On Diners Drive-Ins & Dives, patrons often tell Guy that they eat at the place he’s spotlighting three or more times per week. Do you have a diner, cafe, mom & pop restaurant, or the like where you eat that often-- two or more times per week?
I’m not counting drive-throughs like Mickey D’s or other national/local fast-food chains. I’m talking about an establishment where you go inside, sit at a table/counter and order food that arrives on dishes brought by a waiter/waitress. It could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
If so, tell us about the place. What kind of cuisine, is it near your home or work, how often have you been eating there that often, what are the best dishes, does the staff know your “usual,” is the owner on the premises virtually all the time…stuff like that.
*Ignore my guidelines if your story is interesting/entertaining. *
There’s a pizza place near us where we often eat twice a week. We’ve been eating there (or another one in its small local chain) at least once almost every week since 1991.
I am not at this place more than once a week, but it is my most favorite restaurant besides Golden Corral. There is a place in my area named Hillbilly’s Cabin and to me, they have the greatest burger.
Ieat breakfast almost every Friday and Sunday at a local restaurant, three miles from my house. It’s been there only for 1 1/2 years. They’re a very upscale breakfast/lunch only, open 7am-3pm, Tue.-Sunday. There’s a permanent menu and a weekly menu which changes twice/week.
They started as a pastry/bread only corner in a mom/pop hash house. Then took over from the mom. The owner is a former Marine, trained in baking/cooking in France, and has hired an excellent staff to help.
Almost all the meals are organic, local produce/meat, and, while horribly expensive by local breakfast prices, easily worth it. At least to me.
Here in DC I don’t, but when I lived in China I ate out most nights, and I had a rotation of 5 or so restaurants that I’d go to. One was a large, basic, sit down restaurant by my school with basic Sichuan food at very cheap prices (less than a dollar a dish.) Also by my school was a late night BBQ place, where you’d eat grilled meat and veggies (washed down with copious beer) on tiny kindergarten sized stools. This place had the worst bathroom I’ve ever been in my life, a coffin sized outhouse squatter completely caked with effluence. But it also had the sweetest staff, and I became good friends with them.
Another was a breezy riverside beer garden that set up tables and chairs set up on the sidewalk overlooking the river at night. This was always an adventure, and you could count on joining a party of local politicians, or the lady’s police contingent, or other random groups of local characters. The lights of my small city would reflect on the Yangzhe, and now and then you’d see a coal barge drift silently under the enormous bridges. Their food was basic and a little pricy, but everything in Sichuan is delicious so it was pretty good. What really made it was the setting. Rose vendors, street musicians…everyone in town would seem to pass by.
The final heavy hitter in my rotation was a somewhat nicer Sichuan restaurant downtown. This place sold fancier Sichuan food, like meat-stuffed deep-fried eggplant medallions served with sweet and sour sauce (mmmm). But what really set them apart was they had a huge vat of lemons soaking in Chinese liquor. Chinese liquor, on it’s own, is pretty disgusting (think honey, ouzo and kerosene), but something about the lemon booze was compelling. The main waitress was a Bratz-doll like young woman, who would spent most of the time primping in her hand mirror and studiously ignoring you. The restaurant had a precarious second story, which seemed to be a home built balcony over the first story, and if you were seated up there the floor would shake whenever anyone got up or walked around.
Anyway, in an average week, I’d hit all of these at least once, some twice. Thanks for bring up some good old memories.
I’ve had bars I used to go to four or five times a week, but I can’t think of a single restaurant I’ve ever patronized that regularly. There certainly isn’t one now. I’m lucky if I eat out more than once a week.
While at work I used to get veggie burgers all the time at this place called Joy Burger Bar but in the interest of saving money I’ve started bringing food from home again.
Also used to get coffee all the time from this little coffee stall called Cafe Tiny run by just one Turkish dude. I called the man Mr. Tiny (not to his face). He knew me, knew my order and knew that I had an iphone app called “pinch it” where you scan a QR code and get a discount after you purchase and scan the code 10 times or whatever. I’ll have to check if Cafe Tiny’s still there. Sometimes it would randomly be closed if the guy had to do something else- he didn’t have anyone else to run it.
I know the OP said national chains don’t count, but when I was in high school my mom used to want to go to Boston Market so often that the staff recognized my family. It was really embarrassing.
There’s no place like that that I eat but I always thought it would be lovely to be able to have a local restaurant where I could eat regular meals instead of having to cook!
Not now, I’m lucky to eat out once a month now. But when I was in college, living in a dormitory that didn’t have food service, there was a coffee shop I was at almost every day. It had nice sandwiches and stuff. Yes, the staff learned to recognize me, and a couple of times when I ran out of cash they put it on a tab for me to pay later.
We have a local cafeteria called Franke’s. It’s a tradition here that has been open for at least 70 years. It’s run by the same family that started it.
I’m in there once and sometimes twice a week. It’s too much hassle to cook a ham or roast at home for two people. Franke’s take out dinners are generous size and we get two meals from it. We’ll pick up two dinners and eat for two days. Thursday is my favorite because they have cheese and broccoli chicken breast. yummy.
Before I started working from home, I’d stop at the same coffee shop every morning. Right across the street from work. Most of the staff there knew my usual; no idea if the older woman I’d see most mornings was the owner or the manager.
Many, many moons ago I used to go to this place called Razoo’s here in Dallas two or three times a week.
But that was back when Razoo’s actually was a Mom and Pop joint. Since then, the owner has become a big success and has peppered the DFW area with his restaurants.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep the M&P charm. The food quality has gone down and now feels all too much like a chain restaurant to me.
I used to meet my b/f for lunch every day when we both worked downtown, at a little restaurant in an office building. He’d have burger and fries and I’d have a cup of soup of the day. Then we’d each walk back to work in opposite directions, several blocks. We were a lot thinner then!
When I was in grad school, there was a Chinese restaurant by the university that would sell a good-sized plate of chicken in black bean sauce on rice for $3. It wasn’t uncommon for me to go there two or three times a week for lunch.
In fact, he used to have 2—one a breakfast/brunch diner-type and one an Italian restaurant near him. The latter sold a few years ago, and it was really hard on him. My dad is nothing if not a creature of habit and he loves having a place where the owners know him, pour him a glass of his favorite wine or a cup of coffee as soon as he walks in, and come sit at his table for a few minutes. I never really cared for the Italian place much, but we’d go there for his birthday or Father’s Day and other dad-related events. Nothing made him happier than showing off his children and grandchildren to the owners.
Wow, I’m really sad for him thinking about it. Luckily he still has the diner, and I guess he and my stepmom meet for lunch there sometimes in addition to weekend breakfasts and the occasional to-go dinner.
There are some restaurants I’ve eaten at 3 times in a week, although not on a regular basis. Rey Azteca It’s fairly close to us, a bit more authentic than the Tex-Mex chains, fairly low on the price scale, and delicious. They have great homemade chips and salsa, awesome spicy tomatillo sauce, soft and tender shredded beef. Great for a quick cheap lunch (wife and I both work fairly close to it) or dinner.
There is another Mexican restaurant about 40 minutes away, Patron Mexican Grill. It’s slightly more expensive than Rey’s but worth the longer drive. There is beautiful shaped ceramic tile (that’s what it looks like anyway) covering all the chairs and tables depicting mexican artwork. Really nice decor and atmosphere and televisions quietly playing Spanish channels in the background adds to it. The food again is a little more authentic than you’d usually find in Pittsburgh, and it’s consistently excellent. There is a good bit of variety on the menu, and I have taken people that don’t like Mexican or spicy food there and they’ve gotten dishes they enjoyed. One of our favorites is a huge platter called El Bandito, which features grilled chicken, grilled steak, carnitas (chunks of pork), chorizo, and a big bowl of dip (bean, cheese, chicken, jalapeno, and salsa) in the middle. Except for the chorizo the meat isn’t spicy at all, it’s very lightly but flavorfully seasoned and perfectly cooked. It’s a pile of grilled meat and some dip, not what you usually think of as Mexican cooking (nothing’s wrapped in a tortilla or shell), but it’s so good that we get it on maybe 75% of our visits. When we were in the Mexican district in Chicago for our honeymoon, the restaurants there had that same thinly sliced grilled chicken and steak. I don’t know what they put on it but I could it eat almost every day.
