Ed, Emmy, Lily and I sat in a row at the green Formica counter in the small diner. We had been driving home from the late church service and I pulled into the parking lot for one reason: I was starving. Actually, I had two reasons; I felt the beginnings of a cold coming on, and so I didn’t want to rustle up lunch myself once we got home.
Eating at a diner made me want to order a cup of coffee, but since I had already had plenty that morning, I stuck with a ham and cheese omelet. Lily and Emmy had a front seat view of the grill, and watching the short order cooks make their French toast fascinated them. Watching the cook tossing scrambled eggs into the air and flip pancakes was almost as entertaining as a Japanese steakhouse and much more affordable. The two cooks knew their jobs and worked together to get the orders done and out to the customer. Ed said his chicken wrap was so hot right off the grill that he had to let it sit for a couple of minutes to cool down. My omelet tasted the same as the one I used to order at a different diner in a different town. Simple, yet delicious.
There wasn’t much of a chance for conversation. Sitting by the grill was noisy, and being all in the row made it difficult to talk anyway. The waitress was friendly and got our order right, although she wasn’t young and was a little bossy in a diner sort of way. What is it about a diner that I love? (It’s definitely not the coffee.) Is it the cooking? Is it the “mom and pop” feeling? I’m not sure. But I do know I’m always on the lookout for a good diner. The next time I stop in, I’ll be sure to order the ham and cheese omelet with hash browns. And perhaps we’ll sit at a booth instead.
What’s your favorite diner food?
I LOVE diners! So hard to find one anymore! I'm originally from Iowa and whenever we go home to visit our tiny little town of origin, we always stop at the diner. The food's usually great cause it's all short ordered, but the best part is the homey feeling and the atmosphere that everybody knows your name!
I always want an old fashioned ice cream float, but those are hard to come by now too!
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I've been to a great little diner in Prairie City, Iowa, where they have the best pork tenderloin AND great ice cream…it's called Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe. I love the old fashioned floats, too!
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Now I want to know what diner this is so that I can pop in for a hot omelet!
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It's in Park Ridge on Northwest Hwy. and it's called Goldie's (a popular name for a diner, it seems–see my comment above!). We should go there!
We adore diner food…in fact, the entire Dose family ate together at a diner together on Saturday. 🙂 Nothing beats a diner burger and fries and shakes!-The Dose Girls
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That is a great meal! One of my favorites. 🙂
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We love diners! We also don't like standing in line for an hour at the trendy brunch places. 😉 My go-to diner food is Eggs Benedict!
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Mmm, I haven't had Eggs Benedict for a while, but I love them!
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Well I always seem to go for a Patty Melt….one of my favorites!
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Ed's favorite is a patty melt, especially from a place called Papa Chris'. They have the BEST patty melts!
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Mm..I'm from Jersey – land of diners. One in every town, at least! Since I was a kid if it's somewhere new I order something salty – eggs, toast, hash browns and hope that my companion also orders something salty and then we split one of the sweet pancakes/waffle/french toast specials. The best.
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That sounds like the best of both worlds!
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Dare I say it? I think my favorite food at a diner is the fries with a side of a Club House sandwich. 🙂
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I don’t know what it is either. I love diners and I don’t mind the “sat too long on a warmer” coffee. I always want to go to a Waffle House for this reason, but my husband thinks they’re gross.