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Have you ever heard of the small California town of Lockeford, located in eastern San Joaquin County? If you're familiar with the town, it's probably because you're either on your way to Yosemite, or your on your way to purchase some of the best sausage on the planet, at the Lockeford Meat and Sausage Services. If you're in town to purchase sausage, and you're hungry, you're in luck, as just across the street is the fantastic Richplate Restaurant Cafe, which serves the kind of food that I love!
Photo: After you're purchased sausage, all you have to do is to walk across the street and enjoy a delicious meal at Richplate Restaurant Cafe. The restaurant is open from 0500 to 1500, and breakfast is served anytime! If the restaurant looks vaguely familiar, until March of this year, it was Country Cafe - click on the link for our review of Country Cafe - but the cafe has relocated, and it's now Richplate Restaurant Cafe. It is interesting to note that Richplate is owned by the original owner, who sold the business to Country Cafe 15 years ago, and when cafe moved to a new location, purchased the building, refurbished it, and opened it up as Richplate Restaurant Cafe. Quite a history!
Photo: Early Thursday morning, August 07, 2014, I sit at our table and photo the staff in action. The restaurant is divided into two dining rooms, and we are in the main dining room, as the annex is visible at the far right of the photo. The restaurant is quite spacious, flexible, and very comfortable. The window to the kitchen is near the center of the photo, visible behind the counter.
Photo: The menu is GIGANTIC, and features eight pages of delicious choices. There are many breakfast choices, and many Mediterranean and Mexican offerings, which tugged at my palate, but in the end, both Sharlene and I gravitated to the burger section of the menu. This is the "burger page" of the menu. Check out the CHALLENGE highlighted on the menu in yellow. There is NO WAY I would even attempt that "challenge" as my ABC burger kept me full for the rest of the day.
Photo: Our friendly server, Kaitlyn, takes our orders, with a smile. Kaitlyn is an extremely friendly person, and it's obvious that she enjoys her job, and she enjoys providing superior service to customers. Both Sharlene and I had the opportunity to chat with her, and she provided much of the research that helped me publish this article. Thanks! Kaitlyn is in the right job, as, like me, she's a "foodie!" Note the menu board near the center of the photo, advertising today's special as split pea soup. We couldn't resist...
Photo: Both Sharlene and I knew our burgers would keep us going for the rest of the day, and more, but we couldn't resist the urge of a cup of split pea soup. The soup was delicious, but just a tad salty for my taste, as I told Kaitlyn. Maybe it's just me, as I have difficulty with salt.
Photo; Kaitlyn smiles, as she brings our order of burgers to the table.
Photo: Thanks, Kaitlyn, for snapping a photo of Sharlene and I, as we're about to enjoy delicious burgers. I ordered an ABC burger with fries, and Sharlene ordered a Mushroom Swiss, with optional onion rings, rather than fries. Besides the friendly, superior service that Richplate Restaurant Cafe features, you get free soft drink refills, brought to your table, which is a really nice bonus.
Photo: My ABC burger arrived open faced, sans condiments, ready to assemble and enjoy. An ABC burger is a large beef patty, and features avocado, bacon, and many choices of cheese. I chose the Pepperjack variety, which would rate as my favorite cheese. Fries are the de facto standard, but you can order potato salad, cottage cheese, or a garden salad. For a dollar more, you can order sweet potato fries - not my choice, EVER - or onion rings, which was Sharlene's choice to order with her Mushroom Swiss burger. Speaking of condiments, they're served on the side, in squeeze bottles, so you can dress your burger to your liking.
Photo: My burger, assembled and ready to enjoy. I added mustard and mayonnaise as condiments, which I never can resist to enhance any burger. Kaitlyn asked if I'd like to try some of their house salsa - HELL YES! - and I was rewarded with a small cup of delicious, favorable salsa. The photos are worth a thousand words... Richplate Restaurant Cafe serves a quality burger, that is absolutely delicious, and perfect in every respect! George, the owner and chief cook, knows how to cook, and this is a burger that you'll remember. Sharlene said the same thing about her Mushroom Swiss burger. I finished my burger, but managed to eat only half the fries. No worries, as Sharlene only ate half her burger, and half her onion rings, so we gathered everything together, placed it in a box, cheerfully provided by our friendly server, and enjoy the rest of the food later, at home. If I wanted to describe Richplate Restaurant Cafe in one word, I'd use the word "fantastic," as that word describes the food, the atmosphere, the services and the prices. Don't visit Lockeford for just the sausage... Richplate Restaurant Cafe is reason enough to pay a visit to Lockeford. You just can't find a better restaurant, anywhere! Richplate Restaurant Cafe Copyright(c) 2014 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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