I was thinking about what is my favorite restaurant. I have a few that I like. The one I like best oddly is my town diner. It has been around for over fifty years, and for good reason.
I enjoy eating there and find it very relaxing. In particular I appreciate the fact that they know my name and the owner's daughter asks also me how my mother is. I think that in itself is a reason to go back.
Also, the manager who is Latino always ask me how I am in Spanish and we seem to know every waiter and bus boy. It helps that my mother used to teach ESL in town and many of the local help were her students. I think we get preferential treatment as a result. My mother likes it too and often uses the Yiddish term "Haimish" to describe it. loosely translated it means family. Another plus is that you can park nearby and for my mother who is handicapped that helps. The diner is also a short walk from a small park and over the summer when they have concerts you can eat dinner and then walk over to see the show.
The food at the diner is very fresh and is consistently good too. Someone once said that if there are large chunks of vegetables in the soup then it's probably homemade. It irks me when I drove by a local pizza parlor who claimed that their soups are homemade and then I saw large containers of Progresso soup in front of the place. You feel so ripped off. My friend at work informed me that if the restaurant changes even one ingredient it's still considered homemade. What a joke.
Speaking of soup. If you know anything about me is that I am bit of soup snob. I consider myself having high standards. If my brother gives me soup for dinner he will give me a little more than a spoonful. Then he will expectantly wait for my reaction. More often than not I will give a dissatisfied no and he will shake his head, because he knows I'm a bit picky.
The funny thing is I always like the diner's soup it's consistently good. Especially their matzah ball soup which always tastes of dill. Although I think they are cutting back because there used to be a lot more chicken. What I like I about it is that it reminds me of the chicken soup my mother used to make. She would say she was "cooking with love" and that is how I think food should be.
When I take out food or eat there I generally order the same thing. Spinach pie and a Greek Salad. It comes with soup (Which I like) and iced coffee. It's not every day I eat a salad so feel like I am eating healthy and the busboys are constantly refilling our coffee cups, and almost always you never have to ask for a refill. When I am having lunch there it always feels like I am on vacation and when I really do take a day off from work and have lunch there or take out it always relaxes me.
If we go there for dinner which happens on occasion, we usually salmon and sweet potato, and I always leave room for dessert. In particular I like their rice pudding which according to the owner's daughter is her grandmother's recipe. Imagine a sundae glass filled with creamy white pudding and a large amount of whipped cream. You really have to split it, and why wouldn't you because it tastes so good.
One downside of a successful diner is that they get very busy and noisy. Fortunately because of of COVID they added a lot more outdoor dining. So you get some sun, fresh air, and good food. Although it does get a bit noisy too from some of the car traffic. For me it's worth it.
Last week I went to the diner to take out my usual Greek fare, and the owner asked me if I wanted to join the rewards program which I did and then informed me that they have to raise prices for credit card transactions which they never did before, which makes sense because of supply chain issues and inflation, but in my book it's worth it because as they say in the credit card commercials when you have a great experience like lunch at my local diner, it's truly priceless.
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