Twilight Zone Cafe

On Thursday, July 28, 2010 I had breakfast at the Twilight Zone Cafe, 815 South Loudoun Street, in Winchester. I remember visiting this place years ago, when it was the Mel-Max Restaurant, but had no recollection about it except that it was a small place.

The Twilight Zone has been there about two years, according to an article in The Winchester Star on Wednesday. The owner enlarged it with an addition on the left side where there had been a driveway. I found an old reference on the Internet that it had once been called Burton's Cafe, but don't know if that was before or after the Mel-Max.

It's still not a large place. There are a couple of tables on the right side up against the wall, and an L-shaped bar with stools further back. Several booths are along the left wall, and that's it. A large wide-screen TV is on the rear wall, and a smaller one is in the right front corner. The bar has a video game at one end, and a console game is in the room's front left.

I ordered my usual restaurant breakfast: two eggs, sunny side up; bacon, rye toast, and hold the potatoes. The eggs were OK, but fried just a little harder than I'm used to. The bacon was meatier than the kind I use at home. Several of the patrons appeared to be regulars.

One regular was a Winchester city police officer. An imprint on the cash register receipt read, Thank You from the Zone, an Unusual Place with Unusual Food/Drink for Unusual People. The price was only $3.99 before tax.

My evaluation was that I'll keep the Zone on my list for having breakfasts out; it's definitely closer than Papermill Place, and a little closer than the Amherst Diner. It's farther than Shoney's, which does have the disadvantage of a longer wait because it's at an I-81 Interchange and has lots of tourist patrons.