When my work doesn’t directly involve restaurants and takeouts, I often get to pass by small towns and the second I see the words “deli” or “diner” I make it a point to stop by on my way back (unless I explore different routes to and from a gig, at which point it’s keeping my eyes peeled during both legs of the journey). After all my years of plowing the roads of MD, I don’t actually recall passing through Keymar in particular, so this time was ripe to check out essentially their town hall as far as food is concerned. The Village Store and Diner is a decently sized, you-can’t-miss-it blue right on the intersection of 77 and 194. Open every day but Sundays, and only until 8pm, so that’s a sign of a proper mom & pop shop who take a break for probably Sunday morning service and just to kick their feet up once a week. The menu is as follows –
Store itself is your typical gas station blend of my favorite booze, snacks, and some deli aside from the kitchen offerings.
The diner part of the name includes a fairly roomy dining room off to the side of the store space, and it looks traditional for this kind of spot.
Since I came in for the deli side of things, I ordered their club fully loaded and a chili-cheese dog that I haven’t had in a while, and while kitchen proceeded to get crackin’ I stocked up on beverages and took my snapshots. About 10 minutes later, my to-go goodies arrived packed like I honestly haven’t seen before much to my preference. You have no idea how sick I am of places cramming all of the food into a plastic bag that proceeds to be tossed about in the trunk while making your sandwiches soggy from their own sweat.
Club was wrapped in paper first and then into plastic wrap that shows the chef caring about longevity of their takeout orders. This was especially so with a carefully wrapped chili-cheese dog that sat in a paper tray and did not become a saucy mess like you’d typically get from gas stations with food options that wrap their loaded hot dogs like they’re the postal service shipping internationally. Reusing a booze case bottom box was another great touch over a plastic bag.
So, how was the food itself? I’ll let the pictures say their thousand words:
While the club wasn’t cut in the traditional 4 diagonal parts with toothpicks holding the thing together, I preferred this down-the-middle simple cut that kept all of the ingredients together. Hot pepper relish was especially my favorite touch that the clerk mentioned after I said, “everything,” to the question – “what do you want on it?”
The hot dog was no slouch either – nicely grilled quarter pounder with perfect amount of chili and melted cheese for the price. Paper tray helped keep moisture at bay, and the aforementioned careful tin foil wrapper avoided this becoming a mess when I opened it back up.
Overall and some of the reviews aside – the deli side of this place was to my liking and I would recommend stopping by there if you’re passing through the area when that hunger hits.
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