Sometimes diner food is the only food that hits the spot. It’s comforting, reliable, filling and fairly cheap.
I grew up going to the iconic Oriental Diner – we called it “The O” – and the Brady Street Diner with my dad. Unfortunately, those places are now gone, but there is no shortage of classic diners to visit when I get the hankering.
What makes a diner a diner?
This is debatable. But for me, it requires “counter seating,” a menu featuring both eggs and burgers (and sometimes meatloaf and “diet plates”), water without asking, a small ceramic bowl of plastic creams, individual jelly packets, frilly toothpicks in sandwiches and bottomless cups of coffee brewed in a drip machine.
This time, I picked diners only in the city of Milwaukee, but a few of my favorites are in the ‘burbs, too. (I’m talking to you Benji’s!) Maybe I need to write a part 2 in this series. For now, order up!
Jo’s Cafe…