We had an interesting dinner last night. Remember the Diner? Fun and funky, always packed – actually an old diner, put into place at the corner of Sycamore and 12th, with a new section added on at the back? I still remember the grilled green beans and the terrific garlic mashed potatoes.
It was closed for a while, and re-opened as a wanna-be funky place. I remember they had 3 small glasses, each of a different gazpacho, for way more than it was worth. One was pretty good – the others were weird. Which exemplified my general feelings about the place. A marathoner friend wanted bread with dinner one night, and they looked at us like we were beyond the pale. Eventually a few small slices of stale-ish bread hit the table.
So Joe’s Diner is way better than that. It’s also open nearly all the time, has breakfast any time, and does several versions of mean burgers. Including a quite good veggie burger. Plus regular fries, sweet potato fries and very good onion rings. They also had veggie nachos – which I asked them to serve without the nuclear-bomb-resistant cheese shreds everyone puts on nachos. Lots of jalapenos made for an excellent appetizer – which I just finished for Sunday lunch!
One friend proclaimed her burger – meat, not veggie – as just the best. The other, who had a veggie burger, same as me, said it was terrific. I meant to try a soup, and then forgot, just to check it out. Had a couple bites of a slice of red velvet cake – quite yummy (and I brought the rest home to my DC son who is in town for the weekend). And the custard was a dessert hit at the table.
So Joe’s Diner is definitely a comfy, easy restaurant to add to your list of spots you can choose at the last minute for dinner before that play or show or concert. Reasonable pricing, easy service, lots of parking on the street. Good to have an old friend back in town.