Diners , Drive-Ins and Dives ....

[printerman]

It's one of my favorite shows with places around the country that make tasty awesome food that only small out-of-the-way mom and pop joints can do !!! Finding places like these aren't easy and here in North Havana / South Flori-duh doesn't help ! We do have some places that scrape away the dirt and bugs before you can see them but only Miami has been visited by Guy F. and his awesome show ....

If he were to visit I'd suggest a trailer-home Mexican Taco stand that rocks !!! Maybe the Cuban Roach-Coach that makes some well established places look like the middle-school cafeteria . Then there's the Indian / Pakistani place that knows how to curry your intestines into an honorary finger bowl participant ....

Do you have any hidden cultural diners tucked away in your area foreign or domestic ???

[Congo]

El toro in denver is a great texmex place. Cops and criminals come there and take a break from chasing each other long enough to eat/drink.

I'd like to see him go to south flodah and get a show on the cuban sammiches.

My fav foodnetwork show is "chopped". That's amazing and shows how one can cook and not know anything about what you're cooking, but taste it in the process and adjust as ya go.

[ubersoldate]

Phoenix had the heart attack grill, pretty cool.
There arent any where I live now, hell there is only like 2 resturants in my town, and one is a subway.

[slamfire51]

There's absolutely nothing but "box" restaurants where I live.
There is one burger joint that makes a burger you can not finish. Believe me, I've tried.
I don't have heart problems, but mine was screaming at me afterwards.

http://www.fatmos.com/

[Richard Simmons]

We've got an odd little place here in Roanoke called the Texas Tavern.

http://www.texastavern-inc.com/

It's been in operation since 1930, open 24hrs a day and only closes on Xmas day. It's just a little hole in the wall place with a counter and 10 stools. Their motto is "We've served 1,000,000 people, ten at a time".

There have been so many customers over the years that the top of the hollow metal foot rest at the counter is worn through. They claim on their Trivia page the place has been repainted 65 times. I'd say that's true by the looks of it. The problem is they never stripped any of the previous coats.

The food is quick, cheap and pretty good for what it is. You get a bowl of chili two ways, "wit" or "wit out" and the "wit" is onions. The "Chessy Western" is a cheeseburger with fried egg and it's great!

You can find folks standing around the corner at 2am when the bars close and things can get so rowdy they usually post a city cop inside in the corner to crack heads when needed.

Is it a Drive-in? No, but it is a diner and it's definetly a DIVE! I love the place.:cool1:


P.S. As of 2003 there were two customers still dining there that were there opening day in 1930.

[El Jefe]

Oh yeah, here in rural Missouri there are all kinds of odd little places in the small towns still serving menus you would have recognized in the 50's or before. In Columbia off Bus 70 there's an ancient drive-in that only has access via an alley now, that serves great food, can't remember the name, but I can drive to it. Plus we still have Maid-Rite walk ups in the little burgs here and there. We should start taking pictures of these places before they're gone.

[slamfire51]

This thread makes me wonder how many diners, dives there were when Route 66 was in it's hay day.
Had to be thousands.

[El Jefe]

This thread makes me wonder how many diners, dives there were when Route 66 was in it's hay day.
Had to be thousands.

Man, that country no longer exists I'm afraid. Damn shame.

[samiam]

Oh yeah, here in rural Missouri there are all kinds of odd little places in the small towns still serving menus you would have recognized in the 50's or before. In Columbia off Bus 70 there's an ancient drive-in that only has access via an alley now, that serves great food, can't remember the name, but I can drive to it. Plus we still have Maid-Rite walk ups in the little burgs here and there. We should start taking pictures of these places before they're gone.

Are you talking about Ernie's in Columbia? Had a large picture of Dick Tracy on the wall done by Chester Gould who IIRC was a MU grad.

[coppertales]

However, I gave up DTV a few months ago so I am missing it. Guy was at a gas station just down the road from me in Watuga Tx called Chef Point Cafe. That guy really knows how to cook. We have been going there since before it was discovered. Now, it is an hour wait any time of day. They have a web site....chris3

[Congo]

there's an ancient drive-in that only has access via an alley now,...Plus we still have Maid-Rite walk ups
I didn't know this until one time I walked to a wendys drive up window by my house and figured, WTF, I'll order as the walk in was closed. The guy ran to the other window, opened it and said something. So I walked to that window only to see the guy run to the other, original window, open it and holler out something again. OK, I'm a little hard of hearing and sometimes don't get things, so as I walked back to the other window, they ran to the first one again, but this time a woman stuck her head out and said "We don't do walk ups!" Then it clicked--all the street crime/robberies in that area, it made sense.
I don't know how those sonic carhopps make it as some of those aren't in the best areas.

[Congo]

Man, that country no longer exists I'm afraid. Damn shame.
don't be afraid.....just be armed and have your assets protected. ;)

The more "connected" we've become, the more isolated we've become (within the home and external to the home). And with that isolation comes all sorts of different pathologies.

People moving away from their small town to the big city do so for many reasons, but once there, they get a 'disconnectivity' through the anonymous-ness of living/interacting in large urban areas. So they can 'act out' whatever/however they want and not have to worry about anyone knowing them, knowing their family. Compare large urban area driving to small town driving for example.

W/in the household/neighborhood, with everyone being separated, the allure of belonging to comes into play. This is where stupid arse white kids wanna play gangsta. And for every DA kid, the lure of belonging to something because they're so isolated from whatever family/neighborhood structure there could/should be.

I feel privledged to as a young guy, having hitch hiked around the country a lot. It was a different world back "when I was a kid". But each generation says that. People should record their moment in time, that era as with the passage of time, things surely do change.

[Congo]

... I am missing it. Guy was at a gas station just down the road from me in Watuga Tx called Chef Point Cafe. That guy really knows how to cook. We have been going there since before it was discovered.
Chris, you've not been missing on anything other than others checking in with their local discoveries. You've got one right where you are. D/D is a good show tho.

IMO people need to think more locally and support their own locality and pick and choose there. I make it a point to stop in smalltown XYZ to eat and visit their local grubshops/bars when I'm passing through.

[El Jefe]

Are you talking about Ernie's in Columbia? Had a large picture of Dick Tracy on the wall done by Chester Gould who IIRC was a MU grad.

No the place I'm thinking of is only open during nice months, has no eat-in area, is a half block off the business loop and behind a Mexican joint.