Tribute to Elwood (Blues Brothers).
Ah, one of those “classics” I’ve never bothered to watch.
You are dead to me.
if they serve breakfast, and I’m in the mood for breakfast, then either an omelet (ham or sausage, and cheese) with hashbrowns (the crispier the better) and wheat toast or an English muffin.
Otherwise, an open-faced turkey or breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, with gravy and mashed potatoes.
And, cream of chicken soup.
I prefer Chicken-fried steak lunch or dinner, with gravy and mashed potatoes.
True.
I had a place that gad great bacon, and they made me a double bacon no fowl Club. Heaven.
Cut the ketchup and make is sourdough toasty and I am a happy camper.
Disneyland has two places than make huge and tasty Monte Criscos. Now, I usually share one.
Yep- unless served with chicken fried steak.
All these remind me of another breakfast favorite, but not really a standard diner meal outside of the Southwest. A scramble (not an omelet dammit, a scramble!) of chorizo, jalapeños, and cheese, with sides of salsa fresca, rice, beans and warm corn tortillas
So basically a Tex-Mex migas. One of my favorite ways to break fast, but there are only a couple of places around here that make it, and none are open early enough for me.
It’s not like I actively avoided it. I just didn’t see it, and then it seemed like there was enough in the zeitgeist (eg. Illinois Nazis) that I didn’t really need to see it. I guess I could track it down…
Yeah, but then I’d prefer the contrast of the crispy hash browns because the chicken fried steak is already covered in gravy.
Where’s the other place besides the Blue Bayou?
Kind of depends on time of day. Breakfast, I favor ham & cheese omelet, hashbrowns, buttermilk biscuit. Lunch/dinner could be fish & chips, a burger, pot roast, or whatever happens to look good on the menu to fit my mood. I got GREAT carnitas at Jack’s Family Diner in Chico, CA, recently.
Yeah, there’s a long gone diner that used to be near me that had the best albondigas soup.
Hot roast beef sandwich with gravy, mashed potatoes, and buttered peas or green beans.
Meat loaf or roast pork can be substituted for the roast beef. If it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, I’ll have roast turkey and dressing instead. With cranberry sauce, of course.
Chicken pot pie or creamy chicken and dumplings.
Homemade beef stew. Cottage pie.
Chili, if it’s not canned. Any kind, from Texas to Cincinnati. With lots of grated cheddar cheese.
Only in the UK have I seen diners offer roast lamb or shepherd’s pie.
Anything with corned beef or pastrami. Chicken and waffles if they have them…and that last slice of lemon meringue pie.
Real homestyle stuff: Chicken a la king, tuna casserole, and hamburger hot dish.
If I could find such a place in North America, bangers and mash with onion gravy and mushy peas.
Fish and chips, koftas and kofta kebabs, shawarmas.
Who remembers having deep-fried breaded clams at Howard Johnson’s? God, I loved those!
Cafe Orleans
I remember them! God I hated those!
I ate at HoJo’s often when I was traveling with my dad. Aside from the breaded clams, my favorite dish was their Welsh Rarebit with bacon. Mmmmmmmmm! 
Something I’ve enjoyed (or one of the many variants) growing up in Southern NM.
Since a few posters have mentioned dishes they have at specific diners, I’ll add one more, although my earlier comments stand that breakfast-food at 99% of diners is my default. If you are ever in Albuquerque NM, and happen to swing by the Owl Cafe you must have one of their justifiably famous green chili cheeseburgers. Since it’s arguably the unofficial state dish anyway, and it’s freaking delicious. In my teens I went through town with my father (and weren’t going by the original location in San Antonio) we’d each get a GCC plus one more to share.
An old school malt would also be my choice of beverage, a diner fare not mentioned to date! Although it’s kind of hard to match with breakfast meals…
I don’t go there often, but if I happen to be in Sacramento at breakfast time I go to Pancake Circus and get the Circus Special with bacon, eggs over easy, and, of course, pancakes. Or maybe I’ll order that at lunch time – they serve breakfast all day.
The place really hasn’t changed since the early 1960s, and has thus stumbled into a cool, retro vibe. Their former longtime waitress, who sadly passed away several years ago, was the sort of old-school diner waitress who would keep your coffee cup filled, joke around with the regulars, and take your order by asking “What’ll ya have, hon?” The place really doesn’t feel the same without her.
A diner that serves malted milks? That would be my idea of Heaven! 
Gotta have a malt with a 1/3 lb bacon cheeseburger, heavy on the pickles and fried onions. And fries cooked in lard, with lots of salt and ketchup! 
Onion rings cooked in lard too. Mmmmmmmmmm! The best onion rings ever came from Porky’s in MPS/StP.
But the Illinois Nazis – two of them anyway – get one of the biggest… shall we say, sendoffs? in cinematic history.
‘Smothered’ in Waffle House parlance means with diced, grilled onions. If you want it with gravy – I don’t either – that’s ‘Country’.