Rambo’s Kitchen
Six Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
Monte Cristo – Raspberry White Chocolate Brioche, Battered and Fried, Ham, Turkey, Swiss
Biscuit with Honey
Brownie
Billed as a “1960’s Diner” but far kitschier than that simple designation in both concept and execution, Rambo’s Kitchen is a place I’d been meaning to visit for a while but given its location one that required an added impetus, something found in a Saturday errand after a much earlier meal on the strip with friends. Open at 8am and myself the first to arrive just as the doors were unlocked it was to a bright room of psychedelic colors and paraphernalia that I was welcomed by a young woman named Misty and invited to sit anywhere I opted for a two-top with mismatched chairs at the room’s center – the open kitchen to my left, a window to my right, Jimi Hendrix IN the table plus a deck of ‘Go-Fish’ and an enormous menu on it – the latter quickly navigated to the tune of an appetizer and a main plus a side with each scratch-made item prepped to order as I sat listening to The Beatles. Monkeys, and Dylan. Beginning first with a half-dozen hot donuts dredged in cinnamon sugar for a mere two dollars as I watched the staff of one seat and serve four more tables (whilst also brewing two pots of coffee) it was after perhaps twenty-five minutes that the object prompting my visit arrived and as if to say “good things come to those who wait” the golden crisp Monte Cristo was a beauty; light cocoa tones and house-made strawberry preserves taking thinly sliced ham, turkey, and particularly sharp Swiss to a whole new level with each crunchy/creamy bite. Setting aside a thin and boring biscuit improved somewhat by honey, my request with the sandwich in place of four styles of potatoes, and moving right on to dessert it was admittedly a great showing of restraint that prevented me from ordering the “PB+B for two” but with lemon cake and “awesome” brownies as the alternatives my choice became simple – the nearly 1/3 pound chocolate-on-chocolate wedge so moist it seemed only semi-solid and so rich that even half the $3 serving would suffice many brownie lovers…so long as the other half is enjoyed with an iced double espresso a few hours later.
