La Ultima Mexicatessen

First off, my understanding of some Spanish vocabulary was clarified. I had always understood that la ultima meant "the last" or "ultimate" in the final sense of the word. Apparently no, much as in English, la ultima has come to mean, in common parlance, "the best" or "ultimate" in the unsurpassed sense of the word. Bueno.

On to Okanogan County restaurant review, el segundo.

Street view

La Ultima Mexicatessen is your Tonasket lunch or dinner choice, as long as your need to eat occurs Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Because it is entirely run by one family, they decided that to stay sane they needed to have weekends off. Understandable, and I hope it works out for them.


Located at 11 - West 4th, across from Lee Frank Mercantile (Ace Hardware), and two doors down from Tonasket Pizza and the Food Co-op, it sports both an unpresupposing facade and interior. In fact, the space is fairly plain, but they were playing some pleasant acoustic Mexican folk music while we were there.

We were greeted by the chatty owner, Michael, who wisely left the field of ESL teaching a couple years ago in order to go into the restaurant biz. Actually, I don't know, I think you have to be pretty nuts to go into either line of work, but who am I to talk . . . .?

Michael, the loquacious owner.

The food was good. They serve simple, good, reasonably-priced Mexican fare featuring daily specials after 2:00 every day. Check out the menu board in the photo.

Super pork torta

I had a super pork torta: kind of like a Mexican sloppy Joe with salad in a bun.

Frank had a super beef rice bowl. He eats a lot, so they super-sized it for him.

We also brought home six pork tamales. The family makes tamales and sells them at the Okanogan River Garlic Festival each year. Michael said they have a food cart of some sort that they haul to events like that. He's thinking about selling tamales at the Winthrop Sunday Market this summer; what do you think?

My sweetie with lunch.

Post script: Do you know/use the word, "unpresupposing"? It's not in any dictionary that I can find, yet I, and many other people, use the word.  Weird.

The Livestock Cafe

Beautiful Okanogan County.  Home, sweet home.  From the snowy peaks to the verdant valleys; from the lycra playground of Mazama to the productive orchards of Malott; from sagebrush to Ponderosa pines; Okanogan County boasts of open spaces and not a lot of people.  With only four stoplights in the county and 7.5 persons per square mile, complaints about rampant urbanization are usually tongue-in-cheek.  It's far easier to complain of few cultural activities and commercial choices, but even that is not really fair.   In any month, with a little effort one can enjoy locally produced theater, music, and fine art exhibits, even in our tiniest hamlets.  If you stop to converse with your waitress or cashier, you shouldn't be surprised to find her conversant in the finer points of Balinese gamelan, or Spanish wines.

Now food, food can be a bit of a problem at times.  In any part of the county, the stranger would do well to ask the locals where to go for lunch, for the eating establishments are not obvious, often closed, and few and far between.   Methow Valley residents, upon hearing of a neighbor's visit to far-flung Tonasket or Brewster, invariably ask, "Is there anyplace good to eat around there?"

Parked cars in front of the entrance don't help the ambience.

So it's high time some intrepid eater/reporter tackled the job of restaurant reviews around here.  It may as well be me.  I'll start with a mostly overlooked gem of a greasy spoon, Okanogan's Livestock Cafe.

With no street presence (there is a sign that says "cafe"), and unlikely location at the front of Okanogan's livestock auction yard, one could hardly be blamed for driving right past the Livestock and never stopping.  But I'm suggesting you stop, and here's why:  you can get breakfast all day, or a "livestock" burger with homemade french fries, or chicken-fried steak (yes Tony, you heard me), AND rub elbows with the hardworking orchardists and cattlemen of the valley who already know it's good.  Claude Miller was having lunch there today and that's good enough for me.

Bacon cheeseburger

Frank and I each ordered burgers with fries.  I honestly couldn't have been happier with my food, and look how much was on the plate!  The fries were made from scratch, hot and greasy.  You get your pop in a can, but you can always ask for a cup of ice.

The woman at the next table got the soup of the day (navy bean), and it came with a hunk of cornbread!  Coffee refills appeared regularly.

The interior is shabby, a little grimy, and pretty much as it was in the 50s.  They have counter and table seating.  Pictures of prize bulls adorn the walls.  Here's a fabulous mural from 1952 that I just had to show you.

From Highway 97 in Okanogan, (going north) turn left immediately after the casino, follow the frontage road to the first intersection and turn right on Rodeo Trail.  Pull into the livestock auction yard.  Park among the large muddy pickup trucks.  Go on in the door; don't be afraid; they'll be glad to see you.  Your waitress will even open your can of pop for you.