Eating at the Farmhouse reminds me of the breakfasts I had as a young boy at my Grandma Schank’s kitchen table.

Every Christmas, my parents would pile my brother, my sister and me into the back of our wood-paneled station wagon and we’d drive 300 icy miles, stopping first to visit my father’s family in Bismarck, N.D., before continuing on to spend several days with my mother’s parents.

In those days, my Grandma and Grandpa Schank lived in a small house in the small town of Dickinson on the edge of the Badlands. But they had spent most of their lives on a farm, so Grandpa still got up by four every morning to begin tinkering in his workshop.

And Grandma would be in the kitchen making the kind of hearty breakfasts that I suppose only those who worked on a farm could truly appreciate.

At the first sign of daylight, my siblings and I would scramble out of our beds and head for the kitchen, enticed by the intoxicating aroma of buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, sizzling bacon and fried hash browns.

Somewhere over the years, I’d forgotten how good those farm-style breakfasts were, my memory obviously blunted by too many Grand Slams and breakfast burritos.

Sure, the Valley boasts some worthwhile breakfast restaurants. I’ve eaten my share of O’Pear Grenache Omelettes at T.C. Eggington’s or Protein Pancakes at U.S. Egg.

But somehow these creations, however delightful, don’t match the simplicity of pancakes and eggs made by hand from farm-fresh ingredients.

Owners Sylvia Hilligardt and her daughter, Milli, have been making such breakfasts, as well as lunches, at the Farmhouse for two decades. They started in a stand-alone building — an actual farmhouse — at Warner and Gilbert roads, but moved to “new” digs in downtown Gilbert in 2001.

I say “new” because the cozy space with crude wooden booths and a floor of wide hardwood planks, is anything but new. In fact, if you follow the plain white walls up to the exposed ceiling you still can see some of the adobe bricks that were cut from the restaurant’s cellar.

Every Sunday morning, people young and old regularly wait for more than an hour (the wait’s shorter on weekdays) for one of the 50 or so coveted seats at small tables covered with mismatched vinyl tableclothes.

Two dozen omelets filled with various combinations of meat, vegetables and cheese ($6.50-$8.25) are the centerpieces of the breakfast menu (see menu pdf). Each comes with a generous side of delicious home-fried potatoes and two long slices of toast made from whole wheat French bread.

Buttermilk pancakes (two for $5) are amazingly light and fluffy. But if you really want to throw carbohydrate caution to the wind, indulge in one of the Farmhouse’s giant cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting ($3.25).

Breakfast and lunch specials are numerous and change daily — you can find them detailed on a signboard out front. One of the most popular fixtures on the every-day lunch menu, though, is the meatloaf, two thick, well-seasoned slices served with mashed potatoes and coleslaw ($8.50).

Best of all: Except for an occasional daily special, nothing on the menu costs more than $8.50.

My Grandma Schank will celebrate her 90th birthday with a big party next week in North Dakota. I’m not sure what kind of present to get her.

But it would be easy if she lived here in the Valley. I would take her to the Farmhouse.

The Farmhouse
Where: 228 N. Gilbert Road, Gilbert (quarter-mile north of Elliot Road)
Open: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: Omelets $6.50-$8.25, pancakes $5-$6, salads $4.75-$7.95, sandwiches/burgers $6.50-$8.25, entrees $8.50-$8.95.
Info: (480) 926-0676.