." Still, for $7.25, it was a steal.

I also liked the Reuben sandwich (on this day served with non-crinkle cut fries), which was a pretty good attempt at a Reuben:

The pastrami was lean and mild, the rye toast flavorful and well seeded, and the sauerkraut warmed up and placed between layers of meat so that it didn't make the bread soggy. There was a definite layer of "swiss" cheese, and a little bit of thousand island dressing. While I would've liked a bit more dressing for the sweet/sour contrast, this wasn't bad at all and well worth the $7.49.

Overall, the breakfasts are probably the most consistent food choices at Frank's – and now Frank's serves breakfast all day long.

For good old boys and girls, there is the biscuits and gravy special with two eggs and bacon or sausage ($7.25):

Though not ethereal, the biscuits were pretty good and the gravy was nicely flavored and not too thick and pasty. The sausage was decent. Over easy eggs were well cooked though Tina thought they could have been warmer, as if they were plated first, then the sausage patties, and finally the biscuits and gravy.

If the waffle itself had been a little crisper, the Belgian waffle breakfast special ($7.25) would have been outstanding:

The one time I ordered a single pancake as a side ($2.99), I thought it had a better texture and flavor than the waffle:

Maybe the best single meal that I have had at Frank's was the mushroom and Jack cheese omelette ($7.99):

Okay, the hashbrowns were pretty ordinary and not crispy enough for my taste, but the mushroom and cheese omelette was sublime:

The whole meal was good enough that I even tolerated the Smucker' s "jellies":

Similarly, Tina loves the veggie and cheese omelette ($7.99):

Notice the numerous fresh mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, diced onions, and bell pepper strips.

On the other hand, my Southwestern omelette ($7.99) was supposed to contain diced green chilies, onions, tomatoes, and Jack cheese, topped with salsa and cheddar, but there really wasn't very much in the omelette – most of the flavor came from the salsa on top:

One other thing to watch out for, while most of the omelettes are pretty good, twice Tina was served "veggie and cheese" omelettes that had a suspiciously large amount of ham:

In other words, check your omelette before eating.

Reading over this post, I realize I have been a bit picky about some things. It's my curse to get weird about stuff like packaged jellies and club sandwiches. But I don't want to convey the notion that I have not had a good time at Frank's and have not enjoyed the food. Frank's is a value restaurant, not a gourmet restaurant. For the quality of the food and the excellence of the service, the prices are incredibly cheap.  Some of the best restaurant deals in town.

On top of that, the last time I was paying the check, the cashier handed me back more money than I expected. "Why am I getting cash back?" "Oh, hon,”she said, waving her hand at me, "you get the senior discount." "I didn't know you guys had a senior discount." "We do now, so you be sure to tell all your friends."

I think I just did.

Frank's Family Dining, 2951 S. 4th Ave., Yuma, AZ 85364, (928) 276-4950. 1245 Desert Hills Dr.  

Today, Kirk and Cathy get a vacation from this blog; instead, Ed (from Yuma) has a long post about a place that's been around even longer.

Brownie's is an institution. Founded in 1946, it's almost the oldest restaurant in town – it’s even older than me. Its original and distinctive standalone building is like a landmark on 4th Avenue:

And this is the view from the parking lot side:

The interior includes a counter area, one large table area, a smaller back room, and booths along the north and south walls and has miscellaneous decorations: some American flags, a stuffed deer head, drawings of John Wayne, Jimmy Dean, and Elvis (among others), artificial plants, and lots of historical pictures of Yuma, including this photo of Yuma High School when it was located in the abandoned territorial prison:

Students and sports teams at Yuma High are still fondly called Criminals. So, yes, folks here can say, "The best times of my life were the four years I was a Criminal."

On a summer weekday around 11:45 AM, there is plenty of open seating:

Most of the time, particularly around breakfast hours, Brownie's is packed:

The wait staff is extremely friendly, but also efficient and professional. Some servers specialize in seating customers, cleaning tables, and bringing beverages to the table; others take orders and bring out plates of food. The front of the menu fits the place perfectly:

So why haven't I blogged about Brownie's? Partly, I had already eaten at Brownie's a bunch of times before I ever met Kirk or even owned a camera; plus I assumed that damn near everybody in the Yuma area already knew about Brownie's, so what was the point?

But also a number of things that I had tried at Brownie's back in the day were underwhelming. The beef vegetable soup, chicken salad sandwich, and even a roast chicken dinner (when Brownie's was open in the evenings) were pretty much meh. The burgers were okay, but nothing to write home about – or even blog about. The side salads have always been ordinary at best, and their dressings don't taste homemade:

Recently, one of the salads even had a couple rotting leaves in it:

So why am I blogging about this restaurant now? Partly because Tina sometimes likes to go out for a weekend breakfast, and breakfasts are what Brownie's does best.

While the coffee here is pretty standard American diner coffee, it is always fresh and the cups are frequently topped off. You even get half and half though it comes in those little plastic packages:

Both Tina and I generally like their egg breakfast combos. For example, the inexpensive minced ham and eggs breakfast ($5.95):

There is abundant ham, the eggs are not overcooked, and hashbrowns were prepared extra crispy as requested. The little cup of salsa adds a nice local touch.

Similarly, the Brownie's special with ham ($7.95) is a good basic breakfast:

Another favorite with many people is the chicken fried steak and eggs:

On this day, however, the overworked kitchen didn't fry a good crust on the beef, so I have no photograph of the really good versions of the chicken fried steak. But most of the time, it is tasty. (Rich of Offbeat Eats likes it too).  

A little more unusual is the Ham and Eggs O'Brian ($7.95) with a ham slice, three eggs, and peppers and onions on top of hashbrowns:

For me, this combination actually works pretty well even though it gets pretty gloppy looking:

There are a number of omelet choices, but Tina and my favorite is the country omelet ($7.95):

The omelet itself contains sausage, cheese, and Ortega chilies all topped with Brownie's pretty decent country gravy – mmm, country gravy:

My only complaint about most of the egg breakfasts at Brownie's is that they come with toast:

It's not that the toast is bad – though it is very generic– it's that the jams and jellies are those little packets from Smucker’s:

I remember the old commercial "with a name like Smucker’s, it's got to be good," and maybe it once was good, but most of the little jellies these days are made from fruit juice, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid, and sodium citrate. Certainly doesn't sound like my grandmother's recipe. Grumble grumble.

So sometimes we will choose the "Country Boy" combination with sausage, eggs, and biscuits and gravy instead of hashbrowns and toast ($7.95). This picture shows the half-size portion with bacon and only one biscuit and gravy ($5.95):

Another way to evade toast is a waffle ($4.95 à la carte), served with syrup and soft butter. Pretty standard, but a nice non greasy, crusty surface and lots of little wells to hold the butter and syrup:

similarly tasty are the thick pancakes – here part of a hot cake, sausage, and egg special ($4.95):

One other treat on the menu are Walt Kammann sausages (available in an egg combo or $2.95 or one, $4.95 for two):

Walt Kammann brought this German style sausage recipe with him when he moved from Wisconsin to Yuma in 1934 to manage a pecan grove. A community minded individual, he served on the governing boards for the local hospital and college. Originally he and his family made these sausages for their personal consumption, but soon they were serving them at civic events, such as the annual Rotary Sausage Fry. While no longer made by the Kammann family, this is the traditional recipe – coarsely ground meat with no filler, well spiced with abundant black pepper:

In addition to the generally good breakfasts at Brownie’s, some of the lunch choices are also pretty tasty. Their version of the chili burger ($7.95) is a decent presentation of one of my favorite truck stop meals:

Covered with chopped onion and cheese, the Western-style chili with beans makes a great topping for the preformed hamburger patty. Nothing revolutionary here, just an old favorite fixed in a traditional way.

One nice touch is the sprinkling of seasoned salt on the otherwise undistinguished crinkle cut french fries:

Of course, sandwiches like the fried ham or the BLT that use breakfast ingredients are also good choices. In addition, the restaurant roasts its own beef and turkey. Therefore the French dip sandwich au jus ($6.95) comes with real jus:

While the French roll is nothing special, the warmed roast beef tastes real and beefy:

Just like the roast beef, the turkey is real roast turkey and is available as a dinner plate with veggie, potatos, stuffing and gravy:

or as an open faced sandwich with whipped potatoes and old-fashioned turkey gravy ($7.95):

Open faced, gravy covered sandwiches like these always bring back good memories of my 10 years in Columbus, Ohio.

The same roast turkey stars in Tina's favorite lunch at Brownie’s, the Big Bird sandwich ($7.50):

The generous portion of roast turkey on grilled sourdough is enhanced by bacon, tomato, and American cheese:

It tastes even better than it sounds.

I have grown fond of Brownie's over the years. Even though it is sometimes a bit hectic and the food is not always top notch, the restaurant has a real down home friendly environment that fits Yuma very well. The menu and food also remind me of the restaurant my parents owned and my mother managed back when I was in junior high and high school in Medford, Oregon. I must have washed thousands of dishes and chopped dozens of onions back then. Sometimes I even took orders and brought out food. Looking back 50 years, those seem like pretty good times, and I always did think washing dishes beat mowing lawns. Brownie’s is the kind of place that does bring back memories of 50 years ago – at least for those of us who have memories of 50 years ago.

Brownie’s Café, 1145 S 4th Ave, Yuma, AZ 85364, (928) 783-7911, open daily in summer from 6 – 2:30, longer hours in the winter.