# Names of diner dishes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 19, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154 "2011-10-19T16:28:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/1 "2011-10-19T16:28:47Z")
I’m trying to think of a list of the words you associate with the way diners and cafeterias used to name their dishes, and I’m stumped. You know what I mean - anything you can imagine coming after the word “Meatloaf” or “Tuna” on a menu. So far I have:
Supreme
Surprise
Delight
Extraordinaire
Special
Bonanza
Can you add any?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/2 "2011-10-19T16:36:26Z")
Would that include a style, like
Romanoff, or
au gratin?
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/3 "2011-10-19T16:50:40Z")
One of the dishes has to be intorduced as “MOM’s \_\_\_”
And if Tarantino hasn’t ruined the word forever, you should have a dish called \_\_\_\_ ROYALE."
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/4 "2011-10-19T16:57:37Z")
[Apropos Foxtrot.](http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrotclassics/2011/10/18)
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/5 "2011-10-19T16:57:42Z")
I love “Easy Perfection Salad.” I’ve found recipes in several vintage cook books.
It’s basically vegetables in lemon jello.
“Delight” is used a lot.
Or adding an ethnicity description to the dish. Like “Japanese Meatloaf” might just have soy sauce in it or “Mexican Rice” might have tomatoes and peppers.
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### Author:  [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/6 "2011-10-19T16:59:54Z")
Great ideas, guys, thank you! Royale is exactly what I’m going for… any more?
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/7 "2011-10-19T17:01:55Z")
Melt.
Half the sandwiches in any diner are a “melt” of some sort.
Or with someone’s name attached. Pete’s Chicken Pot Pie. Amy’s Peach Cobbler.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/8 "2011-10-19T17:43:59Z")
Cordon Blue
Blue Plate Special
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/9 "2011-10-19T17:53:08Z")
“What’s ‘Beefo Rancho?’”
“Tuesday’s hash with Wednesday’s gravy.”
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/10 "2011-10-19T17:56:39Z")
\_\_\_\_\_\_Plate (such as the Tuna Melt plate)
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/11 "2011-10-19T18:10:19Z")
“Schmeatloaf”.
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### Author:  [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/12 "2011-10-19T22:42:38Z")
Grand Slam - usually in reference to breakfast foods
Combo - obviously for combination plates
Platter
A La \_\_\_\_ (King, Orange, etc)
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### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/13 "2011-10-19T22:58:23Z")
\_\_\_\_\_\_ Deluxe
Also, to give something an Asian flair, whether it’s from China or Vietnam, add “Cantonese” at the end.
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### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/14 "2011-10-19T23:08:26Z")
Also, if you slap some pineapple chunks on meatloaf or a hamburger, you’ve made it “Hawaiian.”
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/15 "2011-10-20T13:52:44Z")
\_\_\_\_\_ Scramble. “Lemme have the Mexican scramble.”
\_\_\_\_\_ Hash.
“Plate” is a good one. The most famous is probably Nick Tahou’s [“Garbage Plate”](http://www.garbageplate.com/).
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### Author:  [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/16 "2011-10-20T14:07:49Z")
excuse me, flo? what’s the soup dejour?
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/17 "2011-10-20T17:17:02Z")
It’s the soup of the day.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/18 "2011-10-20T17:23:48Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#):
>
> I love “Easy Perfection Salad.” I’ve found recipes in several vintage cook books.
> It’s basically vegetables in lemon jello.
Perfection Salad was such a cliche in 50’s cookbooks that Laura Shapiro called her book about postwar American food after the dish. It’s a good read, though out of print now unfortunately.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/19 "2011-10-20T17:55:45Z")
The ordering of any diner dish must, by law, be preceded by the question: “What’ll it be, hon?”
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-diner-dishes/600154/20 "2011-10-20T18:11:53Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#):
>
> Also, if you slap some pineapple chunks on meatloaf or a hamburger, you’ve made it “Hawaiian.”
Use avacado instead and you get “California”.
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