Diner food
On diners
On the road trip, we ate at a lot of diners. A lot of hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast, a lot of hamburgers for lunch. Following are some highly biased reviews of some of the principal food chains you may encounter along the interstates of America, and some of the other establishments that you may find yourself turning to if you, like us, follow the fairly well-trodden road-trip routes...
Chains
Waffle House. My favorite of all the chain diners. Others don't always agree. But for hashbrowns (tip: order them extra-crispy) and eggs, and coffee - at 4am drunk (think the Tom Waits song 'Eggs and Sausage') or at 10am hungover, or in the middle of the afternoon when the place is empty, Waffle House rules. The fantastic retro black-and-yellow decor, the open-plan allowing you to see the short-order cooks and allowing your waitress to not have to come round to the other side of the counter, just leaning over to pour your coffee or set your plates, the red padded banquettes, the tiles, the jukebox...I [heart} Waffle House.
I was shocked to find that Waffle Houses don't exist in the North, or the West Coast. So if you too are a fan of WH, be aware that for a lot of your road trip you will have to turn to the following instead...Also, check out the Waffle House Shrine and the blog of a Waffle House grill cook/. Awesome.
Perkins. This is a chain we found throughout the Mid-West/Plains areas. Pretty good. Decent value. Has pretensions to being a 'real' restaurant (you have to wait to be seated, they have carpets). Is pretty similar to Denny's (see below) but a little more 'upmarket' - has the same enormous pile of pancakes that comes with a breakfast combo. Their fries were surprisingly good - visibly related to potatoes - and we had a Perkins dinner that was also pretty tasty, for chain restaurant fare.
Denny's. Reliable, if soulless. I say that because I have an aversion to their graphic design. Decent breakfast combos in huge portions.
Wendy's. Onto the hamburgers. I don't know why people rate Wendy's. Their hamburgers are always super-dried out, as a result of being so thin, and they are kinda too expensive and small. Not my burger of choice, that's for sure.
Sonic. Like Waffle House, I have a weakness for Sonic that is nothing to do with their food and all to do with their retro design identity, the fact that they are 'America's Drive-In' and the novelty, to a Brit, of sitting in your car and that being called a restaurant. Also influenced by the beautiful photo Cynthia took of Lucy leaning out of the car window at her first visit to Sonic. I feel like Sonic is Southern, too. Didn't see many up north.
Hardees. I actually think Hardees is OK for a hamburger. They are fairly thick and juicy and do the job pretty well.
Krystal. Never, ever, ever eat a Krystalburger. Not only do they sound like a horrendous fusion of Nazism, methamphetamine and fast food, these small, square, burgers look as artificial as they are - which is a bad thing. I prefer my mystery meat and sweet bun to at least pretend to look like food.
McDonalds and Burger King. I don't visit these, for ethical reasons. Yes, I know, my ethics is totally flawed if I got to Sonic/Hardees, but still, allow me this one little concession...
Non chain restaurants
The Red Baron, Alpine, Wyoming. This place was kinda miserable, but wonderful. It was a grey drizzly day. They have a great logo and the teenage waitresses had great branded hoodies. They do a weird thing called a pastramiburger, which is a cheeseburger with pastrami on top. I like drive-ins, just cos, and I like smalltowns with teenagers with smalltown attitude: this place had both, so despite it being sort-of awful, I liked it a lot. You might come across this place if you drove south from Jackson Hole.
Mom's Cafe, Salina, Utah. Wonderful, real small-town diner. Famous, judging by the pictures on the wall signed by all sorts of minor celebs. Waitresses have great uniforms. We had full-on breakfast here, before tackling the 100 mile stretch of no services between here and Green River (see below). They did goood hashbrowns. A little pricey, but that's what you get for a locally famous breakfast spot.
Moab Diner, Moab, Utah. Good black-and-white decor. Way more 'diner' than all the other pseudo-new age joints in Moab, which I thought was a horrible town. Food was actually not as good as I thought it would be - their 'special' chicken sandwich was pretty much like grilled chicken. But we were grateful for diner food and not overpriced karmic salads, and they did salad as well, which pleased one of my companions who isn't quite as hooked on greasy American food as I am. If you are also stuck in Moab, just keep going till the end of town and you'll find it.
Ben's Diner, Green River, Utah. See picture below. Good Mexican-American diner food - huevos rancheros, etc. What this translates to in practice is white waitresses and Mexican cooks. Pretty damn tasty, if you ask me, and I love the signage and retro decor. If you are on I-70 going to Canyonlands/the Arches, drop by here - it's the first town (or last town, depending if you are coming/going) after the 100 mile stretch of no services after Salina.
Bette's Oceanview Diner. I'm not sure that I should include this as it's not really a 'diner'. I.e. it's a trendy hipster hangout, with all the retro fixtures and a kitch-upmarket menu. Specials include their pancakes, and fritatta, which just about sums it up. But they did do scrapple, and it was the first time I had this, so I guess it gets included. It's in West Berkeley, its expensive, it's really nice in a guilty bourgeois way.
Judging by this list, Utah definitely won out on diners. Weird. But of course, I haven't included the Alabama joints that I know and love - barbecue shacks, catfish joints, gas station diners....and writing all this has made me crave a hamburger! Mmm...where to now, on a Sunday afternoon...
On the road trip, we ate at a lot of diners. A lot of hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast, a lot of hamburgers for lunch. Following are some highly biased reviews of some of the principal food chains you may encounter along the interstates of America, and some of the other establishments that you may find yourself turning to if you, like us, follow the fairly well-trodden road-trip routes...
Chains
Waffle House. My favorite of all the chain diners. Others don't always agree. But for hashbrowns (tip: order them extra-crispy) and eggs, and coffee - at 4am drunk (think the Tom Waits song 'Eggs and Sausage') or at 10am hungover, or in the middle of the afternoon when the place is empty, Waffle House rules. The fantastic retro black-and-yellow decor, the open-plan allowing you to see the short-order cooks and allowing your waitress to not have to come round to the other side of the counter, just leaning over to pour your coffee or set your plates, the red padded banquettes, the tiles, the jukebox...I [heart} Waffle House.
I was shocked to find that Waffle Houses don't exist in the North, or the West Coast. So if you too are a fan of WH, be aware that for a lot of your road trip you will have to turn to the following instead...Also, check out the Waffle House Shrine and the blog of a Waffle House grill cook/. Awesome.
Perkins. This is a chain we found throughout the Mid-West/Plains areas. Pretty good. Decent value. Has pretensions to being a 'real' restaurant (you have to wait to be seated, they have carpets). Is pretty similar to Denny's (see below) but a little more 'upmarket' - has the same enormous pile of pancakes that comes with a breakfast combo. Their fries were surprisingly good - visibly related to potatoes - and we had a Perkins dinner that was also pretty tasty, for chain restaurant fare.
Denny's. Reliable, if soulless. I say that because I have an aversion to their graphic design. Decent breakfast combos in huge portions.
Wendy's. Onto the hamburgers. I don't know why people rate Wendy's. Their hamburgers are always super-dried out, as a result of being so thin, and they are kinda too expensive and small. Not my burger of choice, that's for sure.
Sonic. Like Waffle House, I have a weakness for Sonic that is nothing to do with their food and all to do with their retro design identity, the fact that they are 'America's Drive-In' and the novelty, to a Brit, of sitting in your car and that being called a restaurant. Also influenced by the beautiful photo Cynthia took of Lucy leaning out of the car window at her first visit to Sonic. I feel like Sonic is Southern, too. Didn't see many up north.
Hardees. I actually think Hardees is OK for a hamburger. They are fairly thick and juicy and do the job pretty well.
Krystal. Never, ever, ever eat a Krystalburger. Not only do they sound like a horrendous fusion of Nazism, methamphetamine and fast food, these small, square, burgers look as artificial as they are - which is a bad thing. I prefer my mystery meat and sweet bun to at least pretend to look like food.
McDonalds and Burger King. I don't visit these, for ethical reasons. Yes, I know, my ethics is totally flawed if I got to Sonic/Hardees, but still, allow me this one little concession...
Non chain restaurants
The Red Baron, Alpine, Wyoming. This place was kinda miserable, but wonderful. It was a grey drizzly day. They have a great logo and the teenage waitresses had great branded hoodies. They do a weird thing called a pastramiburger, which is a cheeseburger with pastrami on top. I like drive-ins, just cos, and I like smalltowns with teenagers with smalltown attitude: this place had both, so despite it being sort-of awful, I liked it a lot. You might come across this place if you drove south from Jackson Hole.
Mom's Cafe, Salina, Utah. Wonderful, real small-town diner. Famous, judging by the pictures on the wall signed by all sorts of minor celebs. Waitresses have great uniforms. We had full-on breakfast here, before tackling the 100 mile stretch of no services between here and Green River (see below). They did goood hashbrowns. A little pricey, but that's what you get for a locally famous breakfast spot.
Moab Diner, Moab, Utah. Good black-and-white decor. Way more 'diner' than all the other pseudo-new age joints in Moab, which I thought was a horrible town. Food was actually not as good as I thought it would be - their 'special' chicken sandwich was pretty much like grilled chicken. But we were grateful for diner food and not overpriced karmic salads, and they did salad as well, which pleased one of my companions who isn't quite as hooked on greasy American food as I am. If you are also stuck in Moab, just keep going till the end of town and you'll find it.
Ben's Diner, Green River, Utah. See picture below. Good Mexican-American diner food - huevos rancheros, etc. What this translates to in practice is white waitresses and Mexican cooks. Pretty damn tasty, if you ask me, and I love the signage and retro decor. If you are on I-70 going to Canyonlands/the Arches, drop by here - it's the first town (or last town, depending if you are coming/going) after the 100 mile stretch of no services after Salina.
Bette's Oceanview Diner. I'm not sure that I should include this as it's not really a 'diner'. I.e. it's a trendy hipster hangout, with all the retro fixtures and a kitch-upmarket menu. Specials include their pancakes, and fritatta, which just about sums it up. But they did do scrapple, and it was the first time I had this, so I guess it gets included. It's in West Berkeley, its expensive, it's really nice in a guilty bourgeois way.
Judging by this list, Utah definitely won out on diners. Weird. But of course, I haven't included the Alabama joints that I know and love - barbecue shacks, catfish joints, gas station diners....and writing all this has made me crave a hamburger! Mmm...where to now, on a Sunday afternoon...
Comments
i think sonic is an midwestern chain (oklahoma?), although they were definitely influenced by the drive-ins of the south.
looking forward to reading more of your culinary adventures!