Surprisingly well-made food
The interior of the Drifter Pancake House is a milder example of the "Googie" architecture that prevailed in coffee shops in the 50's and 60's (see http://www.spaceagecity.com/googie/ for more info on this sort of thing).

The menu too, is free of 21st Century pretension: two pages of breakfast (served anytime), one page of lunch (mostly sandwiches) and a single page of dinner items. Strongly featured (naturally) are pancakes and waffles and the typical 2-eggs-and-sausage-or-bacon-and-hashbrowns-and-toast you would expect.

What is unexpected is the deft hand in the kitchen. The bacon is crisp (and not greasy), the eggs taste like they've been basted in butter (but are likewise not greasy), the toast is uniformly brown and already buttered just the right amount.

The real surprise was when I ordered a patty melt for lunch. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this item, a patty melt is a cross between a hamburger and a grilled cheese sandwich: typically made with rye bread, a patty melt contains cheese (occasionally Swiss, more often white or yellow American cheese) and one or more hamburger patties smothered in fried or sauteed onions. As you can imagine, there is a high likelihood that the sandwich will be sleazy and greasy, due both to the juicyness of the burger as well as the butter or oil used in grilling the bread.

The Drifter's patty melt was exceptional. The bread was grease-free (leading me to believe that it was broiled rather than grilled), the burger tasted char-broiled, the onions were flavorful without being overpowering, and there were two unexpected bonuses not normally found on this type of sandwich: 1) some thick-sliced bacon, and 2) some chopped green chiles. Delicious! I ordered mine with french fries and am happy to report that they weren't seasoned, battered, curly, sugar-coated (to make them brown quicker) or any of the other atrocious variations foisted on us by people who feel that there's something wrong with a pure, unadorned pile of spuds.

All in all, The Drifter delivers traditional simple fare that is carefully crafted.    [17 Jun 2004 15:57:20]

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Recommended Dishes: Patty Melt

     ­Mitch Hellman   gelatomaster at alottagelato dot com

Service is terrible
I don't understand how I can be invisible at this restaurant and not at others. It seems like no matter where I/we sit, we get ignored. Haven't been in here enough to have made enemies and always tip 20%, so what is it? Two of the last 4 times I've been in here for breakfast, I've had to ask to see a wait person. Attitude is everything and the attitude in here is "go away!"    [16 Apr 2006 13:10:45]

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Recommended Dishes: None

     ­Whiz Bang   

DIRTY!!
I know these folks can't live any different than where they work, so I never want to go to their homes.

This restaurant is absolutely filthy! Can't imagine what the kitchen looks like.    [10 Jun 2006 11:49:57]

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     ­Anonymous   

Never got served so we left
I agree, it seems that no one wants to take your order. We were all excited to try out the only known pancake house in Silver City, but it was really busy and no one even looked at us.    [09 Dec 2006 01:11:50]

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     ­Anonymous