It's Really a Hut!!!

A perfectly toasted French roll, a healthy layer of yellow mustard, and then heaps of pastrami, all with a dill pickle spear on the side; do you know what that is? I do. It’s perfection, also known as a pastrami sandwich from Tom’s restaurant in the high desert of California.

Now, really quick, for those that don’t know, the high desert goes from Palmdale, California to roughly in between the Amboy and Essex exits off Interstate 40. From there the elevation drops quickly and before you know it you’re in the low desert. The coolest part is that it’s all the Mohave desert, just different elevations.

Sorry about that random blurb of information, back to the delicious pastrami. I was lucky growing up. There were three places near my childhood home that had excellent pastrami; the Cole Car Deli, Fosdick’s, and Joe’s Café. The pastrami at these three places was so perfect that it tasted as if it were all cooked at the same time and in the same place. My family enjoyed pastrami from these places at least twice a week for most of my childhood.

When I moved from Devore to Phelan my perfect pastrami was no longer an option, especially when I could eat one every day. I was really sad for months. I hardly got to eat my favorite sandwich from the places that made it best. I was stuck in Phelan and there wasn’t a good restaurant for miles.

Some months passed. I went to school every day, did what I was supposed to, and I had managed to make a few friends. One Saturday, after getting her license, a friend drove a group of us from Phelan into Victorville so we could go to the mall. We window shopped, hung out, and shopped a tiny bit. By the time we were done at the mall our group decided that we were hungry.

Like a good group of friends, we voted on where to get food from. A place called “Tom’s” won the vote. Since I’d never been there I wasn’t sure what to expect as we walked in; turned out that it was like a diner but better. That was the day I fell in love with a pastrami that was better than any I’d had before. I munched these delicious sandwiches every chance I got for a little over a decade. Then I moved to Arizona.

The first thing I noticed about Bullhead City was that it’s not a city at all. Bullhead is barely a town; let’s put it like this, the speed limit on the highway is only 45. There is no variety. For example, there are four grocery stores in the area. However, that is two Smith’s and two Safeway’s. There are two Wal-Marts, now. Oh, there are also six casinos across the Colorado river in Laughlin.

Now, when it comes to eating out, it is hit or miss. For instance, we have an IHOP, a Denny’s, and a few other diner type of places if you’re craving breakfast, but if you want fried chicken your only choice is Kentucky Fried Chicken. We have no Popeye’s or Churches. We so have several of the large fast food chains, like: McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Jack ‘n’ the Box, Carl’s Jr., and Burger King.

When it comes to eating out I have a few things that I like to order. In all honesty, I like cheese burgers and chicken strips with honey mustard. I’m pretty simple to feed most of the time. The problem I was having was my pastrami, well, lack thereof. I missed it. For me, it’s one of those “soul foods.”

One fall day the craving for pastrami won. I began looking in the phone book and online for places that sold pastrami. Make no mistake, I was committed. I tried pastrami from grocery stores and restaurants alike. I was having no luck.

Then it happened one day, I heard about a place called “The Hut.” It was somewhere in town and supposedly had good pastrami. Now this is where the hunt began. I looked online, I looked in the phone book, and my roommate and I drove all over town. This went on for a little over two weeks. Then I got homesick and sad and stopped looking for “The Hut.”

Not too many weeks later, while at the grocery store, I had a conversation with the checker and bagger. It was then I learned that “The Hut” was definitely on Highway 95 and it was on the newer side of town. The hunt was back on. We checked every shopping center on Highway 95. Still we found nothing.

It wasn’t until a few months later while we were on our way home from Needles that I saw it! I shrieked so loud that I scared the driver of the car. It was small but it was there. A sign. I had found it. Really, I had gotten lucky. You see, there was a huge sign and in the bottom middle of it was another sign that read, “The Hut.”

After I got home I got online and looked at a map. I wanted to make sure that the location was stuck in my head. Plus, I was curious how I had not found it while searching. Ah huh! I knew it as soon as I looked closely at the map. “The Hut” was just that, a hut. Not to mention it was next to (almost part of) the big car wash.

I felt like an idiot. I had checked all of the shopping centers and side streets in search of this place and here it was less than ten minutes from my house. The next payday after bills were paid we went to try “The Hut.”

The name is no joke. “The Hut” is truly a hut. We pulled up to the drive-thru, which was the only option, and got in line. The line moved quick, it was only minutes before we ordered. I decided to get the mid-size hot pastrami. You know, in case I didn’t like it. The wait for our order wasn’t long either. I have to say, I still to this day, I have no idea how they do business in such a tiny shack.

My mouth was watering so bad that I couldn’t wait to get home. Yep, you guessed it. I opened my sandwich and tried it. WOW! I was not ready for how amazing it was, some of the best pastrami I had ever had. It was so good in fact, that we had to turn around and get me another one because the mid-size wasn’t going to be enough.

I fell in love that day with “The Hut.” Their pastrami is the best, by far, here in Bullhead City. I have since been back to California and had a pastrami from “Tom’s,” and I can truly say that there isn’t much difference between them. They have equally worthy pastrami.

So, if you’re ever in Bullhead City, AZ and you’re a pastrami fan then “The Hut” is for you. The address is:

3120 AZ-95 Bullhead City, AZ 86442