While taking care of some business in Lake Hughes, it would have been easy to grab lunch at any of…read morethe 8 or 10 famous chains on either side of the freeway exit; but it was way more fun to slip into The Rock Inn and slip back to a time of home cooking and super friendly service that instantly makes you feel like family. The stone facade of this nearly 100-year old tavern implies major staying power, and the dark wood, very old-style interior design backs that up in spades. This place has seen many days and nights, and the staff seems to have seen every customer many times before. My server, Terry, immediately pegged me as a newbie, greeting me with a big hello and making suggestions about the food.
They've got most of the usual roadside tavern options on the menu (burgers and club sandwiches, eggs and omelets, etc.), but the top draw here is the Tri-Tip and Pork Shoulder, both of which are smoked on site, and served as BBQ plates or 2 sizes of sandwiches. I ordered the small Tri-Tip Sandwich, paired with fries (though they have several other side options you can upgrade to). The meat is thinly shaved, moist and tender despite not being pink. It's glazed with teriyaki sauce and resembles the kind of roast beef sandwich you'd get in Buffalo, NY (beef on weck) or at a place like Brennan & Carr in Brooklyn. They also put mayo on the bun, and I could have lived without that (it's not necessary, as the meat is very flavorful, and the smoky accents do stand out nicely).
Fries were standard issue, but very properly cooked and salted, arriving hot and crispy. They were great when dipped into the house-made BBQ sauce or the house-made Ranch, both of which came on the side. Over all, the sandwich and fries were a very generous portion, and the larger size (served to someone else nearby) was quite hefty for just $3 more.
Now, I didn't see any desserts on display, but I had a feeling this was the kind of place where there might be some homemade sweetness, and I was right -- they had 4 house-baked pies available: Apple, Peach, Cherry, and a mixed berry pie called Fruits Of The Forest, which is what I chose. I could detect cherries, blackberries and rhubarb, but there may have been others in this sweet & sour filling that worked perfectly with the scratch-made crust that was buttery and savory and pretty much a perfect bite from the past.
There's also a full bar with a nice selection of liquors and beers. If I didn't have to drive off the mountain and home on I-5, I would have happily spent the afternoon knocking back a few and chatting with the locals, who I'm sure gather here most days after work. This is a fun, fun place, and if you're traveling up the 5, it's worth a detour up the hill to grab some tri-tip and support good people serving the kind of good, scratch cooking you rarely find in a fast food world.
