You'll Never Find, Another Love Like Mine

Diner Meal

If there is one thing I miss about the old New York is all the mom and pop eateries and diners that disappeared in the last 3 years only to be replaced by high end establishments.  Diners are dwindling everywhere and like old records and book stores, they are not easily re-created.  Time gave these institutions their value, the staff who worked there for decades, the booths that could tell stories, the weathered grills.  

We lost our neighborhood staple, one that had been open for 35 years just before the pandemic.  In reality, the food wasn't great and it had gotten as expensive as a normal restaurant, so perhaps it is for the best that we try to recreate these meals in our homes.  I made one of my diner favorites, a cheeseburger on toast and for added kitsch, I made a boxed mac and cheese for lunch.  In my old haunt, they would stack the cheeseburger like a BLT on 3 pieces of bread and add bacon, lettuce and tomato to the top deck.  It was a dream.

For breakfast I served poached eggs and bacon over toast.  In the diner, I would have chosen rye bread and be served a slew of greasy breakfast potatoes as a side that I would drown in hot sauce and ketchup, as the waitress made sure my coffee cup stayed full and called me 'hon when she asked if I needed anything more.  The waiters, busboys and line cooks were all in a dance during breakfast and lunch and if you walked in, you felt the rhythm and got in-line until you finally stood at the register paying your check and left back in the fresh air picking your teeth and feeling satisfied. 

Closed now for almost 4 years

Not Feelin' Too Good Myself

Making dinner is easy. Making dinner without bread or starches is a little rough. This happens every holiday. Suddenly we wake up feeling uncomfortable in our bodies. We're carrying more around the middle than we should. We're a little sluggish, feeling tired. Time to get off the bread for a spell to even out a bit.

Easy fix. But I was working hard this week and I came home the kind of hungry where you get all serious about it. Like this is no laughing matter kind of hunger.

I made a Chef's salad with dry salami, ham, eggs, tomatoes, carrots, red onions, green apple, and cheese over a bed of baby spinach and a nice vinaigrette. Let me tell ya, this hit the spot and was a great change of scene.