MARYSVILLE — Fanny’s Restaurant is among a distinctive category of restaurants — a favorite with the locals that isn’t a chain. Every city is home to a place like Fanny’s, which is tucked into a small business complex in Marysville, next to a dental office.
The first time my friend and I went to Fanny’s, two large groups of rude, noisy customers distracted the servers and irritated us so much it became impossible to get a true feeling about the place.
After our meal, we agreed that our breakfasts — a taco omelet ($8.95) and pancakes and eggs ($5.20) — were better than average. My friend credited the Angus beef and authentic seasonings for making his three-egg omelet a taste treat. The thin layers of my scrambled eggs were folded into a perfectly cooked stack of deliciousness. They stole the show from the excellent pancakes.
Fanny’s offers any item on the breakfast or lunch menu any time. (There is also a menu for children and breakfast specials from 7 to 11:30 a.m.) The breakfast menu includes two-egg plates with different meats like corned beef hash or Polish sausage, plus traditional eggs Benedict or eggs with shellfish. The lunch menu includes grilled and deli-style sandwiches, burgers, salads and fish and chips.
The restaurant has three light and cheery dining rooms decorated with historic photos of Marysville and Americana-style accents. The white lace curtains let the midday fall sunshine brighten everything. The wooden tables and chairs line up smartly along the outer edge of the dining rooms, which makes the rooms feel larger and gives the wait staff room to work. Unlike other restaurants, tables aren’t rigidly assigned to a specific server. Instead, there’s a customer-friendly approach where every server passing your table will check on you.
My second visit to Fanny’s was on a Sunday afternoon. The hostess greeted me and my server asked my drink preference instantly. As I zeroed in on my lunch order and throughout my meal, customers greeted each other or stopped to chat before going to their tables or to the cashier stand. The customers were all ages and appeared to be mainly families.
For my lunch, I ordered a sandwich that isn’t on every menu in the county — the crab sandwich, which is made with chopped Dungeness crab, onions and celery plus cheddar cheese on egg-enriched yellow bread and grilled to a toasty brown. All sandwiches and burgers come with a side of potato salad, cole slaw, fried potatoes, chips or soup or clam chowder. Clam chowder isn’t available on Sunday, so I opted for a cup of the daily special — cream of potato ($2.50) — and cole slaw. The cole slaw was tasty but predictable. The potato soup was creamy, filled with cubes of skin-on red potatoes and ham. Had I known it was going to be that good, I would have ordered a bowl. My sandwich was just as delicious with perfectly melted cheese surrounding the ample filling.
The locals’ hidden treasure — Fanny’s — has been discovered.
Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.
Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.
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