I know that many of you love the area along Highway 395 in the eastern Sierras. And one of our rituals when driving from the Bay Area to the Mammoth area for fly fishing is stopping at the Mobil gas station at the junction of Highways 120 and 395 for take-out dinner at the Whoa Nellie Deli inside the gas station. We also typically stop on the way home for something for dinner once home.
While in Mammoth a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a "local" about things and mentioned the Deli. She told me that the chef there (who originally worked in San Francisco but wanted to get out of the urban scene) had opened a new restaurant in Mammoth but had then been fired. What the heck?
Well...she was partially correct and partially wrong. We soon learned the real story.
Matt Toomey (the chef at the Whoa Nellie Deli) did start a new take-out restaurant in Mammoth at the Villages (where Highway 203 turns right to head up to the ski area). It is called Toomey's (
http://www.yelp.com/biz/toomeys-mammoth-lakes-2 for Yelp reviews). But Matt Toomey is still there.
My wife talked to Matt at his new restaurant and here is the whole story. When Matt's lease came up for renewal at the Whoa Nellie Deli, the owners Mobil station realized that the cooks in the Deli knew how to cook all of the items on the menu and that they didn't need Matt. So, they canceled his lease but kept the deli with the same menu. That is really BS!!!!
The menu at Toomey's is much like the deli but has (I think) more items. We took advantage of their menu at Toomey's several nights while camping near Mammoth. One night I had the Wild Buffalo Meatloaf and another night the New Zealand Elk Rack Chop...both were fabulous!
Needless to say, we didn't stop at the Whoa Nellie Deli on the way home....