Gridley Grill

A confusingly-named breakfast restaurant that also has some great seafood at night. Their breakfast is a cut above, and most of the time they are the earliest-opening restaurant within a 50 mile radius. At six AM, you can either go here or Denny's, which is 24/7. Where was I? Oh, right. The food is great. I have never had a bad meal here. They have basic hash-browns, or their own take on breakfast potatoes. Ask for no garlic if you're not into garlic. Tabasco sauces and a few unique hot sauces I have never seen anywhere else. Good hot tea selection. This place is a great diner for dinner, too, with all your standard items and, yes, crab legs.

This roadside diner on Highway 99, in the middle of nowhere, is owned and operated by a Vietnamese woman and her family. How she took over the diner is a pretty interesting story, an American dream came true. They have two menus; one for breakfast and lunch (for week days) and the other for dinner (for the weekends). We went there for lunch. Biscuits and gravy were well made and tasty, and the pastami sandwich with melted cheese was filling (even though the pastrami portion was a bit small). We came back a couple of days later for dinner. We ordered a cheeseburger with clam chowder and the house special (a plate/bucket of three different types of crabs) with gumbo. The clam chowder and gumbo were made with their own recipes, which were a bit different. The cheeseburger was okay. The crabs were boiled in some sort of seasoning broth, so they came out salty and a bit spicy. Afterward, we were told that we can order the crabs as steamed or boiled in seasonings. They have prime rib on the menu, but it wasn't available at the time. Overall, it was an interesting American experience.