Dinerwood on the Road: Penny's Diner, Yermo California

Yermo California might be the most depressing town I have ever seen. On my way back from Vegas last month I decided to take the scenic route through the town. I had never seen so many abandoned and boarded up homes in all my life. It was like wandering through a town in Fallout 3.

Yermo does have two saving graces though--the two diners located right off the freeway exit. They are Peggy Sue's Diner which I reviewed last year and Penny's Diner. Well, maybe Penny's isn't so much a "saving grace" as it is a "decent option if Peggy Sue's is not available."



I do like that Penny's is a classic art-deco chrome diner. There are not a lot of those left out here in California. Stylistically alone, I give it points.



I think this is where the Yermo locals eat, leaving Peggy Sue's to the tourists.

I asked about the Dody's Vegas Jack sandwich. The waitress--a sweet girl--had no idea what I was talking about, so I showed her the menu. Apparently she had never seen anyone order it. Bad sign, maybe? But it was just a turkey melt with some green pepper, I don't know how that could go wrong. I ordered it and then got to overhear the cook asking what was on it and how to make it. Seriously, NO ONE had ever ordered this sandwich? An older waitress--sweet girl's mom--had to explain how it was made.



I got the sandwich before too long. It was okay. The cook forgot the green peppers... which is kind of the thing that would make it not just a turkey melt? I bet it would have been good with the peppers. Oh well. I thought the number of french fries on the plate looked puny, but they tasted all right.



I also got a slice of apple pie at Penny's. They had some homemade looking pastries on the counter and I could see some pies in a case behind that so I got my hopes. They were dashed when I saw in the reflection of the case a store sticker on top of the plastic lid of the pie. Meh, it was supermarket apple pie--dusty crust and nothing to taste but cinnamon.

Across the street, Peggy Sue's is this spectacle that harkens back to the old days of road-side attractions, while Penny's Diner is just there for you to get some food and move on from the most depressing town I've ever seen.


Food: Okay.
Price: $5-$10
Service: Friendly.
Pie: Yes...store bought.

Penny's Diner
35450
Yermo Rd, Yermo, CA 92398
(760) 254-1148

Peggy Sue's and the Diner-saur Park

On my first trip to Vegas three years ago, I saw the signs for Peggy Sue's along the way. I wanted to stop, but when we drove by the giant dinosaur statues outside, I HAD to stop; however, the driver of the passenger van would have none of it. The next summer, former Dinerwood photog Charlie Chu and I had gorged on dim sum on our way out of town and were still bursting when we reached the exit. We declined to stop.

This year, I was going by hook or by crook. Fortunately, I did not need to use either of those tools as Burns was down for it. He's a good guy, I didn't want to hook him or crook him.

Peggy Sue's is definitely something you don't see a lot of in this day and age. It's as much a roadside attraction as it is a diner. It's an oasis for the weary traveler to have a respite, stretch his legs, munch a burger (or get some pizza at the adjacent pizza parlor), buy some junk in the gift store, and stand in the shade of a giant metal Brachiosaurus.

This phrase "eat to the beat" strikes me as really subversively dirty. On the surface it just means eat while listening to music, right? Hell, Disney even has a whole concert series at Epcot built around it. It's just too suggestive for me not to chuckle at it. Apparently, I am not alone in my way of thinking.



They have a handy history write-up of the diner. If you squint, you'll be able read it or you can go to the website. Spoiler alert: it's a love story.

The original diner portion of the restaurant is actually quite small. There is a row of booths on one side and the counter on the other. Our waitress led us through that crowded area and into the more expansive dining room...

...which unfortunately looks more like bar.

The menu isn't expansive--it's just that one sheet--but they put some effort into making it cute. It also looks like they printed it at a Kinkos in 1996.

I love Huell Howser. He has certainly been a huge influence on me and my blogging. That sentence I just typed kind of disturbed me. If you don't know Huell, let me educate you...nah, I'll just post a video.

Burns got the King Kong Monster Burger, which is just the Buddy Holly Bacon Cheeseburger with an extra patty and extra cheese. I feel like Buddy Holly would be offended by this were he alive.

I didn't really pay attention to the ingredients of the Mickey Mouse Club Sandwich. I just thought they had put a 50s name on the traditional club sandwich. Nay-nay! It arrived looking amazingly delicious just for the portions of bacon, ham and turkey. Then I saw it- cheddar cheese! "Ohhhh, now I get it." A little slow on the uptake sometimes' I'm not ashamed to admit it.

The addition of cheese and the thickness of the meats made this the best club sandwich ever. The curly fries were good, but the tiny side of coleslaw did taste like old cabbage and was kind of gross.



Peggy Sue's does have pie, but after both of our tremendous lunches, we couldn't even fathom trying to make that work.

In fact we wanted to walk off some of our meal, in the lovely dinosaur- er I mean DINER-SAUR park.

The Diner-Saur park is pretty fascinating. This handy sign helps you identify the different dinosaurs located around the park. It's also very educational. I had no idea that King Kong was a dinosaur.

Here's the majestic Brachiosaurus.



The mighty King Kong and the villainous Spinosaurus.



And finally, the playful Stegosaurus. Oh, there's also a pirate in that tree.

Peggy Sue's would be great just for the Diner-saur park alone, but you can see that from the highway. Now, when you add good food to equation, you gotta make a stop.

Food: Good.
Price: $7-$10
Service: Friendly.
Pie: Yes.

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner

35654 Yermo Road

Yermo, CA 92398

The park also has ducks. Ducks are not dinosaurs....well they were, but are not now.