Tony’s Toaster @ Reyes Creek

Surrounded on all sides by the deepest trenches of the Los Padres National Forest, the slightly spooky, marvelously memorable community of Camp Scheideck is home to the Reyes Creek Bar & Grill, located at the dead end of a dusty path that wiggles off of Lockwood Valley Road near the intersection of Highway 33. Always worth a visit even for just a beer if you find yourself in that far-flung neighborhood, Reyes Creek also serves up some mean eats — and by mean, I mean ferociously tasty and gut-bustingly large.

A couple weekends ago, after camping for two nights on Mt. Pinos and working up an appetite in search of Chumash rock paintings, I collided face-first with Tony’s Toaster, a rather large burger named after the rather large proprietor, featuring ample amounts of barbecue sauce, bacon, onion rings, and cheese, and enveloped between two thick pieces of Texas toast. If it sounds too big to wrap your teeth around, it is, so you chomp strategically, in between sips of cold ale.

This isn’t health food. But discovering truly unique cuisine in a mostly unknown backwoods oasis is worth the extra grease and fat and carbs. They may not help your heart, but experiences like these are soothing to the soul.

26905 Camp Scheideck Rd.; Maricopa, CA; 661-766-2521