US Diner Menus

caseydog said:
At Waffle House, the kitchen is open and in full view. You can watch your food being cooked. Their cooks are amazing to watch
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The restaurant where I had scrambled eggs (yeah, which one? :laugh:) was like that, kitchen in full view, and staffed by about a dozen young Amish womenI doubt anyone was over 21.

To say they were efficient is an understatement. It was like watching a single machine work, and every person back there knew their job. We had to wait for a table for about 15 minutes, and I was mesmerized watching them.
 
TastyReuben said:
The restaurant where I had scrambled eggs (yeah, which one? :laugh:) was like that, kitchen in full view, and staffed by about a dozen young Amish womenI doubt anyone was over 21.

To say they were efficient is an understatement. It was like watching a single machine work, and every person back there knew their job. We had to wait for a table for about 15 minutes, and I was mesmerized watching them.
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I would love to eat at an Amish place one day
 
Windigo said:
Well, that would be wonderful? Where are you looking at? Pennsylvania, Lancaster county or another?
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We looked at two areas; Lancaster County, and then farther west, just west of Gettysburg. MrsT likes the Amish and the American Civil War in fairly equal measures. :)
 
caseydog said:
One point I have been trying to make is that you can have a 40 item breakfast menu, and still have fresh ingredients and good cooking. Your kitchen just needs to be set up for that kind of cooking, and the cooks have to be experienced in that kind of cooking. It has to be your specialty.
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There was a point I made earlier was in relation to the long menus in American diners - I think that although the menus are long, the ingredients are really quite limited and not items that will have a short shelf life. Often, the menu choices seem to be various combinations of the same ingredients maybe cooked a bit differently.

Its not the same as a long menu covering shellfish, fish, chicken, game etc. And in general American diner menus don't include a multiplicity of dishes that requires careful technical cooking skills, which vary from dish to dish.

When I see a wide ranging menu with lots of different dishes and ingredients and each dish is very different - that is when I mistrust it.
 
Morning Glory said:
There was a point I made earlier was in relation to the long menus in American diners - I think that although the menus are long, the ingredients are really quite limited and not items that will have a short shelf life. Often, the menu choices seem to be various combinations of the same ingredients maybe cooked a bit differently.

Its not the same as a long menu covering shellfish, fish, chicken, game etc. And in general American diner menus don't include a multiplicity of dishes that requires careful technical cooking skills, which vary from dish to dish.

When I see a wide ranging menu with lots of different dishes and ingredients and each dish is very different - that is when I mistrust it.
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Good observation. American diner breakfast menus may have five kinds of pancakes, five ways to order eggs -- Waffle House has about six ways to order hash browns. A lot of options from a few ingredients.

A lot of food in a diner is cooked on a "Flat Top," a large steal griddle with some zones hotter than others. One cook can easily cook eggs, bacon, hash browns and pancakes at the same time. The cooks are are specialized to that kind of cooking.

As much as a love a good diner breakfast, I can live without the lunches and dinners. If I want a burger, I'll go to a place that specializes in burgers. Some diners do a good chicken fried steak, but not all -- that's not as easy to make as it seems. CFS is like fish and chips... it can be awesome if you do it right, or terrible if you do it wrong.

In traditional American diners, the cooking is done in full view of the dining room. You can't hide poor cleanliness practices from the customers. They see it all. At a Waffle House, you will constantly see the cooks wiping down their areas. I like being able to see the kitchen making my breakfast.

CD
 
caseydog said:
They see it all. At a Waffle House, you will constantly see the cooks wiping down their areas. I like being able to see the kitchen making my breakfast.
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What struck me about the young Amish gals working the one diner I mentioned...very quiet. Almost silence. Never a raised voice, and a lot of exchanges done with a lean-in and a whisper.

For whatever reason, I'm sensitive to certain noises, and clanging pots and pans, clinking flatware, and noisily stacking plates can really do me in. None of that going on, and what was more interesting, that quietness from the staff kind of infected the customers. Everyone was quiet, and when a guy with a booming voice would walk in, he'd suddenly realize how loud he sounded and pipe down a bit. It was nice.
 
caseydog said:
In traditional American diners, the cooking is done in full view of the dining room. You can't hide poor cleanliness practices from the customers. They see it all. At a Waffle House, you will constantly see the cooks wiping down their areas. I like being able to see the kitchen making my breakfast.
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That I like. Open kitchens becoming increasingly popular in 'higher end' restaurants here. I like that very much, as if I can get a table with a view of the kitchen I can watch and learn. One Michelin starred restaurant I've been to even has 'counter seats' which you can book, so you are literally looking right into the kitchen. Its absolutely fascinating watching top chefs at work.
 
Morning Glory said:
One Michelin starred restaurant I've been to even has 'counter seats' which you can book,
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That's how a lot of diners are here, minus the needing to book. The counter is where you go if you're in a hurry and want to be seated and served as quickly as possible, no need to wait to be seated, and be prepared to interact with the other diners. Counter critters traditionally like to talk. :)
 
TastyReuben said:
First, I'm remiss in thanking Morning Glory for saying my home-cooked meals look more varied/balanced nutritionally. I appreciate that, thank you! :)

Now, to CD's comment above, that's a good point - I am on vacation, which means, I'm eating what I want to eat, no guilt, no worry, and when I eat what I want to eat, it's going to involve potatoes, and lots of them.

Fried skillet potatoes with breakfast, potato chips/crisps with my lunch sandwich, French fries/chips with my cheeseburger for supper, and maybe some more potato stuff worked in for snacks. I can eat potatoes all day, every day. :woot:

Once we're back home, it'll be cold cereal for breakfast five days a week, and salads, and green veggie sides at night. Good in their own way, but I'd rather be eating potatoes. :)
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Treated myself out yesterday for breakfast at the local breakfast/lunch cafe. i ordered Eggs Benedict Florentine. HOLD the awful hash brown potatoes! Instead got a side of their special for the day, a bacon quiche slice. The eggs benedict was colorful - green spinach, red tomato...

This morning, home made steak and egg. (One egg.) A home grown egg is almost orange in its fried yolk, so it's colorful, too.

TastyReuben said:
That's how a lot of diners are here, minus the needing to book. The counter is where you go if you're in a hurry and want to be seated and served as quickly as possible, no need to wait to be seated, and be prepared to interact with the other diners. Counter critters traditionally like to talk. :)
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I do like the counter conversations, but not yet ready to go back to doing that, with the number of vax liars there are out there. Besides, I can access my phone texts better there than at home.
 
My only experience of an American Diner was way back some 20 years ago, in White Plains, NY. We were mostly South Americans, working on a, inernational project, who wanted a "Diner" experience.:D:D We went for dinner.
For $9.99, we got:
Soup, Main with two sides, Salad and Dessert.
The soup? No idea what it was, but it was served in a bucket.
Main was 2 humungously gigantic chicken breasts, served with potatoes and 2 sides. I dread to think what those "sides" were.
Salad was a gigantic bowl of lettuce leaves, cucumber chunks, ice-cold tomatoes, and probably something else as well.
Dessert - I really can´t remember, Probably a whole pound of apple pie, with cardboard pastry.
I suppose things have changed. However, I´d imagine that restaurants like "Diners" rely on using few ingredients in different presentations to offer customers, and that probably,many dishes are pre-cooked or at least prepared in a way that allows them to be served in less than five minutes. It´s amazing what can be done with a few "strategically-made" sauces or broths.
 
caseydog said:
American diner food is what it is. Meaty, starchy and fatty. That said, the good diners have really good food. It is comfort food. To find a good diner, you ask the locals. Eat where the locals eat.

There is a place like that not too far from me that is a mom and pop cafe (the term diner is not that common down here). It is a few blocks from my first house, and I still go back from time to time. The wife runs the dining room, and the husband runs the kitchen. They know who I am when I come in, even if I haven't been in for a year. They automatically bring me my coffee, no cream, no sugar. That kind of environment is part of the appeal of good diners.

No, I wouldn't recommend you eat like that everyday. I wouldn't recommend you eat a full-English every day, either.

CD
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We used to eat on a Sunday night without kids and partners at a joint called " sophies", they all knew us by name, Amy the student Asian girl always looked after us. I was a good tipper. Tipping is unusual here although I've always tipped good meals and good service. Earthquakes finished those Sunday nights.
That's when I started doing Sunday nights here.
I miss that kind of service, and company.

Russ
 
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