What’s the best place to eat when I go trainwatching in Tehachapi? Thanks.
Chuck - I think you need to put your name on a different subject than food. I still have trouble with upchuck…however chuckup, isn’t much better.
No answer for you, but maybe someone with a stronger constitution will have an answer. [:)]
Mook
Mookie nailed it!
Chuck —
When Senior Editor Matt Van Hattem, myself, and my Dad went to Tehachapi this spring railfanning, we found an awesofantabulous Mexican joint on the south end of the town itself — don’t recall the name. They had a buffet, but it was all fresh and awesome. It was on the main drag on the right side of the street as you’re going northward, and it shares a parking lot with a little strip mall. Since it’s a buffet it’s easy to get in, eat, and get back out railfanning; since it’s on the south end of town, you don’t have to go through town to get there or to get back down to the loop. Wish I could give you the name of the place.
We were recommended not to go to the place with bars in the windows by the exit south of the loop, but I personally try to avoid places with bars in the windows as a general policy anyway.
Good eatin’,
Andy Cummings
Associate Editor
Trains Magazine
Waukesha, Wis.
We visited Tehachapi at the end of March. When we came to Tehachapi (the town) from the south, we were along the tracks, and found a place called the Apple Barn on the right side of the highway, just inside the city limits. They offered good food, and quite a few souvenirs. We (my wife, her uncle, and I) ate at the restaurant, though I doubt that there would be a problem with a “to-go” order. There are no windows trackside at this place, but we had a window that afforded us a view of a train arriving and the helpers cutting off and returning slowly down the hill (so slowly, in fact, that we caught them again at the Loop after lunch!). The food is highly recommended.
The places Mr. Cummings describes here sound like the kind of joints where if you’re not careful, what you say could get your throat slit. Consider the scenario described below.
The setup: A family owned Mexican restaurant in Tehachapi. UpChuck is seated at a table, and a waitress approaches with a bowl of tortilla chips and some picante dip. As soon as the waitress sets down the comestibles, UpChuck grabs a chip, dips it, and takes a bite.
UpChuck: “Pardon me m’am, but is this picante sauce homemade?”
The waitress: “Why yes it is!” she says with obvious delight and a bright smile. “I made it myself this morning. How do you like it?”
[quote user=“Bob-Fryml”]
The places Mr. Cummings describes here sound like the kind of joints where if you’re not careful, what you say could get your throat slit. Consider the scenario described below.
The setup: A family owned Mexican restaurant in Tehachapi. UpChuck is seated at a table, and a waitress approaches with a bowl of tortilla chips and some picante dip. As soon as the waitress sets down the comestibles, UpChuck grabs a chip, dips it, and takes a bite.
UpChuck: “Pardon me m’am, but is this picante sauce homemade?”
The waitress: “Why yes it is!” she says with obvious delight and a bright smile. “I made it myself this morning. How do you like it?”
Taco Samich?
Mook,
It can be "u.p.chuck, but then that can have issues, too…
Thanks,
The one without the bars sounds just fine. One always needs an escape route…just in case.
[quote user=“Bob-Fryml”]
The places Mr. Cummings describes here sound like the kind of joints where if you’re not careful, what you say could get your throat slit. Consider the scenario described below.
The setup: A family owned Mexican restaurant in Tehachapi. UpChuck is seated at a table, and a waitress approaches with a bowl of tortilla chips and some picante dip. As soon as the waitress sets down the comestibles, UpChuck grabs a chip, dips it, and takes a bite.
UpChuck: “Pardon me m’am, but is this picante sauce homemade?”
The waitress: “Why yes it is!” she says with obvious delight and a bright smile. “I made it myself this morning. How do you like it?”<
Its been about 4 yrs, but there was a nice family diner on the main drag in the town of Tehachapi. They had an HO layout of the loop area in the restaurant and it was a RR themed place overall. Seems like it was right in the middle of town on the west side of the main street. The front faced the RR tracks.
Apple Shed, not Barn, and it’s got some pretty good food. They don’t stay open very late, which is why we make it for lunch more often than dinner. Try to avoid the pastry counter if you’re watching the waistline, otherwise you will probably pick up something for the road, like the monster chocolate chip cookies or an apple turnover. (Now my mouth is watering and it’s not dinner time yet.)
Across Tehachapi Blvd from the Apple Shed is the Village Grill. They used to be pretty good, but the last couple of times we tried them in 2006 we felt the dinner quality had gone down. They do serve breakfast at any time.
Last but not necessarily the least, the Mickie Dees near the corner of Highway 202 and Tucker Road is a throwback to when the food at the Arches was hot and actually tasty, unlike pretty much every other location in California is now.
Thanks for the correction and clarification, Chuck. Unfortunately, Pat’s uncle picked up the tab, so I had no way of checking the name on my statements.
Sounds like there are other worthwhile places to think about next time we go west!
The Best Western Mountain Inn in Tehachapi has a restaraunt, and it also has a coin operated H.O model of the Tehachapi Loop. The Mountain Inn is across the street from the tracks, but you can’t see the tracks from the restaraunt. My wife and I ate lunch there (rather we took a lunch break there) in October, 1985 while I was photographing trains between the “Loop” and Caliente during a drive from Lancaster to San Luis Obispo. As I recall a westbound Santa Fe freight stopped on the Loop above the west portal of Tunnel 9 because the engineer thought he might have passed a stop signal. We passed Tunnel 9 after lunch and the same Santa Fe freight was still there. We continued on towards Bakersfield on CA 58 which is a freeway, and I noticed a gravel pull-off on the westbound side of CA 58 which overlooks the west (south) portal of Tunnel 5. I photographed a westbound freight leaving Tunnel 5 from that overlook.
Thanks very much for all the recommendations!