Everybody should have a little Uncle Jimmy

How long has this desolate little trailer been sitting there on the corner next to The Fun Shoppe? Too long.

So when I rolled into town and saw smoke billowing from behind it, I worried for a milisecond that after years of deserted neglect it had caught fire and was going down in a blaze of glory.

What a relief to realize that no, I didn't need to call our overworked Mammoth Fire Department. Instead, this tiny wasted space had been taken over by some awesome dudes creating the best kind of smoke.

We don't eat out much. With 4 kids on crazy schedules, who tend to be crazy in restaurants, we usually just pick up food and head to Sonenalp where we can sit by the fire, make a drink, relax and watch the crazy play out in the privacy of our own home. So Uncle Jimmy's is my kind of place and I couldn't wait to give it a try.

The next day, between 5 trips to DIY for parts to install new kitchen appliances (that's a different story), we stopped in for a quick bite on my way to drop the Fisherboy for some last-of-the-season Hot Creek fly fishing.

The Fisherboy went for the pig-n-chips and I had the Jimmy's Philly. We opted to have them 'heart attack style" which just means pepperoncini and aoili added-- good call.

The meat was smoked to perfection. My food came with cole slaw and beans, which I didn't even eat because the sandwich was so huge. (In fact, I only ate half the sandwich, too!) The other side option is PotatoMac salad, which for me (as a carb-avoider) isn't a great choice, but is a specialty of the house. Fisherboy's Pig Chips were the winner of the day, stacked high and broiled to add browned flavor and even more crunch than you might expect.

I've heard some locals complain about the prices of the food at Jimmy's. But my experience is that their prices are pretty much spot-on. Anywhere you go in Mammoth, you're going to pay these same prices-- and often for poor quality food and a seating wait of 30 minutes -an hour.

At Jimmy's, they made our food fresh, to order, and still we were in and out of there in 7 minutes. They do offer family-style meals and sides by the 1/2 quart or quart, which is probably the way to go with a group of crazy like mine.

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