Peppermints Family Restaurant

Last weekend was the final one of the season for the completely awesome Vintage Drive In, which has become one of my family's favorite summer places.  A) you get to watch movies outside--which makes even a dull movie more enjoyable (e.g., Cars II) and makes a fab movie super fantastic (e.g., Super 8); 2) it's always a double feature; 3) it's super cheap; and D) the food--which includes fried dough!--is good, also super cheap, and served by punk rock throwback hipsters.  Plus, this past weekend (Dolphin Tale and Contagion), everyone got massive free hot cocoas!!  So, next summer, GO.

Anyway, we decided to eat "real food" before heading over to the VDI and--given the purpose of this blog--wanted to try somewhere new in Avon.  Voila, Peppermints!  As its website suggests, Peppermints is, itself, a throwback diner-style family place--no ironic kitsch in sight--and we loved it.

First, it was completely done up for Halloween:  a life-size mummy hanging in one corner, a ghoul by the front door, orange and black garland all over.  My children were quite impressed and complimented them on the decor, and the Peppermints staff were so earnestly pleased.

Second, it has a perfect diner-style menu: breakfast all day, lots of "melts" and "clubs" and gravy-drenched open face sandwiches, and hearty-ness all around.  My son immediately ordered the chocolate chip pancake (so much for some substance to balance the sugar to come); my daughter ordered fettucini alfredo with chicken; my husband ordered a buffalo chicken wrap with sweet potato fries; and after switching between sandwiches multiple times, I settled on a turkey club with traditional fries.

The pancake came shaped like a non-trademark infringing Mickey Mouse and disappeared very quickly.  I thought my husband would get a fork in the hand for attempting to try a small bite.  Big, real chocolate chips dotted the pancake in all their melty glory.

My daughter's fettucini alfredo sauce was shimmering with olive oil and garlic goodness; it really was remarkably well-seasoned and yummy ... and the portion was huge!  Half of it made it home for her breakfast the next morning. (Seriously, she is completely ready for college at age 9: any food leftover from the previous night qualifies as daybreak sustenance.)

The Buffalo wrap balanced the addictive heat with creamy blue cheese in a soft, generous wrap.  It came with a side of pickles (I'll take those, thank you) and the sweet potato fries.  This is something I do not get at all:  sweet potatoes.  Yet, both my husband and son pronounced them perfect.  I'll take their word for it.

My club was traditional:  white toast, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, swiss.  I eat my club's dry--no mayo--and the turkey on this one was moist enough to allow that.  It was cut into the cute little triangles with frizzy-topped toothpicks that make clubs so much fun.  What set this apart, though, was the fries.  I'm going out on a limb here and say that Peppermints' fries were among the best I've ever had:  light, super crisp, golden brown and hot with just the right amount of salt.  Fry nirvana!!

We ended the meal with a slice of banana cream pie and another of chocolate cream.  These were nothing to write home about.

I can't remember what this all cost, but it was not much at all.  If you're in Avon, drive past the Tom Wahl's this once and hit Peppermints.