LET'S EAT By Carolyn Augustine Drive toward Mount Rainier on State Route 7 until you come to Elbe and suddenly you will imagine you have taken a wrong turn into a railroad yard. You've arrived at the Mount Rainier Railroad Dining Company. Brightly colored cabooses, old-fashioned dining cars, and steam engines sit on rails alongside the highway, welcoming travelers to have a meal or a cold drink. The cabooses are motel rooms, the dining car is the restaurant, another car is a bar, and there is a beer garden in an outdoor area. Plenty of parking is available. Sitting in the dining car with tables and chairs, a little bit of elbow room and nice service made us feel as if we were on a cross-country trip. The menu has meats, seafood dishes, pasta, chicken, and breakfast items such as waffles and pancakes. Meals range from $10 for burgers to $25 for surf and turf. Barbecue was a featured item, so we ordered the Smoked BBQ Chicken ($18.99) and Smoked BBQ Beef Ribs ($19.99). The side dishes were corn on the cob, barbecue beans, steamed vegetables, and a fresh biscuit. On the rib order, we substituted potato salad for the vegetables. We found the fragrant smoking gave the tender meats a great base for the really excellent barbecue sauce which was sweet and tangy, with whole garlic cloves in the thick coating. The potato salad which was delicious. It was tart and had hand-cut potatoes, celery, onions and mild seasonings. We stuck to water to drink, and it was welcome with the tangy meals. Food was excellent, as well as the service, and the train theme is lots of fun.
Carolyn Augustine is a freelance restaurant writer.
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