Westaurant Weview: Steak Corral

EDITOR'S NOTE:   I aplogize in advance for the title of this post.   I also apologize for this post.   Heck, I apologize for this whole darn blog, and would apologize for the internet as well if I had created it (Scientific Fact:  Al Gore created it).

I love a good "themed" restaurant.   Nowdays, themed restaurants seem to be found only in theme parks or entertainment complexes, but back in the 50's and 60's they flourished.   Places like Farrell's, Don the Beachcomber's or Clifton's Cafeteria's took us on a culinary journey away from the humdrum and made dining an exciting adventure at a reasonable price.   Very few of these original restaurants exist today (although Farrell's is in the midst of a comeback).

One of my favorites was a place call "Steak Corral" that existed in West Covina for several years.  The chain started in 1961 and operated restaurants throughout Southern California.   The theme was the old west, and the accouterments all were themed to a old John Wayne movie.  The West Covina branch was opened in 1970 and was one of the last remaining restaurants in the chain for quite some time.  The restaurant was shaped like a large octagon.   Inside the octagon was a series of chuckwagons placed in a circle around the cooking area.  You would order your steak at the first wagon, then follow the chuckwagon line to choose your salads, sides and drinks.  I enjoyed several visits to this steakhouse for years, until one day I read the article I had been expecting, yet dreading for some time:   Steak Corral was closed.   Norm's had bought the site and would remodel it into a Norm's.  I was crushed.   Never again would I saddle up to the chuckwagon for a hunk of meat and a slice o' pie.

However, just like in a Zane Gray novel, old cowboy restaurants never truly die.  One day recently I was combing the internet looking for old pictures of Steak Corral, and I came across an address for a Steak Corral in Whittier.   Well, I nearly fell out of my chair.   There was ANOTHER Steak Corral still in existence?   I saddled up the Honda and before you could say "medium rare" I was on Washington Blvd.  Soon, the aging yet beaming Steak Corral sign came into view.

Now, if you look at the logo above carefully, Steak Corral is not a restaurant, but a Westaurant.  That's right, it calls itself a Westaurant to subtly drive home the fact that it's a Western-themed restaurant.   Other subtleties include calling the restrooms, "Westrooms"   Is that class, or what?  The best I can do is follow suite.  So....

 

 Steak Cowwal's theming begins the minute you dwive into the parking lot and walk to the fwont door.   Outside, desert succuwants and cactus gwow, next to a large statue of The Steak Cowwal Kid.   He's like a western version of Bob's Big Boy, except he ends up at far less college fwaternities.

Inside, the walls are adorned with assorted western pawaphanalia.  Hanging fwom the ceiling is their simple yet tantawizing menu:

You order your steak, then just like in the Covina westaurant, you walk along the chuckwagon to make your own sawad from the sawad bar, choose your dwink, and decide on a dessert.  They then give you a western nameplate and you wetreat to a table.   The meal is bwought to your table.

The Chuckwagons

The Salad Bar

The meal itself is gweat for the pwice.   Where else can you get a good steak with all the fixin's for under $15?  The steak is a nice, hearty chunk, well-gwilled to your specifications.  They have a gweat baked potato bar where you can doctor up your potato any way you'd wike.   It also features fixin's for your steak, such as onions, peppers and welish.   The cheese bwead is also tasty.  My dining partner bought sevewal pieces to eat at home. 

Best of all, the kid's meal contains a cowboy boot sundae, served inside a boot.   But even better than that:  Ask your waitwess for an Indian headwess.  They'll give you an authentic Indian headband and feather to wear while you eat, which of course I did thwough the entire meal.   And in the parking lot.   And all the way home.

The Westaurant was a twue step back in time, and a gweat place to sit down and enjoy a delicious steak at a weasonable pwice.   I heartly recommend a visit!

EDITOR'S NOTE:  If I ever lose my job, it's nice to know I can get a job writing for Elmer Fudd.   Although I don't recommend it.