Phat form: Here’s the skinny on Chubby’s Cafe in Pleasant Grove
A seasonal Crab Apple Salad, spicy Buffalo Wings with Beer Battered French Fries, and the sweet Buffalo Chicken Sandwich is pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove.
Spicy Buffalo Wings with Beer Battered French Fries, a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, a Jalapeno Ranch Deluxe burger and a seasonal Crab Apple Salad at Chubby's Cafe.
The Apple Cranberry Seasonal Salad at Chubby's Cafe.
Spicy Buffalo Wings with Beer Battered French Fries.
A sweet Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a Jalapeno Ranch Deluxe burger are pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday.
Chubby's Cafe is open for business in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Chubby's Cafe is open for business in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Chubby's Cafe is open for business in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Spicy buffalo wings with beer battered fries are pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
A jalape?o ranch burger is pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
A seasonal crab apple seasonal salad is pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Spicy buffalo wings with beer battered fries are pictured at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
If you are a fan of good ol’ classic American dining fare — you know, burgers, sandwiches, wings, salads, etc. — then take our advice and avoid maintaining a wide berth between your stomach and Chubby’s Cafe.
My family and I enjoyed a — dare I say — phat dining experience recently at the brand new Chubby’s location next to Ace Hardware in Pleasant Grove. The relocated Chubby’s has been open for about a month and a half — but you still almost have to know exactly where it is to seek it out, seeing as there is no real signage yet to entice customers in on their own. Even though we had the address, we had trouble pinpointing the restaurant at night, before eventually realizing it was basically an appendage at the south end of the Ace Hardware building.
The extra scouting effort proved well worth it, however, as we discovered what was obviously a popular local hangout on a Saturday night.
Exhibiting a rustic Americana vibe, the restaurant proved surprisingly roomy inside. Despite a constant stream of customers, one never really got the pinched-in feeling you often get in restaurants where tables are a little bit closer to each other than you might prefer.
At Chubby’s, you order at the front counter before finding a table. There was a good-sized line ahead, allowing us some time to check out the plentiful menu, at least when we moved forward to the spot where it was posted on a wall.
With a couple of extremely picky eaters in our ranks, we have learned over the years it’s pretty difficult for our family to find restaurants where everyone can find something to enthusiastically sink their teeth into. Chubby’s, fortunately, proved to be one of the rare few that we all equally enjoyed.
I was initially locked into the Chubby Cheesesteak, which I assumed would be your standard Philly Cheesesteak offering — one of my own personal favorites. However, the woman at the counter rocked my dining world by bringing up the option of considering the Cheesesteak Burger. Basically, you take all the cheesesteak fillings — grilled steak, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pepperjack and Swiss cheese — and instead of placing them on a hoagie, you put them over a 1/3-pound patty in a hamburger bun. Yowza! This description was more temptation that I could resist.
The result was, not surprisingly, fantastic. Another delight was the addition of horseradish mayo. I’m not usually a horseradish fan, but it proved a perfect complement in this case, adding a gentle but recognizable kick to the proceedings.
Other burgers we sampled were also thoroughly satisfying — such as the All-American and the Utah, which both feature lettuce, tomato and pickles on a 1/3-pound patty. Turns out that the only difference between the two is that the former features mayo and mustard as condiments and the latter substitutes fry sauce.
The crispy Chicken Club was excellent, combining bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, American cheese and mayo with grilled chicken on a tasty bun. The Chef Salad was a bountiful bowl mix with lettuce, tomato, onion, egg, roast beef, ham, turkey and American cheese.
One of our other favorites was the Buffalo Wings. Now we certainly appreciate having plenty of flavor options when it comes to wings. But there’s also something to be said for pure simplicity, which is the route taken by Chubby’s — where you can opt for sweet or spicy, and your dipping sauces are blue cheese and ranch. We were big fans of the sweet wings and blue cheese dip combination.
Our young boys really dug the Chicken Nuggets on the kids menu — and I did, too!
The main entrees come with a side, which are divided into two categories: $2 and $3 sides. The $2 side comes with the meal, but can you can upgrade to a $3 side for just 50 cents more. The regular fries were good, but the Beer Battered French Fries were extremely good. They were so sweet, in fact, that I momentarily wondered if we’d received sweet potato fries by mistake. We also had a side order of scones and honey butter — which proved to be a great choice.
It should also be pointed out that there is a Not So Chubby slate on the menu for those with an interest in lighter fare, mainly salads and other sandwiches.
The main disappointment on this night was finding out that Chubby’s still didn’t have shakes available — but we were told that they were hoping that would change as early as the new year.
Sampling shakes will offer the perfect excuse for another belt-loosening visit to Chubby’s. Besides, I’d still like to try out the much-recommended Shrimp Po-boy sandwich.
CHUBBY’S CAFE
Where: 336 S. Main St., Pleasant Grove
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday
Prices: $4.89-$7.99
Info: (801) 785-1503, chubbyscafeut.com