Diners Hash Out Plans to Weather Recession

Posted by Baylen on Feb. 5, 2009

Diners of the North Shore - Google Book Search.jpgI love me a good diner. And I’m even willing to tolerate a subpar one if the structure is as ancient as the waitresses–who must be named something like Bertha, and the kitchen staff something like Hank–and they’ll let me sit there for a while.

Thus I was pleased to see the Washington City Paper’s Tim Carman has a nice piece up today on the place of diners in tough economic times. Right off the bat, Carman nails why anyone worth knowing loves a diner:

There’s something about sitting in a diner, sipping coal-black coffee and shoveling down a syrupy stack of silver-dollar pancakes, that makes you want to spill your guts for hours.

Carman points out that though diners aren’t totally recession-proof, they are (like McDonald’s) capable of and experienced at weathering the financial storm.

If you’re the owner of a restaurant in a recession,” says [American City Diner's Jeffrey] Gildenhorn, “you want to own a diner.”

My favorite diner of all time–my favorite place of all time, ahead of, say, the Duomo in Florence, or Fenway Park–was the old Post Office Diner in Beverly, Mass., where I grew up. I’d go every Sunday morning, without fail, with my grandmother.

Best eggs, toast, home fries, and coffee–which I started drinking at age six–ever. Some Sundays, I’d make my parents take me back for a lunch of lightly salted tuna on a top-split hot dog bun, fries, and a coffee frappe.

I have vehemently hated the French (all of them) since the local Franco-American Club–the landowner–evicted the P.O.D. to make room for parking.

After French people ruined my childhood, I’d have to settle on the Agawam Diner in Rowley, Mass., or the Portside Diner (in nearby Danvers, where my parents now live).

Anyone else have a favorite diner? (Hint: if you are worth talking to, the answer is “yes.”) Where’s it at?

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  • Roxanne
    Tough question as I am apt to love a good diner regardless of where I am....but I have very fond memories growing up in Miami and heading to the Sheldon's Drug Store counter for cheap grub and milkshakes. It was one of those very old-school drug store/diner joints that survived for decades after it opened because it was north enough from the revitalized South Beach of the 1980s. There was an actual "Hank" who worked the grill there and the waitresses were indeed full of stories and sassy personalities.
  • Silver Skillet in Atlanta.
  • -- Zorba's in Normal, Illinois. Very cheap, great-tasting basic breakfasts, endless coffee, Gyros and more. They used to be in an old building that was pretty much only held together by cooking grease. Unfortunately, they had to move and the new place lacks some of the charm, but is still a great place.

    -- Renaissance Diner on 9th Avenue between 51st and 52nd in Manhattan. It's a diner, and it's open 24/7, but it also has a bar and the menu is about 20 pages with an outstanding selection of fun items, along with the usual, with a laid-back atmosphere. The front is rather ordinary - get a table in the back where they've converted part of an alley into a dining room.
  • Chris
    I'm a big fan of the Red Arrow diner in my hometown of Manchester, NH. It's a small place in downtown Manchester, but something of a local landmark. I'm partial to the fried eggs with kielbasa and pan fries.
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