Diners, drive-ins, and dives

Ran across The Little Acorn many, many years ago on the Delmarva Peninsula. I do not know if it is still there but I did get a hit on the Flickr pics by someone who had stopped in and said it was still the same. It is at the back of a non-descript parking lot at the north end of the Peninsula, probably Delaware. It is/was a gem. Any place counting "Macaroni and Cheese" as "Veg of the Day" is a place you want to eat at.

FWIW "Dumplings" are different on the Delmarva Peninsula. I have forgotten how but they are not what you expect. The food was good home cooking.


 
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I'm thinking about Melbourne/Australia and wondering if we have similar old diners. Many of our eateries are cafes that have sprung up in the last 15-20 years, and aren't the 60's/70's examples seen here. There are a lot of old buildings which have been repurposed for eating, but they don't have the longer term history of the American ones. Most roadside diners between cities are a part of modern truck stops which are a combination of giant fuel stop, 7-Eleven, and a handful of fast food outlets like McDonalds, KFC, and Hungry Jacks under one roof.
 
Taipei-metro said:
Beef Tongue Specialist,
( best Beef Tongue cooking is at Sendai City, North East Japan 仙台 市)
( no, i did not try it...Yet, we have pork tongue most of the time )

in Mitsuwa Japan Market

Costa Mesa, Orange County, southern California


Img by Taipei-metro

Lumix mFT G6,
Panasonic 14mm F2.5
Click to expand...

Beef tongue is great eating.
 
Taipei-metro said:
Beef Tongue Specialist,
( best Beef Tongue cooking is at Sendai City, North East Japan 仙台 市)
( no, i did not try it...Yet, we have pork tongue most of the time )
Click to expand...

This is true! I've eaten beef tongue in Sendai city several times and it's the best I've ever had. There's one particular restaurant in Sendai that we like to go to for their beef tongue lunch special. Coincidentally we'll be going there this coming July 7th.

Edit: this is the website for the restaurant we go to in Sendai: Dateno Gyutan Honpo

All the best,
Mike
 
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Yokosuka Mike said:
This is true! I've eaten beef tongue in Sendai city several times and it's the best I've ever had. There's one particular restaurant in Sendai that we like to go to for their beef tongue lunch special. Coincidentally we'll be going there this coming July 7th.

Edit: this is the website for the restaurant we go to in Sendai: Dateno Gyutan Honpo

All the best,
Mike
Click to expand...

Thankfully the gift page does not translate. ;o) I am used to "English Style" tongue poached and then sliced thin for sandwiches with flaming hot mustard. It is a great cut of meat and mostly overlooked.
 
Archiver said:
I'm thinking about Melbourne/Australia and wondering if we have similar old diners. Many of our eateries are cafes that have sprung up in the last 15-20 years, and aren't the 60's/70's examples seen here. There are a lot of old buildings which have been repurposed for eating, but they don't have the longer term history of the American ones. Most roadside diners between cities are a part of modern truck stops which are a combination of giant fuel stop, 7-Eleven, and a handful of fast food outlets like McDonalds, KFC, and Hungry Jacks under one roof.
Click to expand...

Rest assured that we have plenty (I.e. far too many) of the fast food combo places you’ve mentioned as well. While diners of one sort or another can be found all over America, the vast majority of the authentic diner cars are located in the Northeastern portion of the country. The first American diners actually date back to the late 1800s. Those were horse-drawn carts constructed of wood (and were essentially the predecessor to the food trucks that are so popular these days.) The iconic diners that most people think of (the ones using plenty of stainless steel and shiny chrome that were built to look like railcars) came a few decades later, most of them likely dating back to the 1940s and 50s. These were prefabricated and then delivered to their “permanent” locations. (As they were relatively easy to move, many of today’s surviving diners were originally located elsewhere.) I’ve long loved these places and have a number of books about them. (Unfortunately I can’t refer to any of them at the moment as those books are all packed up in boxes around here somewhere.)

I’ve eaten in more diners than I can remember over the years, but the majority of those were in New England. My ex-wife’s father came from a very large family in Maine and his brothers & sisters eventually wound up spread throughout the region. During the nearly three decades that we were married, she and I took many trips to New England to visit those aunts & uncles which I always enjoyed. Along the way we ate in as many diners as we could. Sadly a good number of those places are no longer around, but that’s the way of the world. Just as sad is the fact that I rarely had a camera along with me on those trips, otherwise I surely would have snagged more pictures of these places. Fortunately, for now at least, I still have my memories of those times.
 
The Littleton Diner can be found on Main Street in downtown Littleton, New Hampshire which is a gorgeous little town. The first time I ate at this place was in 1993 when my ex and I visited Littleton while on our honeymoon. Over the years we ate there many more times when visiting family in the area. While the town of Littleton has seen a fair bit of change (as far as small New England towns go), little seemed to have changed over the years when it comes to the Littleton Diner.

This diner’s roots extend back to 1930, but the current structure was built in 1940. At one point (likely in the 1960s or 70s) a mansard roof was added along with an extended front fascia. I suspect that this was done to visually unify the original diner and the additional dining space built to the left of the diner. The inside of the original diner space still hints at the roofline as the diner was delivered. The diner’s website features a number of historic images of the diner (taken before the mansard roof was added).

littletonDinerOutside.jpeg

littletonDinerInside.jpeg
 
Guth said:
Rest assured that we have plenty (I.e. far too many) of the fast food combo places you’ve mentioned as well. While diners of one sort or another can be found all over America, the vast majority of the authentic diner cars are located in the Northeastern portion of the country. The first American diners actually date back to the late 1800s. Those were horse-drawn carts constructed of wood (and were essentially the predecessor to the food trucks that are so popular these days.) The iconic diners that most people think of (the ones using plenty of stainless steel and shiny chrome that were built to look like railcars) came a few decades later, most of them likely dating back to the 1940s and 50s. These were prefabricated and then delivered to their “permanent” locations. (As they were relatively easy to move, many of today’s surviving diners were originally located elsewhere.) I’ve long loved these places and have a number of books about them. (Unfortunately I can’t refer to any of them at the moment as those books are all packed up in boxes around here somewhere.)

I’ve eaten in more diners than I can remember over the years, but the majority of those were in New England. My ex-wife’s father came from a very large family in Maine and his brothers & sisters eventually wound up spread throughout the region. During the nearly three decades that we were married, she and I took many trips to New England to visit those aunts & uncles which I always enjoyed. Along the way we ate in as many diners as we could. Sadly a good number of those places are no longer around, but that’s the way of the world. Just as sad is the fact that I rarely had a camera along with me on those trips, otherwise I surely would have snagged more pictures of these places. Fortunately, for now at least, I still have my memories of those times.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this! For some reason, I imagined actor Sam Elliott's voice when I read this, it just seemed appropriate somehow. 😄
 
Archiver said:
Thank you for this! For some reason, I imagined actor Sam Elliott's voice when I read this, it just seemed appropriate somehow. 😄
Click to expand...
Too funny! My son used to work in the neighborhood pet supplies store when he was younger. One day a guy came in to buy some cat toys that he claimed were for his sister. My son was the one to ring him up at the register. Before the guy could make it out of the store my son caught up with him to tell him that he looked just like Sam Elliott. Apparently the guy laughed and in that deep voice he said “Yeah, I get that a lot”. Then he winked at my son and left. The rest of the staff had a good laugh as Elliott had visited the store before. Apparently he has property located outside of Portland and his family home is here in town somewhere. For me the best part of the story is my son’s attempt at impersonating Elliott’s voice.
 
12 Cafe Homemade Pie.tif
 
I grew up in North Jersey, an hour from Times Square. We had lots of diners and I thought the whole world had lots of diners. Not so. Most were run by Greeks and served great, home-style food. Not McD, breakfast was served anytime you wanted it. The soups were always great. The same in SW Connecticut, Greenwich. That's all gone now.

FWIW I worked with a Greek. He was a Tech programmer and funny. He and three other Greeks were going to open a diner and each would work three months on, nine months off. One guy did not have enough cash and the others did not want to loan to him. Too bad, they all wished later that they had loaned him the money.

I miss real home-cooked food, the funky feel of the diners and the fun folks who ran them. There is no equal today. Not even close.
 
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