Las Vegas Weekly

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In more than a decade living in the Valley, I’d never felt the urge to eat in Boulder City—until the incessant urging of a Jersey transplant (a friend we refer to as Boulder City Barbie) finally got me to trek out on the 95 … and discover stockpiles of diner fare well worth devouring.

Southwest Diner is the first spot you’ll come across along the drive, and while it’s mired in ongoing Nevada Highway construction (and its exterior is overwhelmingly kitschy), you shouldn’t pass it by. The garish memorabilia motif continues inside, but the food should help you forget about that.

Specifically, I suggest checking out some of Southwest’s more unique menu items, like the Santa Fe potato pancakes. Your mother’s latkes these are not. More crab cake in composition—and eerily green due to the infusion of a jalapeño/cilantro/green pepper combination—the pancakes have just the right amount of kick. Even better: the housemade cinnamon-charged applesauce served alongside.

Photo: Beverly Poppe

Another interesting option is the vegetarian Mick sandwich. No telling who Mick might be, but I’m glad he (or she) came in after a night in the bars for two eggs, avocado, Monterey Jack and mayo layered on wheat toast. If you happen to wake up in a Boulder City ditch, you know where to get your breakfast.

Not to be outdone, Mel’s Diner—less than half a mile down Nevada Highway—has a fine hangover cure of its own: the Haystack. How do biscuits, hash browns, eggs and sausage smothered in gravy sound as a remedy?

Mel’s is a prototypical diner with counter seating and checkerboard tablecloths; its wood paneling reminds me of my mother’s dining room. Mel’s serves all the standard diner fare and is a good option even when the nearby Coffee Cup isn’t overflowing.

Highlighted in a 2007 episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the Coffee Cup seems to get the lion’s share of Boulder City’s diner traffic. The room and exterior are adorned with nautical flotsam, and not the pirate kind—we’re talking surfboards and water skis.

As for food, all you really need to know is that this joint serves peanut butter and bacon waffles. Coffee Cup’s menu asks you to “add some flavor” to its basic waffle, so I felt obliged to do so, in the form of, I’ll write it again, peanut butter and bacon. And if waffles aren’t your thing, stop in for the pork chile verde Fieri liked so much or the robust sausage gravy.

Truthfully, any of Boulder City’s three diners would be a hit in Las Vegas, though they feel more at home in their anachronistic setting. Test ’em out for yourself, and remember, Barbie showed you the way.