Review: Southwest Diner in St. Louis

They serve Southwestern cuisine at Southwest Diner on Southwest Avenue. The wordplay, like the diner itself, is cute. When you walk into Southwest Diner, you know you’re going to have fun because that’s what everyone is having. The interior of this breakfast and lunch spot is a riot of bright colors, and the house stereo might be pumping anything from Gene Autry to Michael Jackson. This is not a good place to brood. The servers are part of the fun, too. They are (usually) efficient, relaxed and smiling. On weekends, locals are lined up out the door, but the daunting procession generally moves briskly.

BREAKFAST FOR LUNCH

Breakfast dishes, also available at lunchtime, might be the eatery’s greatest strength. Buttermilk-cornmeal pancakes with buttery-brown edges are delicious. Ask for real maple syrup on the side for an extra buck; it’s worth it. The biscuits and gravy plate is one of the best around town; the biscuits aren’t light and airy, but dense and substantial, oven-browned and engulfed by a gravy that is chunky with bits of house-made sausage flecked with both red and cracked black pepper. Jonathan’s Famous Fiery Scramble, cheesy scrambled eggs with sambal oelek hot sauce and your choice of breakfast meat, is another standout. (Order it with house-made chorizo.) Sopaipillas, aka New Mexican hollow “doughnuts,” are fried, yeasty, square pillows served with honey on the side. Eating these warm, tender delights makes for a wonderfully sticky mess. Breakfast potatoes were crisp and brown, but the tomato jam, available a la carte, was saccharine-sweet, with the sugar masking the flavor of the tomatoes.

THE SAUCES THAT SHOULD NOT BE

At the heart of New Mexican cuisine are two sauces – red and green chile sauces, used in virtually every dish in that region (and when ordered together, known as “Christmas”). Repeated trips to Southwest Diner left this diner unable to grasp what the kitchen is trying to do here. The green sauce is mild – as green chile sauce often is – but here, it is so weak as to be negligible. The red is hotter, but, similarly, lacks any recognizable flavor profile. These sauces are wet, and that’s about it. It’s just puzzling.

STRAIGHT OUTTA ALBUQUERQUE

The New Mexican and Tex-Mex menu items include carne adovada (not to be confused with the Avada Kedavra killing curse from Harry Potter), which is pork shoulder braised for five hours in red chile sauce and seasonings. The resulting pulled pork has a mighty heat with a subtle spicing of coriander and cumin just beneath. Carne adovada can be added to various menu items such as the red chile enchiladas platter. To add a nice yolky texture to the dish, top it with a fried egg. Posole, chile-cheese fries, huevos rancheros, a burger, an iceberg wedge salad with fried blue cheese, tostadas and tacos on sopapillas are on the menu, too. Be sure to check out weekend specials, such as crowd favorite Grits on Fire, meaning cheesy grits and carne adovada.

SANDWICHES, EVEN

The Companion marble rye holding the Reuben together was tasty with grill-butter. The corned beef inside, though, was super-lean, without any visible marbling, which was a bit disappointing. The side of fries was done to an excellent crisp.

 

PRICES ARE LOW, LOW, LOW

Part of Southwest Diner’s allure is how far a dollar goes. Great mounds of food come at reasonable prices, like a $5 burrito that’s a massive, two-meal (or two-person) affair. Nothing on the menu costs more than 11 bucks, and with a frequent diner card, every 11th entree is free.
 

THE TAKEAWAY

Southwest Diner’s owners Jonathan Jones and Anna Sidel parlayed a successful booth at the Tower Grove Farmers Market into a brick-and-mortar restaurant, which is no small achievement. For its next trick, the diner – which is the only true New Mexican restaurant in the area and, thus, the standard bearer – might consider delving into the more subtle shadings of spicing technique. It can only enhance the restaurant’s already considerable charm.