Fatty's Cafe

Totally off the beaten path is a place we are sure you'll return to whenever you need to get away. Fatty's is the cheapest getaway in the city, great food, cocktails, atmosphere...

Fatty's Cafe was recommended by a friend and my guess is that if it weren't for that, I'd never have even set foot in this restaurant that now is on my list of "places to become a regular."

When we walked in the door, my first impression was good, I noticed an interesting mix of people, including families, some couples and small groups and people at the bar, a good crowd for a Sunday night too. The little place was almost full. My next thought was that everything on the menu would be vegetarian, it just gave me this sort of hippie vibe. That would be good for a diet at least.

The problem with a diet is that you have to eat healthy food, and on a lot of menus that limits you to the salad. And a lot of the time making a unique salad is a challenge, so it just seems like a waste to order the salad when there's so many other truly unique things to try on the menu. Such is as it was at Fatty's.

My impression was way off - there were definitely meat items on the menu, and it all looked very good. We ended up ordering several appetizers or "goodies" rather than main courses. here's how they ranked:

First, The Grilled Cheese of the day was, if I remember correctly, a sandwich with zucchini, mushroom and red pepper. I may not have the ingredients exactly right, but I know that it was delicious. And cheap.

Second, The Black Bean Bowl (not on the linked menu) was a hot bean dip with what I believe were house made chips. It was covered with sour cream and scallions. Amazing. We practically scraped the huge bowl of dip clean.

Third, Empanadas. We had one cheese and one beef. They were good but nothing amazing, to me.

Fourth, Fatty's Calamari was unique, almost a tempura style with a puffier fried breading. It didn't stay very crispy but was otherwise tasty. It came with an alioli dip which we enjoyed.

I'm interested in trying the burrito, and perhaps their build-your-own salad...and the burgers look great, as do the sides. I'll definitely be bringing others in on this little secret down the street from my apartment. Am I getting repetitive saying I'll be back? I guess I'm going to have to try more than one restaurant a week. I will have to remember to bring cash, as we found out, almost too late, that they don't take credit cards.

Finally, I found out who Fatty is - but I'm not telling.