The Vail Valley isn’t known for its cheap eats, but there are options if you are willing to wander down where the river meets the railroad tracks. Take a detour at the funky little town of Minturn where you won’t find highbrow anything, and that’s how the locals like it.
If you head past the saloon, you’ll discover a diner with a cinder-block motel attached to the back. The Turntable Restaurant has served up
homestyle American and Mexican food for 34 years.
The Turntable’s menu is huge and includes traditional diner favorites like burgers and grilled cheese along with burritos and nightly blue- plate specials. But in my estimation, the reason to drive the extra miles out of Vail or Beaver Creek is for the affordable and hearty breakfasts.
The star is the Original Boos, a breakfast burrito stuffed with eggs, beans, hash browns and cheese and smothered in the restaurant’s tasty, thick green chili. The Huevos Rancheros hit the spot, and the Egg Sadilla – eggs, cheese and chiles in a tortilla – is simple but satisfying. Eric’s Especial is a gut buster of goodness with fried eggs over hash browns, topped with two pork tamales, green chili, lettuce, tomato and sour cream.
You can also get your basic eggs, bacon, pancakes and omelets, plus particularly yummy French toast. Don’t expect great coffee here – it’s pedestrian, and instead of real cream they offer those individual Coffee Mate packets that make your coffee look greasy. Have a milkshake instead.
The Turntable has all of the classic diner elements: red vinyl booths, checked tablecloths, a long counter with stools, the cash register at the front, and women of a certain age and sass taking orders. It also embraces nostalgia from the heyday of the diner. There’s an overwhelming homage to Elvis and Marilyn, and it’s impossible to miss the glass cabinets scattered throughout the restaurant devoted to everything from Beanie Babies to the Broncos. No inch of wall space is wasted that could include a Betty Boop or a Minturn High cheerleading outfit.
A good percentage of these collectibles can be traced to proprietor Darla Godell, who is a self-described expert of the “hooker machines” – the ones where you use a mechanical claw to grab a prize and drop it in the loot chute. Goodies won in these machines are on display everywhere. And lucky patrons are treated to a tour of Darla’s personal residence, which is three tiny rooms in the attached motel where she has lived for more than 30 years. Any knick- knack that hasn’t found a place in the restaurant has a home at Darla’s, and her Elvis bedroom is an amazing site to see.
While Eagle County’s upper crust may wish to stick to the fancy cuisine of their Bavarian-style village, you’ll find me among the curios enjoying a low-key but tasty breakfast.
Rebecca Risch can be reached at 303-954-1913 or rrisch@denverpost.com.
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The Turntable
Restaurant
Diner|160 Railroad Ave.,
Minturn, 970-827-4164 |$2.95-$8.25|7 a.m 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 7 a.m. 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Accepts Visa and Mastercard.
Front burner: Have a chocolate shake with your breakfast burrito, a perfect combo.
Back burner: Avoid the forgettable Mac & Cheese.
