Inside the Black Bear Diner, continues the small town motif with a menu disguised as a retro small-town newspaper and a juke box. Even when I was 7, I learned you cannot underrate the importance of clean bathrooms when you are driving cross-country. They’d have little souvenir shops and something just outside the doors not unlike the three wooden bears to lure people in for a bite. Yeah, we mostly hit McD’s but the diners were more fun. We would stop at these little restaurants on the freeway just outside of small towns with names like Buttonwillow. Walking in there are 3 wooden bears welcoming you and a bench with paw prints reminding me of the road trip our family took driving from California to Massachusetts. I enjoyed the vintage feel of Black Bear Diner.
The pot pie was a little pricey: $11.99 but delicious. The crust is good, the chicken is in big chunks and tender, and the rest is flavorful. Luckily I have found my chicken pot pie place here. Should’ve called it chicken stew cobbler - I mean really - the innards with a few crumbles of pastry floating on top? That is not a chicken pot pie. For some reason, for awhile, deconstructed pot pies were in fashion. I love pot pies but for the longest time couldn’t find a restaurant that had one I liked.
I actually sought out Black Bear Diner for the murals which I’ve been getting into photographing but decided to pop in for the food which I’m glad I did.