OT: Diners

J

Josh Feltman

Joined
Feb 12, 2001
Messages
4,501
My wife and I have made an effort to go out to dinner on Friday nights to get a little quality time together. Well, last Friday we went to the Cozy Diner. I don't go to diners too often, but I've always been a fan of the whole diner experience--American culture at its finest. Well, the Cozy Diner was simply excellent. Very clean, but it had that certain almost undefinable gritiness that marks the true diner. The booths were huge--you could fit six burly men with room to spare for plenty of hearty grub.

The place was soo cool that I half expected to see Tom Waits sipping a cup of coffee over at the counter. The whole experience reminded me of Waits' song "Eggs and Sausage" off Nighthawks at The Diner:

Eggs & Sausage
(In a Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

nighthawks at the diner
of Emma's 49er, there's a rendezvous
of strangers around the coffee urn tonight
all the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs
now the paper's been read
now the waitress said

eggs and sausage and a side of toast
coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
what kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade, a late shift masquerade
2 for a quarter, dime for a dance
with Woolworth rhinestone diamond
earrings, and a sideway's glance
and now the register rings
and now the waitress sings

(chorus)

the classified section offered no direction
it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
now the touch of your fingers
lingers burning in my memory
I've been 86ed from your scheme
I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair
as the lead pipe morning falls
and the waitress calls

(chorus)


Come to think of it, there were a couple of over-the-hill hipster characters sitting at the counter discussing the mysteries of bebop over java. The post 9:00 dinner definitely comes with an interesting set of freaks--kinda takes some of the pressure off me.

Dinner was excellent--my wife and I both opted for the chicken-fried steak. The meal actually started with clam chowder, then a nice salad, followed by the steak, which was accompanied by mashed potatoes, seasoned toast, and plenty of gravy. Dessert was one of the best slices of strawberry pie I've ever had. It's shaping up to be a wonderful strawberry season this year. Our waitress was great, pretty much the ur- diner waitress--such economy of motion that you just know she's been there for years and that the place would fall apart without her. She greeted almost everyone by name, and her smile never faltered, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't take any crap off of anyone. Ever.

Anyway, it was one of the best times I've had at a restaurant in a long while. I felt energized, destressed, and revitalized by my diner visit. Next time maybe I'll opt for the classic pie and coffee.
--Josh
 
I love diners and the real American Cafe'. Nothing finer when they're fine and nothing worse when....

A disappointing experience was when we stopped at the Wheel Inn in Cabazon CA a few years back on our way up to see Barb's Bro who was dieing of cancer.
They claimed to have the same great strawberry pie they've always had but was so disappointed in the meal and the service and the cleanliness of the place none of us opted for it. At one time it was a really popular truck stop with extremely Great Service, sad to see it become a ghost of its previous self.:(
 
A good diner is neat.

Josh- I don't like "Nighhawks at the Diner" Self glorifying, self loving crap. A drunk in love with himself and thinking it poetry. Embarressing to listen to. His phrasing, the timing, very very good- he has an excellent ear. But the writing? He knew his audience though- his barsy copy of old jazz and Beat poetry fooled them. It had the form, and that was all that was neccesary.

"Rain Dogs" was great. I love Tom Waits, but he really only had three wonderful albums. The last one I got was a take off of the Berlin nighclub scene. I can listen to it- because I'm a little crazy- but it is arguably awful. It is very hard to handload amunition while listening to this album, it is so bad and noisey.

Let's see; a song or three ridiculing Christianity with every album. No new ground, the same parody every time. Couple drunk suicide ideation songs, and usually one very good song, anarchistic and fun. I haven't heard him break from this form the last three CD's so I stopped buying. How many times do we have to hear him say, "sailor's mouth" ? One critic once wrote that Tom Waits was as wierd, as far out as a Yuppie would go. We got a White guy who can't sing mimicing a Black Man's Blues growl, and in the last few albums, intentionally singing falsetto and horribly- as if daring his audience to hate him.

I still like him, but I gave away, "Nighthawks at the Diner." It was his break out CD. I let my copy break away and leave too. Set Your Chickens Free, and maybe an Eagle will come. A bad Waits album used to be worth buying for the one great song on each. He has some in him, but I can't spend another hundred bucks trying to find them.




munk
 
Oh---- to be back in a Greek Diner in Ronkonkama/Islip,Long Island,New York
with a bait of Blue Fish and a big smile. :D "I can get some satisfaction" there.
 
Josh?

you're right. When they are found, they are a value beyond the experience. Kind of a "culture" which is changing. Nice evening, nice anecdote.

Kis
 
I like Bone machine best, but they're all great.

As fer diners, I can walk out my front door and into the Indy streets, and find 3 good ones withint 100 yards of me abode. You can tell its a real diner if you can smoke in at least one part. My faves are one called "Keysone Deli" run by some good old boys, and the other good one is called "Donut" and is run by wonderful Folks from Mindanao.

Keith
 
There is (or was, dunno) a remarkable "joint" named the Hamburger King, about 1 1/2 blocks south of Wrigley Field. It was initially started by a nisei WW II vet and his family and had a clientele of Latin Kings street gang members, construction workers, struggling students, wannnabe actors, business men, derelicts, and with virtually every gender, ethnicity, profession, age, and perhaps...religion represented.

It served rice with gravy (a pork gravy) in a bowl for $. 30, Aktagawa ?(sp) and Yetcamein [a soup with chicken broth, sliced hard-boiled egg, pork bits, rice, green onions, and some other stuff], hamburgers, meatloaf, you name it...fast and inexpensively. Rice was ALWAYS a side dish.

The area has been horribly yuppified, developed, enhanced, destroyed, you-name-it, so I don't know if it still exists. But it was WONDERFUL. About 7 years ago, the Health department got after them to clean up 30 years of accumulated smoke and grime on the walls, but you still had to walk through the kitchen (!) to get to the toilet, complete with a single hook latch. The paneled walls are still cheap panel, so the charm has not disappeared with the refurbishing.

Last time I was in Chicago was three or four years ago. I made special trips over to Wrigley just to eat at the King. Sometimes, Life is good.


Kis


Edit: If Brian gets there from Bucktown, it is on Waveland, where it intersects Clark and some cross-street.
 
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