Absolutely. I’ve had breakfast at diners more than any other meal. In a rush I would order the twin burger meal offered at many diners, nothing all that special. One great place in Croton NY had a ton of weekend specials, the place would be packed on Friday and Saturday evening. I had a stuffed sole dish there once that was exquisite. In the heyday of Jersey diners there were many meals I tried out for their novelty. One that I really liked but never saw again was a plate loaded with chopped liver, egg salad, and some other similar dish. There was a place somewhere around Metuchen that had a bowl of pickles out on every table to much on, loved stopping in for that.
Back to breakfast, there’s always something like the Country Boy breakfast they make at a local diner, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, hash browns, and toast. It’s been years since I could finish a meal like that.
Diner food is very rare for me, and when it happens, it’s almost always breakfast or breakfast for lunch/dinner. My default is waffles, because while I have a waffle iron, it’s a pain even with a warm oven to do a big enough batch for dinner for self and wife and serve. Second is the ever popular self assembled breakfast sandwich: 2-3 eggs over easy, toasted good bread (rye, sourdough, good wheat in that order), and bacon. Break yolks, salt and pepper result, smear yolk on toast, add some bacon, add piece of egg on top, consume, repeat.
On the occasions where I’ve had diner style food in the south or in Texas, chicken and waffles (presuming a good location of course) is also a strong contender.
I like liver & onions and many restaurants do not have it on the menu. So, I order it at diners that offer it and at a Turkish restaurant that offers calf liver & onions as an appetizer (Arnavut Cigeri).
Cheese blintzes with cherry sauce, if I can find it. I’m always so happy to find it on a diner menu I’ll have it whatever time of day it is. And if they have cherry sauce-- JACKPOT!
Breakfast: Denver omelet, hash browns, sourdough toast, iced tea. Unless I’m at Waffle House, in which case it’s double hash browns, scattered all the way.
I’m trying to think of the last time I didn’t have breakfast if I was at a diner and I’m drawing a blank. No matter the actual time of day, if I’m at a diner I’m having breakfast.
If I’m at a diner, I want breakfast. Ham and cheese omelet with crispy hashbrowns, or biscuits and gravy (with eggs and crispy hashbrowns), or corned beef hash and eggs… all preferably with a slice of well-toasted sourdough slathered in butter.
Oh, man, there used to be a coffee shop that served a really good Monte Cristo when I worked in Rosemead. Sadly, T&J’s turned into a Chinese disco.
I used to work at the Petroleum Building just south of DTLA (back in the 70s). It was 1920s building with an ornate lobby. You walked in and just inside the front door was a “cigar stand” where you could get tobacco products but was mostly for newspapers/magazines and candy/gum. A few feet further down was the bank of three manually operated elevators. Pass them and you’d enter the Petroleum Coffee Shop – run by French Canadians, although Marie, the cashier inside a tiny booth right of the entrance was Mexican-American. I loved their Canadian burger (hamburger with Canadian bacon and the best sauce I’ve ever had on a burger) with their great fries, but I was addicted to the Speedy breakfast. One egg any style, hash browns, choice of toast, one of either a hamburger patty, bacon, link sausage or patty sausage. either coffee or OJ. For $1.06. It was so good I’d often order it for lunch. I usually called down my order and picked it up, and I liked going down a smidge early to watch the synchronized routine between the waitresses working the counter and the tiny dining room, and the short order cook, and listen to the music of their Franglish.
Now, my usual breakfast place is o.k., but they have biscuits to die for. Sometimes I really feel like a waffle for breakfast, and although I feel a little funny about doing it, I’ll get a side of biscuits.
Breakfast no matter what time of day - bacon, eggs, toast, grits, coffee, ice water. If I’m at Waffle House, I might add an orange juice. If it’s after noon, I’ll have iced tea or ice water instead of coffee.