Hold On to Your Home Fries: The Heart of the West Beats at Tommy’s Cafe

We’re talking - Sass & Tabasco. Do you remember the sitcom days of Alice, who made us laugh at the foibles of life at Mel’s Diner? Well the real-life version of Flo is alive and well at Tommy’s Cafe. And I need to quote Darin C., from his review on Yelp who said it before I did: “Tommy's is your typical diner, right out of a road trip movie... And a waitress with a nice smile, who will remember your name next time you're in, as long as your name is honey.”

Indeed—this is an Old School diner dive—where you go for a hit of home fries, waffles and flap jacks. You’ll hear the word ‘honey’ tossed around by a seasoned waitress, and it’s not in reference to your tea.

We’ve driven by Tommy’s many a time while on the way to shop for home-improvement supplies at McLendon’s and have always seen a packed parking lot. In fact, when our brother-in-law visited from NYC, he visited Tommy’s before us. Tommy’s opens at 6 a.m., Perfect for a jet-lagged visitor.

Tommy’s feels like a slice of Renton, with tables full of multi-cultural families and young hipsters abating a Sunday morning hangover. Not fancy, not a chain. Tommy’s decor is out of date, a little dusty, a little like eating at your grandparent’s house. And looking forward to a day of gardening in the sun, we woke up hungry for a hearty breakfast. 

We got it.

While I grew up in New York state, my family hailed from the Mid West, and so chicken fried steak became an indulgence I anticipated on all my trips through the corn belt. Even during times of vegetarianism, I remained tempted by the taste of a pounded cube steak, ‘chicken-fried’ in a crispy batter that’s flecked with salt and pepper, then topped with velvety old-fashioned flour & milk gravy. 

Chicken fried steak apparently descends from Wiener Schnitzel, which German and Austrian immigrants brought to Texas in the 19th century. It is the state meal of Oklahoma. Apparently, east of the Red River it is often known as “country-fried steak.”

According to foodie lore, country fried steak is made without an egg wash, but according to the cook at Tommy’s I interviewed, they do use eggs to coat their steak before breading. A delicious diner classic, foodie semantics aside. The name on the menu most likely was inspired by their down-home-country feel. 

The thing that makes Tommy’s Country Fried Steak ($9.75) unique is the inclusion of slices of pork breakfast sausage in their thick gravy, which carpets the steak’s salt and pepper battered crust. And as for home fries? My husband couldn’t resist polishing off mine, stabbing with a fork from across the table. Crispy potato cubes with onions and green peppers—this diner staple passed the test with flying colors and a dash of Tabasco. 

The CFS comes with two eggs, prepared as you like, two slices of toast of your choosing, home fries or hash browns. I ate half and brought the other half home—these are country-sized portions. My one real grievance was the artificial butter flavor in the scrambled eggs, but they were fluffy and plentiful (No one wants their eggs to taste like movie popcorn).

My husband went with The Margaret ($7.50) which is a hearty platter of two biscuits topped with country gravy (same as on my country-fried steak), three pieces of sausage or bacon, hash browns or home fries. The hash browns were just as they should be, crisp and browned on the outside, tender on the inside. Coffee is diner-quality, but service is cheerful and quick. 

The lamps may be a little dusty, the booths may be a little worse for the wear, but this local favorite is a family owned and operated time capsule. I doubt I would go back for dinner as I’m not a pot roast kind of gal, but the piled high and tooth-picked sandwiches I saw on the way out the door looked darn good. 


Tommy's Cafe
74 Rainier Ave S.
Renton, WA 98055
(425) 227-9910 ‎ 
Open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day!