Candel's By-Way Cafe

487 W. 37 N., Stanford, MT -

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Posted By Michael Stern on 7/10/2011 5:48:00 AM

Candel's Byway Cafe was, for us the sort of serendipitous discovery that makes Roadfooding especially fun. We were driving west for supper in Great Falls and just happened to see a sign by the side of the road advertising fresh pies and cinnamon rolls. We walked in and inhaled. It was apparent that the pies were just out of the oven. We took seats at the counter and started a backwards feast, dessert-first.

Candel's pies are homely. They are so fragile that each piece falls apart on its way from tin to plate, but the cool sour cream raisin pie is one of the best anywhere, with a wicked tangy-sweet character. Its goodness is especially remarkable considering Montana is not a big dairy state; most of the good ones are in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The crust underneath the warm peach pie is the melt-in-mouth kind, so fine that we found ourselves hunting stray little slivers on emptied plates, gathering them up by pressing down with our forks' tines.

"Why are these pies so good?" we called out from our counter seats, quite literally ecstatic from finding them. Sheila Candelaria credited them to her mother, from whom she learned to bake growing up on a ranch seventeen miles south of town. But it turned out that pies aren't the only reason to inscribe this place on the honor roll.

"We cut the steaks, we make our seasoning mixes, even our chicken fingers are from scratch," Sheila told us, singing especially high praises of the chunky, garlic-studded salsa that accompanies the Mexican food her husband Mike makes. At this point, post-pie lunch seemed essential.

Mike's beef-and-bean burrito is smothered with orange-hued chili that tastes like nothing more than pureed sun-drenched peppers and spice. We could hear our chicken-fried steak getting pounded tender through the pass-through window to the kitchen; and rather than coming sheathed in the typical thick batter coat and smothered under gluey gravy, this one has a thin, brittle crust. It sits atop a puddle of refined white gravy with a pepper punch.

Sitting at a table where the view out the front window is the fronts of pick up trucks pulled up in the lot and Highway 200 beyond them, a few everyday customers told us just how much they appreciate this place. Opened long ago as the Byway Cafe, it was closed for six years, re-opened for one year as Bubba's, then closed again until the Candelarias bought it, cleaned it up, and reopened it in 2004 as a family enterprise, with all four of their kids on duty. Everyone in town comes here to eat and to meet; and the ones we met feel comfortable lingering at a table over coffee and conversation.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

Sour Cream Raisin Pie	Salsa
Peach Pie	Smothered Burrito
Chicken Fried Steak

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"What a well-made burrito, loaded with succulent beef, firm beans, bits of celery and onion and grains of rice. The chili sauce on top is smooth and delicious essence of chili pepper with seemingly nothing else added."
Michael Stern

"Chicken-fried steak is positively elegant, cut to order and pounded thin in the kitchen, then just barely breaded enough to develop a crisp crust when it's pan-fried. This, of course, is the breakfast version with eggs and hash browns."
Michael Stern

"It was this sign that caused us to pull and and investigate the By-Way Cafe. We sure are glad we stopped."
Michael Stern

"Sheila Candeleria learned pie-baking skills from her mother. She grew up on a ranch just 17 miles south of town. This peach pie won't win any beauty contests, but its full, fruity flavor and savory crust cannot be beat."
Michael Stern

"Growing up in Chicago and New York, neither I nor Jane had ever heard of sour cream raisin pie. We discovered it on an early trip through Iowa and have had excellent versions in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This Montana slice is among the best."
Michael Stern

"Although located on the main highway, Candel's By-Way has all the friendly flavor of a small town cafe."
Michael Stern