My Dad would have loved Del Rancho, and I’m sure if he ever spent enough time in Oklahoma City to need a meal, that he ate there. Dear old Dad had a homing beacon for greasy dinners and most of my fondest memories of Dad are of my brother, me, and Dad sitting in a small booth with a tiny jukebox. It’s worth noting Dad died of multiple system failures at the ripe old age of 62.
Anyway.
Del Rancho is famous for it’s Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich. For those of you North of the Mason Dixie Line, a chicken fried steak is a cheap cut of meat-usually a round steak-pounded with a mallet, then breaded and deep fried like chicken. It’s a wonderous bit of business.
The Del Rancho chicken fried steak sandwich is served on a regular sized hamburger bun, with the not so regular sized chicken fried steak sticking out about an inch and half to two inches all around it. There is lettuce, tomato, and mayo, once you get past a few bites to reach the bun. Hmm, that was a good sandwich.
The Wife had a fairly large portion fish sandwich and we shared a basket of fries. Everything was good.
The dinner itself was like walking through a time warp. There were no coin operated jukeboxes, but it was clearly the kind of place Dad favored. Slightly run down, lots of regulars, slightly grumpy waitresses, and the feeling that it has been here since the dawn of time. You could always tell when someone had ordered the Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich as there would be a brief bit of pounding as the streak was beaten into submission. Del Rancho has character as well as amazing chicken fired steak sandwiches.
The Del Rancho I visited is at 16 SW 59th St, Oklahoma City, OK. It’s also an old style drive in, though we opted for the dinner part as it was a bit warm outside the day we ate there. There doesn’t seem to be a website for Del Rancho, but then, that would fit in with the whole living in the 1950s feel of the place.
The Steak Sandwich Supreme-often immitated but never duplicated, according to the Menu-was big enough for me to make two meals out it. Del Rancho is the kind of place Man vs Food’s Adam Richman would like. Of course, he would eat the whole sandwich in one sitting.
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