El Camino Dining Room offers home-style cooking in warm setting
El Camino Dining Room offers home-style cooking in warm setting
While El Camino Dining Room is not technically a Route 66 icon — true, it is on the pre1937 alignment of the Mother Road but did not open until 1950, long after Route 66 had been rerouted along Central — the adobe and wood café, supported by rustic vigas and carved corbels, projects enough authenticity that patrons willingly overlook that blurring of history.
Proudly family-owned since it opened, and still in the family, operated by the mother-daughter team of Lydia Sakelaris and Mandy Chavez, this little place has not, does not, and will not change no matter what else comes and goes along North Fourth Street. I can testify that the menu and setting are exactly the same as they were when I lived in the North Valley circa 1983 and became a regular. How comforting is that morning light filtered by translucent glass block windows, those family tchotchkes and photos, and the turquoise-painted symbols that still decorate the walls. A smile and coffeepot greet you as you slide into a vinyl booth, the red chile is zippy but not too hot, and the pancakes are still the best.
El Camino elevates the basic pancake — with seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice and the lightly sweetened bizcochito — into a category approaching a fine baked good. The pancakes are fluffy and enticing, especially when served with El Camino’s outstanding bacon ($7.95). The thin and crispy-brown housemade home fries provide another reason to stop in for breakfast.
Serving the complete menu all day, El Camino is all about homemade café
comfort food. This is the place to order biscuits and gravy ($6.95), huevos rancheros ($10.95), a chicharrón burrito ($8.95) and an openface double-patty chile burger, smothered with green ($11.95). Menudo is available daily ($8.95), served with a fresh sopaipilla.
One recent disappointment was the chicken-fried steak, a uniform-sized disk that perhaps was the only item not made in-house. Flavorful slow-roasted carne adovada, steaks and pork chops play their part in the deluxe dinners and luncheons, while satisfying sandwiches and every sort of combination plate imaginable means that everyone in the party gets just what he or she wants.
The food is not especially exciting, nor is it intended to be. Going to El Camino is like making a visit home to a place you know well and can count on to welcome you. While it may not be the biggest
bargain around, nor serve the biggest portions in town — trial and error shows that some dishes are a better deal than others — the guaranteed feel-good service that is pure warmth plus the endearing setting promise a dining experience that will not disappoint, whether you are out with a partner, an old friend, or your coffee and newspaper. This period piece beckons you in with its scripted neon sign and reminds you how sane life could be before the invention of the smartphone.