Mountain View Restaurant is on Route 281 in Preble, which is the stretch of road between Tully and Homer where the Cortland County farmland still reads as farmland rather than development. The name is accurate at certain times of year — the hills to the west of Route 281 in Preble are visible and green from the parking lot, and there's a specific quality to that light in late summer and early fall that the name is earning.
Five stars for a diner-style restaurant that correctly fills the role a diner on a rural state road should fill: breakfast and lunch executed without pretense, portions sized for people who work outdoors, prices that don't require an adjustment in your expectations when the check arrives. The eggs are cooked how you ask for them. The home fries are made, not heated.
Preble sits between the Little York Lake area and the Cortland Repertory Theatre at Dwyer Memorial Park, which makes Mountain View the natural before-or-after stop for both. Coming up from Cortland for a show at the Rep, this is where you eat first. Coming out of Little York Lake on a Saturday morning, this is where breakfast happens. It has that specific utility that a rural Route 281 restaurant earns by being there consistently over time.
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February 2, 2023
