Mel's Diner

Welcome to one of the most irrelevant and uninteresting posts you will ever read on this blog.  Maybe I'm exaggerating, but really, unless you are passing by Beatty, Nevada, this post will never apply to you.  However, if you are indeed driving through Beatty and in need of some eats, then for the 1% of you, it isn't irrelevant after all.  So we belong to that 1% because it was on our way to Mammoth Lakes from Vegas.  Trust me, there is literally nothing along the freeway until you get to Beatty.

We made the stop for a late lunch and made the cutoff before they closed at 1:00pm.  That is correct, you won't even be able to eat here if you arrive later!  For myself, I chose the Fish & Chips that featured both potato salad and fries.  I thought the fish was fine considering it was frozen.  It was crispy while flaky and moist inside.  Fries were pretty basic, but were crispy.  Not a fan of the potato salad as the potatoes were rather crunchy.

For my son, he went for one of his favorites in the Bacon Double Cheeseburger.  This was a solid diner burger featuring 2 well-seared beef patties which were still somewhat moist.  The two slices of bacon were fairly lean and prepared crispy.  No brioche bun here as we got the classic sesame version.  It did the job though, holding in all of the ingredients without falling apart.  Overall, a decent burger and no complaints.

For Viv, she had the Patty Melt with cheese and onions.  As you can see in the picture, the beef patty was rather moist and not all that fatty.  Pretty impressive for a small little diner in the middle of nowhere.  Bread was seared until crispy and brown on the flattop.  Nice crunch that contrasted the soft meat.  The addition of onions added some sweet sharpness while the amount of melted cheese was perfect.

The best item we had was the Clubhouse with turkey, bacon and ham. This triple-decker was chock full of meats as well as 2 types of cheeses and fresh lettuce and tomato.  Nothing complex, but this was huge and well-constructed.  Even the toast was perfectly crispy.  So as you can see, the food here is typical diner food.  Yet, it was good diner food at a very reasonable price.  Considering there isn't much to choose from along the route we were traveling on, it was a pretty satisfying lunch.

The Good:
- Solid diner food
- Cheap
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Lots of flies
- The washrooms are not the best