Diner Diner, Chicken Diner

No matter how old I get, I still get super-excited whenever I'm heading to a diner. Even while staring at the 9,000 items on the menu, I know I'm gonna be getting an omelette, some sausage, hash browns and extra rye toast. OR - a patty melt! Diners are a big part of my online food porn addiction. - XMASTIME

It should be no surprise that after years of watching bullshitting politicians meeting with "the folks!" at diners - which only seems to happen during election season and when there's cameras rolling - we hafta face the fact that all diners are not the pure models of "everybody welcome" as we tell ourselves:

For Lawrence, the conceit that “everyone is welcome” means the diner is an apolitical place, where your identity or values should not get in the way of enjoying a mug of bacon. “Red Arrow Diner is a nonpartisan company,” she says, which is of course good for the business of welcoming politicians. However, they did give the Newton Burger an honorary second name, the Trump Tower Burger, after Trump’s visit, and it appears to be the only item on the menu named after a politician (there is also an Adam Sandler burger). Lawrence laughs off the name. “I’m always asked, ‘Who do you support? Why do you have the Trump burger on your menu?’ Are you kidding? Oh, my gosh. That was ridiculous. We welcome everybody.”

The fact is, though, that depending on who is welcome, other people are made to feel unwelcome. For some, making it explicit that all, regardless of race or sexual orientation or gender, are welcome feels like an invitation to safety. For others, it feels like a threat. Seeing a Trump burger on the menu might make some customers feel uneasy, especially if there isn’t a corresponding Biden burger. Overly patriotic decor hearkening back to an imagined idyllic 1950s may put off people who likely would have faced discrimination during that time. “There are some diners that I have gone to where women don’t necessarily feel comfortable because they are working-class places and there aren’t any other women in there,” says Gutman. Saying “everyone is welcome” does not make it so, and even in the diner’s early days, the most downtrodden still needed a nickel to nurse a coffee.

I've mentioned diners way too many times over the last 18 years to point out any one post, but I particularly love this 1993 documentary about great diners in Pennsylvania. I loved it, even if since most of them featured loyal patrons who were already retired I spent most of the time wondering how many of them were dead now. 🧐 🤷‍♂️

NOTE: this doc was done by the same guy who did the classic films A Hot Dog Program and Sandwiches You Will Like, bot Xmastime Hall of Fame superslcies!!!