"Whaddya Want"

As a native Arizonan, I would like to apologize for the proliferation of the 5 & Diner chain. Back in the late 80s when they started, it really looked like they were going to bring back the classic American diner, down to cramped noisy quarters in an honest to goodness diner from the old days. Then they expanded the place to make it more comfortable, some of the charm got lost in the expansion, and now they're all over the place. These days, they sling chow that's not quite as good as Denny's... I'm not saying Denny's is particularly wonderful, mind you. I just know you can use it as a benchmark if you live in the US, and they do serve a purpose: Where else are you going at 2 AM? If you're me, it's Waffle House... but I'll hold that thought for later. Anyway, 5 & Diner. Denny's also-ran, more expensive, both of which they hope you don't notice because the atmosphere is retro cute.

So... Waffle House. Any of you north of the Mason-Dixon Line don't know what you're missing. I think part of the allure is that when you're inside you feel like you're absorbed into Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks". I wouldn't dream of going while the sun is out. Its place is when you want a hearty meal in the dead of night, usually as penance for one's earlier liquid indulgences. The waitress should be past middle age, chain smoking, and have a hair color not found in nature. The food is nothing to write home about, but there's something awfully comforting about a pecan waffle and some scattered, covered, and smothered hash browns that Denny's just doesn't manage to come close to.

Ok, it's official-this site promotes telepathy. Pam and I were discussing this VERY SUBJECT last night on Yahoo, in the midst of a grits debate.

That is just spooky...

http://exmorediner.com/

OH. Yeah.

The  Awful Waffle. Smothered and covered.  Out on the highway not too far from here, they have one on either side of the road- well, they ARE about 1500 feet apart. And the Red Cross gives out free waffle coupons when you share your blood.  I think I have mentioned before that there is a Waffle House University and, like the hula,  every motion has a meaning. You order any way you like, but the waitress Orders In Order. Even the placement of your jelly packs means something. 

And it's OK when you're sober, too.

a debate on grits?

I have some on the stove right now....no quick grits in my home.

Yellow or white? Stiff or runny? Butter or bacon grease?

I like mine with a couple of eggs over medium.

My husband's favorite diner meal is pancakes and scrapple.

"No self respecting grit loving southerner would have instant grits." My Cousin Vinnie.

This link says it all Enjoy ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9EpXj4HLto&feature=related

A hamburger , the kind where the bun has been grilled along with the 'meat' patty add lettuce, tomato, all the condiments and a few dill pickle chips and French fries.  Wash it down with a tall glass of really really cold soft drink. Then for dessert the perfect slice of apple pie and a cup o' joe the likes of can only be found in a diner - preferable called something like "BLUE BIRD" or "THE GREASY SPOON" or "THE SNACK BAR" or just plane "JOE'S" 

As for grits...not instant, and not Yankee (with sugar)  - other than that - I'm easy like my eggs - which go very well with grits.  My husband says you can't have grits AND hash browns, not me, I like it all. Add some thick cut hickory smoked sugar cured bacon, soda biscuits, saw mill gravy on the side, apple butter to go on the last biscuit for the finishing note - all with the trademark bottomless cup o' joe.

Aaaahhhhh...

How come I have image's of Flo from the show Alice running through my mind now?.... 

rings90,

Thanks for the video link.  Nice!

Here is the recipe for soda biscuits like my Granny use to make. (You owe it to your taste buds so make them some.)

BAKING SODA BISCUITS 
2 c. sifted flour
1/4 c. shortening
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. buttermilk
Sift together the dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until like coarse meal. Make well in center of flour mixture. Add all the buttermilk at one stir, stir to make soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured board. Knead about 30 seconds. Pat or roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with 2 inch cutter. Ungreased sheet. Bake 450 for 12 minutes or lightly brown.

a recipe for biscuits ???....my grandmother woulp scoop a heap of self rising flour into the bisuit mixing bowl(only used for making biscuits).She then made a well in the center of he flour.Into the well she would pour in just enough full fat fresh buttermilk.with a couple of swift full arm mixes the dough was ready..too much mixin and kneeding makes for tough bisciuts.No rolling here.She would pinch off pieces of biscuit dough and drop them onto a "greased" pan.After 12-15 min in a moderate oven they were ready.

In her heyday, she would make 12 doz or so for lunch.

She fed a husband, 12 children and all the farm hands.

Janet,

That's how my Granny did it too, but you know how it is "now a-day's" got to have a recipe for the 'young'ens'.   First thing in the morning she would make all the biscuits warmer would hold over the wood stove she cooked on to fed all her family.  The best lunch in the world after working in the fields with Granny and Granddaddy we would each get a soda biscuit with a slice of tomato right out of the field we were working.  All the grandkids had their own row to hoe, Granddaddy would make us our own hoe to use when we got old enough to use it and a little metal cup to dip water out of the spring to drink with our lunch.  Good stuff.  

how old are you?

I'm 55.

My grandparents had a dug well with a bucket(just like the movies) My grandfather filled his own smoke house and my grandmother canned all of their foods.They were tobacco farmers.....as a child,I even had the opportunity to help "string tobacco" and load it into the tobacco barn for curing.

also.....does anyone know  the Donut Dinette in Norfolk Va?

Still makes donuts every AM. a diner of sorts.

Tried to upload a pic but I'm such a techno-dud

i don't know about Donut Dinette, but it sounds great. In a recent trip down south I was very impressed with the Waffle House, even though a chain, and probably not considered highly by Southerners themselves, we all though it was great. Where else can you get hash browns done twenty different ways at like a buck fifty an order.

I am an old 45, my brother and sisters are in their late early 60's late 50's. My parents had me when they were in their 40's. We all lived -my mother (84), brother and his children and their children, two of our cousins and their respective children and grandchildren still live on a farm that has been in the family for over 100 years in the mountains of Western NC - right on the Madison/Buncombe County line. We grew everything the family ate on that farm, had vineyards, apple orchards, blueberry fields, you name it - it was grown there. Canned beans, dried apples, made jelly, jam, grew the pork, beef, chickens we ate, even made soap, etc... ground our own corn meal too. My grandparents would trade the corn meal for flour at the mill in Marshall. My grandmother was a root doctor and had a licenses to grow medicinal plants - bloodroot, ginseng, etc... what she didn't keep to use after drying we took to Burnsville and sold. It was used in apothecaries around the area. That is why my husband and I live the life we do now. After traveling so much it is nice to be working the farm again - only now for us its in Tennessee.

jmr....next trip south try the Exmore Diner....get over the Birdge Tunnel and stop at the Donut Dinette for  coffee break...as you can tell, we like to eat...

Cynthia....my Mother's roots are in SE North Carolina...that side of my family I can trace to the mid to late 1600's in SE Va. Probably the 2nd or 3rd boat out of England....hahahah

Sounds like similar backgrounds....most folks will not be able to relate to our rural self sufficient Heritage.I wouldn't trade it for anything....my Father's family was on a MUCH later boat.

Janet,

I hear you and agree. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

rings 90 - I, too, remember "Kiss my grits!"

Thanks for the tips, Janet. I've already noted them.

In Annapolis, MD, there is a big shiny silver and glass block diner called the Double T. It's open 24/7 and you can get breakfast anytime - omelettes, challah bread french toast, cheese blintzes (you name it) - yum! You can bask in the glow of neon lights and listen to the tabletop jukeboxes. The menu is huge. You can order almost anything your heart desires; from hot open meatloaf sandwiches to Greek salad (with lots of feta cheese) to crab cakes. I've never made it to the desserts, which greet you in a big display case as you walk in the door. Much better than the Denny's down the street.

Being a Northern girl, Olivia promises me that grits made right...and I think she said with cheese and garlic?...are delicious. I've only had one experience with grits, in New Orleans...sticky and bland. I agreed I would remain open-minded and give them another try.

Any other ex-servers here other than Nachista and me? Can't remember.

My sisters and I waited tables all the way through college. Then we'd travel all summer and pick up gigs abroad. Great job for flexibility and road trips. Also, we all agree that we learned more about people and humanity, and 'managing' people from those jobs than anything college taught us.

Oh my Gawd, we had fun. Especially when we worked together. We looked enough alike that we could mess with out tables. And you all know how much I like to mess with people.

It's such a bohemian climate, especially in tourist areas. Lots of roadies who, like me, find it important to be able to go when the mood strikes.

Anyway, the old lingo still exists, it's just behind the scenes now. I did most of my work in fine dining, not just because that's where the good money is, but because I love good food, so I can sell it. That's how I am. If I love it, I can sell it. If I don't, I won't sell it. Period.

I could talk about espresso-soaked duck until my tables were espresso-soaked themselves. And at $8 dollars per shot, it was worth my while to keep talking. If ya know what I mean.

But when you get to the 'back of the house,' the atmosphere is much different. It's awesome. I honestly miss the adrenaline. There's a rhythm. A code. No smiles. Minimal talking. All that is saved for 'on the floor.'

You hear things like, "behind," "hot, behind," "sharp, behind," "clear the deck," "12 top up," "three 2's coming back, "hot apps."

It's very much a theater production. Everyone has their role. Their part. I was the 'nice girl' who the manager sent out when another server had taken the bait from some arse at their table and told them off. I was the good cop. And I was very good at it because I'm very good at insulting people with a smile. It's a gift.

"No, sir. I CAN NOT believe she left the foil so close to the bottle opening before pouring your THIRTY DOLLAR bottle of (insert name of swill). Unfortunately she lacks your obviously discriminating palette and fine wine appreciation."
(and this is where, in my fantasy, I would remove the cork with my teeth and spit it on his table)

Yes, those fantasies get played out often, out loud, and in detail behind the scenes.

And then, when the curtains come down, the chairs go up and the aprons come off, the real wine tasting begins. How the hell else are we supposed to sell the stuff?!

Ah, good times.

And if you're scrappy, and you know the silent dance of 'back of the house,' you can always 'cut in' at many pubs and small restaurants abroad just for an evening. Earns you enough to get to the next town.

I've never heard of the Yankee way of eating grits, by the way. As a Yankee myself, grits were never an option. It was good old-fashioned oatmeal when I was growing up. So, I do appreciate all the cooking and eating suggestions I'm reading here today. I'm never afraid to try anything new (even snails).

Cynthia ~ I resent being told that I HAVE to have a Recipe becuase I am young :) 

Actually I feel the real reason us young ones need the recipes, is because most of the parents haven't taken the time to pass on the cooking secrets of our grandparents.

My Parental Grandmother made the best bread inthe world (well at least in my corner of it) but she never had a written recipe, becuase  she had learned how to do so by helping her mother when she was young.  One day I spent the day with her making bread writing it all down so us grandkids could have some semblance of the recipe to bne able to make it ourselves. It still makes 8 loaves but my that's with the True Recipe being cut down as when my G-ma made it when she was a girl it made 16.   

Very happy that Mickey's in St. Paul was mentioned...24/7 service in typical greasy spoon/diner fashion.  Try the one eyed jack for breakfast, their burgers and fries are the perfect 3am grease fest and go great with the pie or shake.  Mickey's is truly and old school diner.

There used to be a great upscale diner in Jackson, WY called The Blue Moon, it was one of the few restaurants that have gone out of business that I actually miss up there.  It was New York style bistro food with a diner influence, really good.

Favorite fancy diner that is still in business has to be the Fog City Diner.  Hands down it has the most comfortable restaurant booths I've ever sat in and the best upscale diner food around.  The chicken snitzel with mashed potatoes is always a fav.

Missive, I'm not sure I could go back to working in an open kitchen like a diner after working in a fine dining/closed kitchen atmosphere.  You are right it has a dance and language all its own and the energy is unbelievable.  I like the pirate ship in the throes of battle feeling and the behind the scenes rehashing of obnoxious customers. 

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about with the wine story.  I had a woman order a Copperidge white zin...and she requested a specific YEAR!!!  You can buy that at the liquor store for $5, its right next to the Wild Vines screw tops.  The best part was that she said that the shape of our wine glasses didn't emphasis the bouquet of the wine to her liking.  She came back a few weeks later and brought her own glasses.  This was at a Lonestar brand steakhouse so we weren't exactly fine dining, but it was still funny.

another way to eat gits...first had these in the low country,now they seem to be everywhere....grits with shrimp and cheese.....lots of recipes on" the net"....

...and let's not forget "polenta"

I "86"ed my server career early on...

jmr, I'm glad you discovered Wafle House, and NO! by no means do Southerners look down on them, or none I know. They're perfect when you want what they do, and they do it well.  Also, they're open if not all night, certainly quite late, and often are the only place open when you're travelling. Or at home. We have several, and each is like the other no matter where you are. I love their lingo, try to guess what means what when the waitress calls it out to cooks. You never enter one that an employee doesn't say, "Good morning,""good night," depending on the hour; I expect that's part of their training. THey know how to cook bacon crisp, no fat on it; waffles are dependably Waffle-House-good; BLT's are fine, as are chocolate and lemon pies, but don't expect homemade flavor and texture; they're Waffle-House-good. Nor do you go there for good seafood or steak; stick with what they do well, and you're fine.  I once ordered soup and it was from-the-can Campbell's vegetable, I'm sure, so veer away from that. Hashbrowns I've never succeeded with, and theirs are great; growing up with grits in every guise (including yum! fried grits), Cream of Wheat, and oatmeal, I never encountered hashbrowns 'til Waffle House. Someone mentioned scrapple, and I've wondered what it is; what are its ingrediants. Never saw it on a menu, even travelling. The name doesn't give clues to ingredients, and reminds of something unpleasant, but as many characters as I've read eating it in books, it must be good. 

All language intrigues me, and diner lingo is no exception, especially as it varies with region: I wonder who makes it up, for it has to start with menu.... Another good things about Waffle House is iced tea comes very sweet; I needn't ask, though have learned above the M-D line to ask for sugar and sweetener because if they serve iced tea at all, it's going to be unsweetened (once it's cold, tea's hard, if not impossible, to properly sweeten, must be done during the process or you stir and stir and stir and still it's not really sweet). 

Please don't tell me diners are going away.  I, too, think of Edward Hopper when I see one, certainly when I'm in one. 

http://www.rapascrapple.com/

Rapa Scrapple is the brand folks eat around here....

I won't go near the stuff.....but my husband LOVES it....especially with pancakes...likes to pour a little syrup on it too....lots of snouts and livers and.....guess what cornmeal , as ingredients....

not as creepy and "souse cheese"

At least one Sunday a month I host a big brunch.  The menu is pretty simple though time consuming.  However, the critics (a 5, 3, and one year old, hubby, and other family members and a few friends) all give me a 5 star rating.  The menu consists of: 

Bacon (pork and turkey), Fried Chicken, Homemade Sausage, and Corned Beef Hash and in the summer when family goes fishing we also have Fresh Fried Catfish 

Fried Potatoes with onions and green peppers

Garlic Cheese Grits with Cornflake Topping

Scrambled Eggs 

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits (with White Sausage Gravy), Sourdough Wheat Toast, and Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Homemade Apple Butter and Strawberry Jam with real Creamery Butter (I personally use Olivio).

Fresh Fruit Salad

Sliced Tomatoes (in season)

The menu is always the same.  I would be hung if I changed anything.  But if we go out to a diner for breakfast there is one called "Ramseys", a family owned and operated establishment that the lingo eludes me.  None of the normal terminology.  They use a language all their own.  Back to J.S.:  I love Cajon shrimp and grits for any meal.  "It ain't da shrimps dat make ya fat, it's da butta, dawlin!" I may have been born in KY but I think I must be a little Acadiana in me.  I love ALL creole/cajun food, especially really good shrimp and grits.  Now I am really looking forward to Fat Tuesday!  OOOOHweeee!

 Machdaddy1

I need to make my shrove tuesday pancakes....with the butter and sugar syrup...and i don't fear fat...I won't have wrinkles!!!

My father claims my Mom snagged him with her fried chicken...I snagged my hubbie with my chicken salad...

see ya at jazzFest?

MackDaddy ~ How was your St. V's date? how was the film? FULL REPORT PLEASE ~ STAT!!

Perhaps grits are an acquired taste? The only polenta I've had was rather watery. I'm sure a good cook with a good recipe, on paper or in the heart, can make corn meal taste extraordinarily fine. I really didn't grow up with ground corn. We had corn-on-the-cob or creamed corn. I recall much of the corn going to the cows. The only local recipe I remember is Johnnycakes - a cornmeal pancake, made much more palatable by the addition of bacon and maple syrup. I know, in Colonial times, hasty pudding (corn meal mush) was popular, but that was then.

In the North, our growing season was usually short and the rocks grew well. Potatoes, beans and peas are what I remember raising and eating the most. New England Diners always seem to have red flannel hash (potatoes, onions and beets), some type of chowder, and baked beans, on the menu, along with real maple syrup. 

Kindlee ~ I'm not big on Grits either. Inever had them until we went o VA one year. Mom brought some home form the Stratford Hall Grain Mill to make, becuase she had them as a child & liked them.   I really do think its an acquired taste. I did have them a few years back when we were in N.O. but I still don't think I have fully acquired the taste for them almost 20yrs later..  

rings90,

No disrespect intended at all. In the operation of our post-secondary school my husband and I find it jaw-dropping that the young students (30 years and below) just don't know how to cook or do much of anything else for themselves. If its not Ramen noodles they are lost!

MackDaddy,

I got my husband with sweet potato fries. I was the first he had ever dated in his (at the time) 35 years that knew what they were and how to make them the way he liked them.

And we Southerners don't have a problem one with Waffle House - nary a one.

Being from Coastal Carolina, my Mom always fries her fish in a cornmeal coating and serves cornbread made in a black iron fry pan...always serves rice with seafood...being ,again, from Coastal Carolina.

Fond memories of ocean fishing all day, and cooking(frying of course) the fish on an open fire on the beach that night.

we always had the pan fried corn bread( ALWAYS made with chopped onion) ,fried fish and watermelon for dessert.

AAAHHHHH....sweet potatoe ANYTHING.....are you familiar with our Eastern Shore Hayman potatoes?

....and sweet potatoe pie, biscuits etc....love a hot hayman or red sweet potatoe for breakfast with lots of BUTTER and brown sugar....the breakfast of champions!!!

Missy, Suz-I think I storied up my restaurant experience another day. It was a wild life, but great memories. I got one hundred dollar tip, but I gave it back and cut the guy off. I was bartending at the time.

Here in Little Rock, you gotta go to Homer's for lunch. It's a true Tardis experience, for you walk right into the 50's, and it's authentic, cos the diner never left them. The waitresses all call you 'hon', and shout the lingo through a rectangular window back to the grannies in hair nets cooking in the kitchen. Look around, you'll see lawyers, politicians, the county sheriff, and all sorts of just folks evawhere. Their pies will light your life, their coffee is good-it isn't quite float-a-pistol, but you can't see the bottom of the cup, either, and it keeps a coming, long as you want it. The meat and three can't be beat, the breakfast is sublime, and the ambiance is real chrome dinette, with a dirt parking lot and lotsa trucks. No dinner, come early or you'll wait a while.

Then there's the Satellite Diner, an Airstream re-creation that tries hard, and comes close to the fifties grail of the gussied up rail car. It's over on the North side, where I stay. Yeah, right down by the railroad tracks, so you get those good vibrations sometimes. You'll need a spoon for your shakes, a both hands for your burger, and lots of napkins. Cotham's is home to the Hubcap burger, a celebrated odyssey for the diner food conoisseur. You better show up hungry.

Grits? I got your grits right here. With two huevos fritos, hash browns and ketchup, bacon or sausage (make mine turkey, por favor), or both, and a short stack, you'll be ok for a while. Good fuel for field work or a long hike. I don't recommend sitting on that load.

I hear Jesus is coming-gotta look busy...

nothing wrong with an honest day's manual labor....

I work mine off in the gym when it's not garden season...

what, no"treif"

Thanks  one and all for making me hungry an hour after lunch.

Pan fried cornbread, usually made with the leftover batter and a few fine chopped onions , is called hush puppies in these parts- supposedly because they were fried to throw to the dogs. Of course, you can overdress just about anything. And probably make it taste like cardboard if you factory produce it far enough away from the point of consumption.

What was it the guy said about not being an alcoholic and knowing when you woke up that this was as good as you were going to feel all day?  I am not here to encourage overindulgence, but  I will say that  going to a diner or Waffle House stone sober ( and not hung over) is like a tie in football.  Surely somebody here remembers what Frank Howard said about that...

no...not hushpuppies.....this bread in poured in one piece into a little grease in the fry pan....Mom flips it(using a plate) when bubbles appear on the surface....same ingrediends a little different execution...

and as for the dogs....mine wait for the "pot cake" when ever I cook grits or rice....

Mackdaddy, can I live in your kitchen?

JS: I know what you mean.  I snagged my hubby with my MOMS fried chicken and have kept him for 33.5 years with my MEATLOAF.   

Thanks for asking about the VDay dinner guys.  It was VERY (read into that what you will) successful.  He loved it all!  He said the only thing sweeter would be me dipped in chocolate!  I know that is so sappy, but he meant it as a heart felt compliment.  The food was out of this world, but I will confess that the wine went to my head (just like Ninotchka but without the hat and glamorous gown).  I laid a big furry blanket on the floor in front of the fireplace and we ate on it while listening to Barry White and other romantic music from the 70's and 80's.  We watched the movie and ate popcorn, but towards the end we ended up dancing to the remake of "Lady in Red" and kinda ditched the end of the movie.  We saved the chocolate dipped strawberries until the end of the evening and they were big juicy ones dipped in Godiva dark chocolate  (Yummmmmm, went perfect with the Coppola sparking wine).  I must admit, I let him think that I came up with all of these ideas all by myself, but some of the credit has to go to you guys.  My creative juices seems to explode after hashing things over with you all.  But the rest of the details will remain a mystery (as I giggle like a teenage girl on her first date).      

MackDaddy ~ Sounds like the perfect way to have spent St. V's day... Am so happy tha tit all worked out even better in person than it looked on paper. It gives me hope....  

I'm with Nachista can I live in your Kitchen also? or at least come for a brunch visit...

Hey, JS, thanks for the clarification-  My dogs love cold grits, too.

Anybody reading this who has never heard of Jiffy Cornbread Mix?

Mackdaddy, I have long thought that the true test of a romantic movie was whether or not you watched it all of the way through or had to go back later.

Speaking of movies, I was not impressed by WAITRESS, which seemed a little too heavy on the stereotypes and especially the man bashing. Anyone else see it? 

Nachista:  Come on down girl...the more the merrier!

yepp.....Jiffy Mixes(seversl varieties) are on the shelf in our local stores...

Nachista,

The last place I worked was Belgian. We had quite the wine list. Brought the worst kind of people out. Seriously. Anyway, I'm on the patio/sidewalk one day and these two women, in there 50's, had just come from their 'walk' in their matching velour jumpsuits and bright red lipstick (you know the type), and were eager to smear said lipstick all over our wine glasses. The kind that even an industrial-strength dishwasher can't get off.

They each have a tiny dog with them and they feel free to bring them to the table. One of them immediately grabs hold of the cuff on my trousers and starts yanking on it. Lady says nothing to the dog, but proceeds to tell me she can't have oak anywhere near any Chardonnay she drinks. By no means, can she have oak near her lips.

Apparently the red from her lipstick really was flammable and there was sincere threat to person if aged oak came within inches of them.

The dog was yapping so loudly and biting so fiercely into my leg, that it's the only time in my life I just walked away from a table and never returned. Seriously. I just walked up to manager, pointed to her and said, "Uncle. Uncle. Uncle." Give her to the new kid. I'm not going back.

He laughed.

WT:  You have a very good point...I, like Nonotchka had and successully accomplished my mission!

I have an idea, lets's have a potluck at my house?  Everybody is invited, even Mr. P!  He can bring the wine.

Going to a diner stone-cold sober is like kissing your sister...lol...interesting comparison.

Trask,

You didn't like Waitress? Not even a little? Am genuinely curious about the man bashing. Memory is a bit hazy.

Let's dish, shall we?

Mackdadd1,

I'll bring the clams and oysters....might even raid the cellar and bring a good Pouilly Fume...always good with clams and oysters...might even bring some haymans

Kindlee,

WHO said that?! Can't find it. Must've been Trask.

HO   LEE   SOCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading thru the postings at the EYE today, and I am hearing words like, STURGIS, and GRITS, and Buiscuits n Scrapple, and those are words that conjure up many marvelous things, some with Kickstands, some without ....... All the Ladies seem to be in a fine culinary mood today, and that is most excellent ....... Way back before I hadn't even considered Puberty, much less was able to spell it, in a dinky Cafe that was no bigger than the average two car Garage, in an equally dinky town called, Dime Box . Texas ... one could not only find Scrapple on the Menu, but could enjoy enough of it to make yourself hurt for an hour or two ... Everything on the Menu was hurtful good, and came out to you on a platter the size of a Packard Hubcap ...

What got me reading this one closely was JP's mentioning the Avalon Diner in Houston ... For those of you not familiar with Houston, AVALON was a neighborhood just to the West of the High Rent District, called River Oaks ... 457 Houses of Old Money ... the Homes of every cliche' one can think of; Captains of Industry, Bankers, Judges, Kings, Princes, and one actual Count that I knew personally, and some Grande Dames that were widowed and left incredible fortunes back when a Dollar bill was actually worth something, and an Insurance Policy only cost a Nickel a week ....... Sitting in the Avalon Diner , one will see all around him, these same Magnates, Moguls, and Mavens ... on any day but especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings ... and they will look just like the commoners a mile East on Westheimer ... same Blue Hair, same oversize Bag, and same short pants and brown socks up to the calf, with Sandals on the men, who are all bleary eyed and have Bed-Hair ... if one looks closely at these Bags ... women, he will notice that the Blue Hair is coiffed precisely, and that the shorts and blouse are Ship N Shore or Nordstrom and not K-Mart ... men will be wearing Ralph Lauren or maybe L.L.Bean, the Sandals will be Italian Imports, and the frames of their prescription Glasses will be Fazziolari ... Look at the women again, and you'll see that Mrs. Gotrocks' fingers are encrusted with what looks like headlights off a train ... no wonder her Biceps aren't flabby ... she's doing curls all day with a thousand Karats ... But the Diner ... is true to form ... some of the best Southern Home Cooking to be found anywhere, at the same prices you will find down the road, and all the Kitsch cheesy-ness that makes a Diner gratifyingly comfortable ....... Including Grits on top of my scrambled eggs ... and the waitresses, without thinking about it, when they set  your Grits on the table ... their hand goes immediately to the Pepper Shaker and they set it in front of you ....... Without ever saying, Not the Sugar ...

Grits are good any ol' way you fixem, and I am partial to fried Grits myself ... done in Bacon Drippin's ... It ain't Kosher, but that is the least of my sins ....... Cant wait to see what y'all come up with for the rest of the day ... There is not a whole lot that a Southern Boy likes better than a woman who can cook right, except maybe a woman who can, eat ... and isn't afraid to do so ...

OLIVIA:      Have been to Homer's again and again on my Trips to Lake Conway ... and the food there is just like Home ... Outstanding place !!!

The DoNut Dinette was not much bigger than a walk-in closet the last time I was in Norfolk VA. ... and they usta make some of the best Apple Fritters and Bear Claws imaginable, it actually had a Walk-Up Window in the front, and was a great place to stop on the way back from Hampton Roads, and on to the Locker Club so's we could change back into uniform ... The pastries were excellent, but as I remember, the coffee was a little thin ...

Eve - I was introduced to Scrapple while living in Pennsylvania. It was a way of using every part of the pig so that nothing was wasted. It was chopped or ground pork (the leftover portions such as feet, tongue, etc...), cornmeal, buckwheat flour, onions, and some spices (such as marjoram, nutmeg and sage - every family seemed to have a different recipe) all boiled together with some water, then shaped in a loaf pan and cooled in the refrigerator. It would then be sliced and browned in butter to serve.

Miss Ive - Yes, it was Trask...however did you guess? That's what Frank Howard (head coach for many years at Clemson) said about what a tie in football was like.

Jalopkin,

Do you remember Mike's Collry Deli( with the original Mike0/

made his own corned beef...usta go in there sundays after a nite a Cogans and have a giant mikes corned beef sandwich and a guinness( hair of the dog and all that...)

that's mile's Colley deli

Btw....dinner tonite is...grilled tenderloin, mashed taters, grilled asparagus and steamed broccoli...then off to girls nite for card games...also  a landmark chardonnay and an Obsidian Cab...

I can also recommend Pink's, a glorified hot dog stand in LA since the late 30s, and a regular stop for everyone who's ANYONE amongst the glitterati. The night ExPat and I went, we got there at about 1130 pm, there was a long cattle-gate line so we had plenty of time to peruse the astoundingly hungry-making menu. In the end, this semi-vegetarian had a greasy old chili dog and a Doctor Somebody's root beer. It was pretty darn good, and when we left, around 1 am, the line was longer than when we got there! There's about a dozen seats, and we got lucky. The place never closes, and the walls are papered with autographed 8x10s of stars from now back to the 40s. They could have filmed part of LA Confidential anywhere around there. Paul says the line's like that 24/7.

Another gastronomical notch for the hummingbird...lol

Ivan-Just let me know, and I'll meetcha anytime down at Homer's. I'll save you a seat!

  <img src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3240/3120045083_e206c1e222.jpg" />

Zips Diner in Dayville, CT is awesome! People wait in line outside to get a seat. 

Welcome obie1952. Is Dayville near Killingly and do you live near there?

Yes Welcome obie1952.  Glad you could join us for dinner.  You will soon find that any subject on the Eye can and usually will turn to food.  Many interesting and very knowledgeable foodies/chefs on this site. 

Welcome Obie1952.

Thanks, Kindlee, for doing my dirty work. Frank Howard indeed.

 One of those tales from The Duke of Windsor's visit to Philadelphia is that he was never sure whether he met people named Biddle and ate something called scrapple or vice versa. Around here it all goes into sausage- "Everything but the squeal"

Jalopkin, how could you write all of that and not mention biscuits at all?

The husband in WAITRESS- played by the psycho girlfriend's brother (girflriend's psycho brother?) from 6 FEET UNDER- was just what a southern boy figures some California actor would think a southern boy would look and act like.   In case you couldn't tell he is a loser, they named him EARL. The  rest of the cast seems like somebody saw ALICE and couldn't quite remember anybody's name:  Flo becomes Becky, Vera becomes Dawn, and Mel becomes,  oh, yeah, something really different: CAL.

 Forgive me for ranting, but anytime a film is set in an unspecified "Small southern town" you will see very little evidence anybody involved has ever seen one.

 And if you don't want to be married to someone, don't,  but don't complain about getting drunk and having sex with... YOUR HUSBAND...

I do not want to end this on a bad note and I certainly don't want to give anyone the impression I do not love almost all waitresses I know, so I'll leave you with this bit of modern poetry:

I went home with the waitress

the way I always do

But how was I to know it

She was with the Russians, too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5puAN1PGQw

Willie I didn't care for "Waitress" either.  There were parts that made me laugh, but more often than not I found myself thinking "Girl you are a moron, leave, leave now and never look back.".  I did laugh out loud at the name of some of her pies. and some of the pies actually sounded good and made me hungry, but all in all I walked out of the theatre feeling like I'd kind of wasted 2 hours on a movie that had no real substance.

The three things I miss about the south are Waffle House, Hushpuppies and sausage gravy on biscuits (actually a sausage egg and cheese biscuit with a side).  And grits with cheese and garlic would deserve an honerable mention.

In western NY we have garbage plates, the Mighty Taco and our share of interesting eats but nothing gets the cholesteral going like a good southern snack.  I am a much better man for the sausage biscuits and hushpuppies I ate and would be a much bigger man if I wasnt working outside at the time.

There was a place in Syracuse that has fond memories too, The All Night Egg Plant.  They opened at 11 at night with a crowd outside the door and served until noon or one in the afternoon.  Talk about good food when wasted.  My dad and I went there years later and it was good when you werent wasted too.  The conversation just wasnt the same though.

This humble offering surely doesn't measure up to what you all haves already slid down the counter and served at the table ..... extra napkins and a bone plate please...but if you are ever in Des Plaines, it's right around the corner from the old Sugar Bowl Restaurant. If ya gots a two bits in your pocket, why you can sit in the old mechanical space rocket ride and get all shook up. I recommend the ride before eating.

http://www.thechoochoo.com/history.html

I'm going to go and dream of chicken-fried-chicken, gravy and biscuits; accompanied by a chocolate malted with an extra serving in a tall ice-cold metal blender cup and an ice-cold coke chaser. I don't think I'm up to doing the sweet cherry pie anymore, even if it's only a dream ..... heavy sigh.... I used to be so much fun.

Grits, you say? More than one northern friend has told me they ate them as children, but with sugar and butter, as you would Cream of Wheat. I've never tried that, but humbly offer how we fix them in the South.

Pam, grits is/are (like measles, it's one of English's exasperating nouns) wonderful, but only properly fixed, and if I'd eaten what they served you, I'd have left them alone, too. In cooking them plain, i.e., butter, salt and pepper, one secret is add half-and-half when they've FINISHED boiling and you've removed them from stove (if you add it too soon, it'll sort of curdle unless you whisk hard and fast). It 'richens' them remarkably. (As does cream cheese, but that adds another level of flavor, and sometimes you want that, other times not.) 

Cheese grits recipes abound, but fooling around with a few, you'll come up with one that's uniquely yours. Mild cheddar works well, though I've made them with bits of two or three cheeses I wanted to use up. Add a dash of Tabasco or cayenne pepper.  As Olivia said, some people like garlic in them; others don't. It's your call.  I recommend trying first without it, so you can really taste and gauge amounts of cheese and 'heat' in the form of Tabasco sauce or cayenne...oh, and dry mustard, just an iota, adds. Use all three sparingly at first and taste, taste, taste as you go. Think 'cheese souffle' as you're seasoning, for they're alike in that aspect.

Fried grits are the messiest dish in the world, but worth it. Purposely fix more plain grits than you need the day before, making them thicker than usual, (or fix some thick ones just for the fried grits);because they must be thick for you to handle them easily next day, choose a suitable dish or pan and spread them out into it.  Refigerate overnight. Beat a few eggs and a tad of half-and-half together in a shallow bowl, put flour in another. Heat black iron frying pan and melt butter in it.  Flour each square, quickly dip it in the egg mixture, quickly put it into frying pan (already hot, butter melted or it won't brown), and fry 'til golden brown, turning once. All the 'quicklys' are because it will come apart or try not to stick together unless you move fast and have a thickish mixture to work with.  They spatter all over the stove, you, the floor, so wear an apron and have mitts handy in case it spatters on hands. Delicious. In my experience, restaurants, diner or no, either don't offer them or fix them badly.  Best to just mess up your kitchen.

Shrimp and grits are among my lifetime fvorites, and everybody fixes them differently. Shrimp need next-to-no cooking, so saute them briefly in hot butter in frying pan. Remove them, add butter if it looks like you need it, saute chopped Vidalia onions, and create a sauce or gravy of your choice -- some put a dab of catsup in and stir it around, then return shrimp to it and serve on top of a big spooful of grits (fixed the regular way, not extra-thick as required for fried grits).  Others make 'red-eye gravy' (cook country ham in frying pan, and to the residue add CoCola, stir, serve over grits. Because I'm not fond of country ham (too salty for me) I don't use that method, but it's popular amongst most, for I'm in the minority about c. ham. Cookbooks usually offer several variations on the shrimp-and-grits theme; I've tried it once or twice in restaurants, but unless it's a specialty so they kNOW not to overcook shrimp, making them tough, experience has taught me to stay away from it. In a really fine restaurant, and where the dish is a specialty, it can be delicious; there, it's not already made, and they fix it when you order.  You'll read countless variations of the 'gravy.' I like it best with just the browned butter, finely chopped onions, and shrimp.  Sometimes less IS more. 

Good things about leftover grits-not-fried are (1) they're so cheap you don't mind their becoming mulch for flowers and (2) if you do want to keep them to warm in the microwave, add some half-and-half or milk, more butter, and eat away.  Though it's become fashionable for low-country restaurants to pretend they invented them, most of us grew up with them no matter where in the South we are.

Same with fried green tomatoes.  After book and movie, every fourth diner you drove by advertised them, but I grew up on those, too, long before the book. The only problem is catching tomatoes while still green, before they begin to turn. Then slice them, dip in egg batter as above w/grits, then in cornmeal, and fry, turning once.  Lots of black pepper, preferably coarse grind.

I've told some anecdotes about my dishwashing, busing, and short order cooking history -- so I'll spare ya'll any repeats...

Just to put in a word for Vietnamese joints which feature breakfasts... Frankly I don't know all the stuff on the plates (eggs, pork chops, rice, and egg cake are recognizable.... as is are the 'leaves' one puts on top....some of the rest, who knows...). 

As usual, the best places are those where you are the only 'whitebread', and where the other customers covertly check you out (to see if you can eat with chopsticks?).  It's a good way to 'get away', especially since most folks are chattering in Vietnamese....

The only problem is that these places seem to have enormous plasma screen TVs connected to Dish Networks, and somebody always gets the remote control to watch some sports event. 

Oh, expect cigarette smoke.  Goes with the territory...Along with at least one 60-year-old 'whitebread' guy with a pot belly practicing his almost forgotten Vietanamese. One thinks, 'Hmmm, the Delta?  or the Highlands?  1962? 1964?' Then back to eating...

Eve - Thank you so much for the nitty-gritty about grits!  Pam

I'm lucky to live in a town that still has one of those old diners.  It's named "Tex's Cafe" and sits right across the street from the police station.  The waitresses are career, the burgers are tasty, the coffee is lousy, and the pie is homemade.  They make the best reuben in town, and the regulars have their own seats pretty much on reserve.

But they don't do the slang :(

I was so worked up about WAITRESS I almost forgot the standard greeting at the favorite late night place of my misspent youth:

How you like yo eggs?

William-I LOVE my eggs, thanks!

I almost forgot the Purple Cow-two locations, shakes and burgers to dream about. They have a great veggie burger too, and good soups, homemade fries, the signature Purple Cow shake (yes, it's purple-welch's grape juice and vanilla ice cream-and delicious) and a fifties rock n roll theme. Great juke box, too...

WT:

You're puttin too many ice cubes in your glass ... Biscuits were mentioned in the very first Line ... Good to see you ...

MIZ STURGIS:  I do not remember the place by name, but if it was within fifty miles of the D & S Piers in Norfolk, and served good Corneed Beef, I know I have been there ....... 

OLIVIA:  PINK'S is just Pure-D Kitsch ....... The Dogs are Great, different from Nathan's, on the other side of the world, but Great ....... and all their other Offerings are damned good too ...  Has Homer hired a Sommelier yet ??? a Wine List was the only thing missing the last time I was there ... All Homer's Breakfasts are outstanding, but culd be augmented marvelously by a proper pitcher of Mimosa, and I will even share my own recipe with him ....... I could do with a Little       Rock .......

Hellsfire Trask ... I even misspelled Biscuits .......

Evening all! I've been enjoying all the post. As some of ya'll know, I work in a very old/established eatery/pub here on the coast. Been around grits, shrimp, fish as long as I can remember and nothin' could be finer.  Janet, SE NC you say? What parts?

my Mother is from Robeson Co NC

I live on Va's Eastern Shore, hence the haymans.clams and oysters.

Grew up( or attempted to do so ) in Norfolk....no my Dad was not in the Navy believe it or not!!!

I'd completed 'what I think' and before I could hit 'send,' it disappeared...guess IT wanted me to be shorter, so.... 

Pam, thanks for telling me about scrapple, which sounds like haggis but from a pig.  Think I'll pass, now I kmnow what's in it; no amount of syrup could get images out of my head. Someone mentioned polenta and grits together, and they're miles apart: polenta is scarcely-grtound cornmeal compared to grits, which are finely-finely ground, no longer resembling in taste or texture their origin. Hominy is big round pieces of, I guess, somewhere in between, but only in childhood did I eat it, and never liked how it felt -- the sensual is among food's most important aspects (cf movie 'Tom Jones' and the marvelous no-dialogue scene of the two of them eating: Gastronomical foreplay.

Willie, thanks for hushpuppies reminder. How could we have overlooked them?  You saved us again. Across the river in SC is, on Sweetwater Road, Old McDonald's.  No diner, it's a big unattractive wooden building with pond in front so kids can feed ducks while you wait, which you will, unless you go early. Best hushpuppies ever I ate, and since they bring them first, it's hard to judge how many will fill you up so you can't enjoy fish, shrimp, grits, and perfect sweet iced tea. Open only certain days, like Sconyers' Barbeque. And yes! I know Jiffy Cornbread mix -- as near to homemade cornbread as it gets, and especially helpful if you've only two to feed. 

I'm a fine one to pass on scrapple, when just down the road a piece is a small town where the annual autumn Chitlin' Strut happens.  Just drive NEAR the town enroute to somewhere else, and you smell grease and chitlin's.  Actually the word is 'chitterlings, and it's pigs' entrails.  Again, I pass. Also don't know where to that apostrophe; a case can be made for 'between t and l', but as the end's left off, too, yu'd need another there. A puzzle for MissIve and me; not for them, though, for it's the least of their worries with all that money coming in.  Been going forty plus years, and believe it or not, people come from everywhere TO EAT CHITLIN'S. Their neighbor town, self-labelled The Watermelon Capital of the World on signboards, has long had a watermelon festival with (oh dear oh dear oh dear...) toddlers to 'teens competing in their age category for the Miss Watermelon crown. I reckon the neighbor town's Council looked around and asked "What can WE do like that?" And came up with chitlins.

John, you are, very much, still 'so much fun.' And much more. What you describe makes my mouth water, and when I sat down here I wasn't even hungry. You don't know your own strength, m'dear.

just remember....

one man's entrails is another man's cuisine...

Georgia,

It's merely the chicken-fried-chichen that gets the juices flowin.  Now I'm off in search of grits, thanks to your ode to this yet untasted new-to-me food group.

Great, John!  I hope I didn't mislead you, for not any food's for everyone, but there are few I pass up and you make me want to go straight to the place you describe and order what you like. When people have truly disliked grits, which alone is/are pretty uninteresting, it seems they've not had them properly seasoned. Or seasoned at all.  Putting sugar and butter on them, though, is bound to fail, I fear, so avoid that. In one sense they're just another starch; t's what you do with them that matters.

I learned years ago from a Texas friend what 'chicken-fried' means: It's what we call "Country fried," as in country-fried steak (round ateak beaten senseless {it's not so tender} to tenderize it, then dip it in flour and fry in hot grease. Lots of coarse-ground pepper.  I'd never heard the erm 'tl I was grown. Fried chicken is just, um, well, fried chicken. In York, England, I saw a pub that advertised "Southern Fried Chicken."

Excitement is fun, but you couldn't have paid me to go in there. "Southern England?"  "Southern York?"  I peered inside, and people were, yes, eating something in there. If I'd been Olivia (or had Olivia with me), I'd have gone in, stood on the counter, and straighened out diners and owner; it would've been a favor to them. Of course, there's alwasys the possibiity it was good.  And there are so many schools of fried chicken -- Maryland friend chicken, deep-fried, more....  I've ben asked What is Southern fried chicken? and never know exactly what to say except dipped in flour, or in egg then flour, and fried.  Which sounds so plain, it doesn't touch what John's craving. Me, too.