Foothill Flavors

Breakfast at Mel & Fay’s Starts the Week Off Right

By Antoinette May Herndon

“I’ll meet you at Mel’s” isn’t just a catchy message on a coffee cup. For many of us it’s a way of life particularly on Sundays. A recent rainy Sunday morning made breakfast at Mel & Fay’s even more alluring than usual. We all needed cheering up.

On that particular day every table was filled. Lots of beards, plaid shirts, excited morning voices. Mel & Fay’s is a real down home place where everyone likes to go not just to eat but to hang out.

Jackson citizens Mel and Fay Gilman started their diner 54 years ago because they just didn’t want to work for anyone else. The couple still enjoys independence but now they have their son, Bart, his wife, Maura, and their granddaughter, Typhonie, working for them. Three generations carrying on a caring sharing tradition.

Not only has the family business endured but it has retained an original mid century charm. Eating at Mel and Fay’s Diner continues to be a time trip. Think of rerunning an old James Dean movie or watching a vintage Lawrence Welk reruns.

The very first thing you notice on entering the diner are posters from bygone movie hits. Whether you personally remember seeing Rita Hayworth in “The Bad and the Beautiful” or Annette Funchiello of “Hot Rod Rumble” fame or not, you catch the feel of the era.

Mel and Fay’s is a comfy kind of place with dark cherry stained tables and plush booths and chairs upholstered in lush forest green. The decor make it very relaxing to lean back and study all that movie memorabilia. “They just don’t make them that way any more” is what most patrons agree—for better or worse.

But what definitely endures is Mel and Fay’s launching pad for pancakes and waffles. Charles is a loyal devotee of the Quarterback Sneak ($6.25). This favourite consists of two eggs, two pancakes, two strips of bacon and a sausage patty.

My own choice is usually the chicken fried steak ($8.75.) It comes with eggs, hash browns, an English muffin and about a trillion calories.

On this particular Sunday morning we both decided to break with tradition. Life got simpler for Charles with ham and eggs. But there was nothing plain about

that ham. It was a big, gorgeous slice, served up with hash browns and toast. ($7.95)

I, too, decided to go basic and chose Linguica and eggs. ($7.95) The Liniguica was hot and spicy, just the way I like it—perfect with hash browns and an English muffin.

Once again, I just have to say that breakfast at Mel and Fay’s Diner is the perfect way to start off the week. Breakfast is the first meal of the rest of your life. Let’s get it right.

VITALS: Mel and Fay’s Diner is located at 31 State Hwy. 49/88, Jackson. Phone: 223-0853. You may well know—or should know— that the diner is also home to fabulous burgers and shakes. Mel and Fay’s is a good and inexpensive dinner house as well. The Blue New York steak is a perennial favourite of mine and the salad bar is a local highlight—lots of variety and fresh, fresh, fresh. Open seven days a week, 6 a.m. till 11 p.m. And, yes, you can get breakfast any time you want it. Credit cards accepted.

amherndon@sierralodestar.com

Pictures: Mel and Faye’s dining room.

Cassie Moore is a highlight at Mel and Fay’s.