Homey Hilltop

Top notch food at comfortable restaurant

Stacee Sledge

May 29, 2003 — Set on the Guide between Bellingham and Lynden, the Hilltop Restaurant reminds me of countless small-town diners from childhood weekends at my grandparents' house in a sleepy rural area of the Midwest.

A dozen slightly worn booths line the front room and encircle a counter framed by low stools. Country-music radio plays at a comfortable level, while traffic whizzes by on the busy stretch of two-lane road just outside the front door.

A recent Monday night found me arriving just after 5 p.m. with a plan to meet my husband and our friend Kris, who were driving over together straight from work.

I was greeted with a friendly hello from the lone server as I entered the deserted diner. She brought me a glass of water immediately, and I let her know I was waiting for a couple more people.

Slowly a crowd trickled in until the front room was nearly full (a small dining room in the back of the restaurant holds another five tables).

A young couple with a toddler in tow entered first.

Hilltop Restaurant

Location:  5645 Guide Meridian, Laurel Phone: 398-2462 Hours: 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sunday through Thursday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday Serving: Simple yet scrumptious American-style food. Menu items sampled:  Pork loin $8.95  Chicken-fried steak $7.95  French dip $5.95  Apple pie $2.50  Peach pie $2.50  Cookie 50 cents

"Where do you want to sit?" one husband asked his wife. "Same place?" she said with a laugh.

Over the course of my waiting for dining cohorts, a group of elderly diners, a single mom with her son, a couple of teenagers and several couples and families came into the cafe.

My husband and Kris arrived after a short wait, both hungry and anxious to look over the menu. Kris, in particular, is a fan of so-called truck stop food, so she had been looking forward to our Hilltop experience.

She sat down and immediately declared that the homey space reminded her of her aunt's kitchen. Without missing a beat, my husband wondered why her aunt had so many tables and booths in her kitchen.

The Hilltop menu is chock full of comfort food. Don't think you'll walk away with a guilt-free experience at this unassuming eatery. But as my co-worker Neal says, everything in moderation is a safe way to go.

We all agreed that everything on the menu looked appealing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all offer the simple yet scrumptious American-style food you'd expect.

One of the dinner specials was "Mom's meatloaf," which sounded tempting, but my husband settled on the pork loin with mushroom gravy dinner teamed with salad, choice of mashed or baked potato, garlic toast or roll and cooked veggies.

Kris thought it was time to try chicken fried steak for the first time, not sure what to expect until I explained the logistics: Beef cutlet is prepared like fried chicken with peppered breading and topped with country gravy.

I almost ordered a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, after seeing one delivered to the table next to me, but at the last minute I went with a French dip.

Our lone server and the solo cook behind the sizzling grill handled the busy dining room ably, and it didn't take long for our dishes to arrive.

My husband and Kris' starter salads were straightforward iceberg lettuce creations in glass bowls topped with carrot, cabbage slices, tomato wedges and croutons.

My French dip was top notch, thick slices of lean roast beef piled high, topped with melted Swiss cheese and nestled between a soft, crusty French roll. The accompanying au jus was just right — not at all too salty as is often the case with this traditional sandwich.

With a choice of soup, salad, potato salad or French fries with my sandwich, I went with the potato salad. An enormous mound of the American favorite was served atop a decorative leaf of lettuce, sprinkled lightly with paprika.

Kris asked for her chicken fried steak to be served with the gravy on the side, but this must go against some long-held diner edict, as her plate arrived with an inch of gravy standing proud on the 5-ounce cutlet. Kris found this size to be more than filling paired with all the fixings, but a full half-pound chicken fried steak can also be had for only a couple dollars more.

Her first words after trying a bite summed it up: "Hello, chicken fried steak. Where have you been all my life?"

She had chosen a baked potato for her side and proclaimed it perfectly prepared. By the end of the meal, all that was left was a hollowed out husk of crunchy potato skin.

My husband's plate held a mountain of food, as three sizable pieces of pork loin and mashed potatoes were covered in mushroom gravy. One bite and he was sold.

Both dinners came with cooked vegetables, circles of carrot, onion and green pepper strips, and broccoli. They had been prepared nicely — not mushy at all, but also clearly following the diner dictum of being prepared with lots of butter.

Unfortunately, dessert wasn't a delight at the Hilltop. I had a double chocolate chip cookie that was fine, if tiny (then again, so was the price: only 50 cents).

My husband's apple pie was okay, but Kris's peach pie was less palatable; heavy syrup from obviously canned peaches smooshed out of a crust that Kris found completely unappealing. Both had been microwaved, but were served with varying spots of hot and cold filling.

Any Hilltop menu item can be ordered to go. Several people stop in during the hour we were there and left piled under bags of tasty take-out.

Big changes are afoot for this humble cafe. A detailed floor plan and digital renderings for a new restaurant are on display in the hallway between the front and back dining rooms.

The new place, slated to be constructed next door to the existing restaurant sometime this fall, will be several times the size of the current space. I'm looking forward to the grand opening.