I remember when Yummy’s first opened up on the square – the town was transformed. “Yummy’s Cakes” were the thing to have at an event, and their eclairs were as ubiquitous as they were good. They had dropped off the radar, as far as I could tell, when they left their original location and moved down to their new location across the street from Wal-Mart.

I didn’t even know they served “normal food” until my mother suggested we go there for lunch today. The surprises kept coming, until halfway through my meal I realized I had to write a review.

There are two things about this place that loom in my mind – 1. The Location, and 2. The Food.

1. Location.

My first impression, upon walking into the establishment, was an overwhelming feeling of “being on the road.” That is, the place reminded me of so many roadside diners I’d been to in my travels that some part of my body started feeling weary and thankful for the rest… even though it was only a five minute drive to get there.

Maybe it’s the  location, being on the highway next to Iowa Tire and such, or maybe it’s the decorations (pictures of their wedding cakes), or maybe it’s the wooden living room sets that serve as tables and chairs… it’s hard to say.

Or maybe it’s the antique aprons on the ceiling.

I'm not sure if I like 'em, but props for effort.

2. Food.

As nice as it is, you can’t eat the chairs… so we had to see how the food stacked up. Obviously I expected a lot from a place that bases its business in serving delicious foodstuff, and I’m glad to say it did not disappoint.

For feeling like a typical roadside diner, this place is in Fairfield, so instead of things like “grilled cheese with Kraft singles and Wonderbread” you get “Build Your Own Sandwich” with options like grilled panini, pepperjack and “black olive sun-dried tomato spread.” That was a bit too much for my first time out, so I got a turkey on wheat with onions, tomatoes, sun-dried peppers, cucumbers, provolone and regular ol’ mayo.

It took a while for our food to come, not an unreasonable amount of time unless you’re starving – but then if you’re starving no place will serve fast enough. Following in the bakery/cake store motif, our food was served in large metal pie tins.

My idea of loading up my sandwich took a turn for the interesting – when I got it, I realized that it was simply too big to bite into. Not really a problem so much as a good thing that requires a bit of strategy, and I did eat the whole thing.

sandwich - epic class

The one thing I really have to tell you – the one thing I have to let the world know about – is the situation with my strawberry lemonade. IT HAD REAL STRAWBERRIES IN IT! Some part of me doubts if that actually happened, but it’s true: A good normal lemonade, made wonderful with the addition of honest-to-goodness real fruit. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used real lemons too. What is the world coming to these days?!

All-in-all, I’m glad this place exists, and it is now on my list of places I can go get a decent meal without much hassle. Too bad it’s not on the square!

If you’d like a more concise review, here you go:

[Ron Khare is a Fairfield native and local author. He blogs over at Growing Freedom]