On The Diner

[gurdymonkey]

So I was making my lunch with "Check Please!" on PBS keeping me company and they reviewed some joint in San Francisco called The Blue Plate. Raving about the mac and cheese, meatloaf, pork chops and banana creme pie ensued. I perked up my ears accordingly as I came out of the kitchen. Then they said an average dinner per person ran about $35 per head!!!!! Blue neon "Eat" sign outside the place, this is not a diner.

Then mamapduck mentioned the Fog City Diner in a response to one of my previous posts. I remember the first time I ever walked past it on my way down the Embarcadero. Sure, it looks like a diner from the outside, but there's no whiff of deep fryer cutting through the air from a block away to grab you by your lizard brain and cry "You Want French Fries Right NOW." I glanced in the window and there was a guy in a white shirt and a bow tie spreading a tablecloth.  So not a diner, I don't care how much neon and steel is out front. I didn't bother looking to see if there were gumball machines inside the door I was so disappointed.

A diner does not close at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night.
A diner does not charge you $16 for a plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
A diner does not "accept reservations."

I grew up in northern New Jersey. I have a very specific response to the word "diner," and there are times when I really miss them. Here in the Bay Area we have chains like Denny's, of course, we have pancake houses, and if you go a little farther afield, the Black Bear chain is probably my contender for diner-hood in California. They get the job done, but it's not the same.

 
http://www.dinercity.com/njDiner/bendixExtM.jpg  The Bendix on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights. Its interior will be familiar to anyone who ever saw Rosie mop up spills with Bounty towels.

A diner is where you end up after a movie or a shire meeting or fight practice or before you start your shift someplace. It's where you can have breakfast 24 hours a day, or a black and white cookie, or a monolithic slice of moussaka (because a lot of Jersey diners are owned by Greek families), or pie where the meringue is taller than the lemon filling. It's where the waitresses all know you if they've seen you at least twice, and may just look the other way if someone decides to see if he can fashion a blow gun with a soda straw and shoot the toothpicks from your club sandwich into the acoustic ceiling tiles. (Yes. I know. I have very strange friends.) They not only don't rush you out of your seat, they will refill your drinks while you spend hours talking about who knows what with your friends. The food won't earn Michelin stars, but it's generally good, reliable, comforting and will not bankrupt you.

The Skyline (West Milford). The Pompton Queen (Pompton Lakes). Matthews (Bergenfield). The Coachhouse (Hackensack). Even the Empress (Fair Lawn), which was never the same after the remodel.
Though I confess it's not the cuisine - it was what went on around those tables all those nights.

EDIT: This thread seems to have devolved into favorite dives to eat at, which is cool. There was a neat little place down at the South Shore center called the Velvet Grill - and it's gone. I've never been able to get near Ole's Waffle Shop on Park Street. There's a place by the Park Street Bridge on the Oakland side called Nikko's Family Restaurant that looks dinerish, but the reviews on Yelp are downright scary. 

Comments

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

There are some excellent diners in California- they are almost never chains. I remember one on the road into Yosemite that was nigh on perfect.

Fog City was a huge letdown. Rhys' sraft Anchor Steam was $10. Kids menu selections were $6.50 which is high for buttered noodles or a hot dog. We went because R and B thought it looked promising and it turned out to be precisely NOT where you want to eat with four boys ranging in age from 9 months to 10 years. It was a moderately good fancy restaurant with a diner glued to the front.

[sasha-khan.livejournal.com]

I discovered the Black Bear chain the last year at Etsrella Mountain Park - there's one on Litchfield. Not bad.

One of the very best travelogues I've ever read was 'Blue Highways' by William Least Heat Moon. In it he explains his theories on telling which independent diners are worth eating at - the indicator is how many calenders are visible in the dining area.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Great book, by the way. When I was living at my folks' house we always had at least 4 calendars up... ;D

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Mini Gourmet in San Jose on Bascom Ave (walking distance from my house). Been around since the '50s, I believe. Best old-fashioned breakfasts in the area -- they know what T&I get, only make a polite offer of a menu, & ask "the usual?" No fancy coffees, but they keep the cup filled. There's usually a wait on weekends, but it's all neighbors, so nobody minds, & folks share the paper or there's a sports game on the TV. Man, just thinking about it, I can't wait till tomorrow morning & my chicken-fried steak!

[vittoriosa.livejournal.com]

Where on Bascom? We have had no luck finding old-fashioned breakfast places nearby (they don't exist in our neighborhood!), but anywhere within 5 miles is probably worth checking out. We neeeds our breakfast fixes!

I did find a place in Cupertino that seems to fit the bill (Bobbi's Coffee Shop on De Anza Blvd) -- it's about two blocks from my office, which is how I stumbled upon it. I've been once for breakfast before work and it was pretty good, but it is way too far out of the way for a lazy weekend morning!

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

599 S. Bascom Ave. Bascom @ Parkmoor (or is it Moorpark? I always get them confused; it's the one that leads to 280 south). Look for the old Burbank Theater sign & Mini Gourmet is a block south, other side of 280. Open 24 hours.

Big greasy breakfasts, waitresses that call you "hon," tiny little parking lot that's full on the weekends. Can't be beat!

[kproche.livejournal.com]

Bascom at Moorpark. Right across from the hospital.

[vittoriosa.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Thanks!

"Hip Diner" abominations here too.

[minstrlmummr.livejournal.com]

There's a...thing...calling itself the "Pop Diner" less than a ten-minute walk away from my house. I've been there exactly once and blanched at the idea of a $13 french toast-with-meat plate.

Further down Queens Boulevard, I've been to Georgia Diner several times (the Brobdignagian moussaka is most excellent). However, it too has succumbed to trending more and more "upscale" and although the prices are less abominable, a number of items are both too elaborate and too expensive to qualify any longer as diner fare.

There used to be a diner/"coffee shop" (I can't recall what it called itself) in Manhattan on Second Avenue and 23rd Street which met the criteria you describe. I haven't been there in at least six or seven years. I hope it's not gone 8/

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

We love Black bear while we're traveling. Because I'm totally biased about bears and they offer a decent meal.

Flames - a small chain - is our local favorite, tho' I prefer their breakfasts.

Bears, burgers and more bears

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Black Bear's bleu cheese bacon burgers are killer! I'll probably have to hit the one in Gilroy after Purgatorio teardown just 'cause.

I think I ate in a Flames with Na'arah and her family after something up at Ed Levin. It was decent, as I recall.

There's a great song on Lyle Lovett's "Step Inside This House" called "Bears." Do you know it?

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Do you ever watch that show on FoodPornNetwork, "Diners, Dives, and Drivethroughs?"

[danabren.livejournal.com]

I think you're referring to "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" - my husband watches it religiously LOL

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Arghh, I always get the name wrong! But you knew what I meant....

The Modern

[vittoriosa.livejournal.com]

Heh. Reading this reminded me of similar discourses from V -- he grew up in Manhattan so he has a *very* specific idea of what a true diner is, and little tolerance for wannabe diners.

One of my favorite treats when I lived in Providence was brunch at The Modern Diner in Pawtucket. http://www.quahog.org/cuisine/index.php?id=78 Their food is a little bit "diner nouvelle" (lobster benedict, grits with pesto & goat cheese...but totally yummy), but all the newfangled weirdness is backed up by the solid classics (glorious french toast, and their biscuits & gravy are OMG delicious). Even V approved.

[channel6.livejournal.com]

I live half a block from Nikko's in Oakland. Avoid it at all costs unless you are so drunk it doesn't matter how bad it is--because it's just that bad.

Ole's Waffle House is a true diner. Best to go there on weekday mornings around 9:30 am--the local breakfast crowd has thinned out enough to let you find a seat. I always sit at the counter so I never have any trouble. Food is decent diner food. Prices are ok--about average for this area.

Jim's is just after the bridge a couple blocks on Lincoln--take a right--it's about half a block on your right. Also decent--but a bit too large for my taste--it used to be smaller but at some point they added a huge dining room area. I like Ole's food better and I think the prices at Ole's are better overall as well.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Nikkos. I've driven past enough times and though, "Hmm, LOOKS like a diner." Then I read some of the Yelp reviews. I don't GET that drunk. I would have to be dead to be that drunk.

Given that my workday starts at 7 AM, it looks like Ole's will have to wait.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

The Wheel Inn in Cabazon (I-10, east of Banning, west of Palm Springs--it's the place with the big dinosaurs) is an awesome diner. Good sanwiches and burgers, great pies, peach and berry cobblers, big greasy breakfasts, very reasonable prices.

There's a good place in Baker too, if you're on the way between southern California and Las Vegas. Not the one with the giant thermometer, the other one around the corner; the owners are Greek and the menu is a wonderful combination of Greek, Mexican and American diner food. Great breakfasts, better omelettes than a lot of expensive places and oh, the hashbrowns...and then there's the case of Greek pastires by the cash registers.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Good to know for the Estrella run!

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

Absolutely!

[mermaidlady]

I miss proper diners up here. Really what I miss is a diner where I can get a fried taylor ham sandwich on a hard roll. If I'm lucky, that happens on the way back from Pennsic.