Known to locals as Mutton Curve, the Lechee Community Market is a small Navajo flea market located…read morein a dirt lot on the left driving down from Page. It's basically right where the Navajo Nation borders are on Indian Route 20. Google says there are food trucks, carts, and other vendors there most days, but social media says they're only open on Saturdays. We happened to be in town on Saturday morning and visited then.
On this trip, there were five or six vendors available, some still setting up as we drove in. All were selling food, with one truck having barbecue, one with Navajo drinks, and all others with traditional Navajo cuisine, like Blue Corn Mush, Navajo Burgers, Tacos, Sandwiches, etc.
This time we decided to do what most locals seem to do at flea markets - we drove between each vendor instead of walking. We decided to stop at the one with the most interesting menu to get a couple of items to eat for brunch and while hiking later in the day.
Pork Steak Sandwich ($12) - The sandwich comes on either frybread or tortilla, of which we went with the latter. The tortilla is really nice. It's thick, chewy and dense, perfectly charred. The sandwich is really interesting. I'm no expert on Navajo food (although I'm trying to learn more!), but this sandwich is totally different from others I've had in the Navajo Nation. Instead of being a sandwich that can be eaten like a sandwich, this one is basically a tortilla surrounding a mish mash of ingredients. There's an entire sprig of raw green onion, a quarter of a cooked carrot, another quarter of a potato, a raw half of a green chile, and some corn on the cob. Yes, corn on the cob! I'm honestly not sure how to eat it all! Of course, there is also the half tortilla sized piece of grilled pork. It's bone-in and tender, albeit not seasoned or salted at all. That's why they give out packets of salt to sprinkle on to taste.
Mutton w/ Dumpling Stew ($13) - Wow, this is a really rich stew. The base is essentially a mutton broth from boiling sheep bones and fat for hours upon hours. It's so fatty and unctuous, it coats the entire mouth with a thick film of grease. In addition to the glistening droplets of fat, they actually add in a ton of fat chunks strewn throughout. It makes the stew exceptionally buttery and gamey. Otherwise, the dish is pretty simple, with tender pieces of mutton and simple flour dumplings, cooked until extremely soft and tender. It's only salted a bit (or perhaps not at all!) but it's really rich and hearty. The stew comes of course with a choice of frybread or tortilla, of which we went with the former. The frybread is really nice, it's fried but not much of it is crispy. Instead, it's chewy throughout like fried dough. Unlike the previous two frybreads we had on this trip, there isn't a pool of oil, so it's definitely drained well.
Mutton Curve is a fun place to visit! It's not as large as some other flea markets in the Navajo Nation, but it's probably the most convenient to reach, being only a couple minutes away from downtown Page. As a bonus, the landscape views from the lot are quite spectacular.
