My sister is coming to Sacramento to take me to breakfast next week for my birthday. Thanks to this thread, I think I’ll suggest Pancake Circus.
My favorite Diner breakfast is a Western Omelet with extra cheese, Hash Browns and Biscuits and Gravy. I like it when someone at the table has one small pancake to share to satisfy my sweet tooth. Keep the coffee coming, but we need a small milk with the meal.
A patty melt with extra onions and fries and a Diet Pepsi if lunch is my plan. I’ll probably take a piece of carrot cake for later.
Once upon a time, I could have the breakfast and the lunch meal for dinner on the same day. These days, at least 24 hours between either meal would be required.
There is, of course, a third variety of chili burger - the kind where they put the burger together, put it on a plate, and then slop the chili and cheese on top, as seen at a place I know in Seattle that’s been serving Cincinnati-esque Greek chili made from the same recipe since 1922.
This variation can also be found in Pueblo, CO, where it’s called a “slopper” and made with an orange-ish pork chili.
Aw, man, that looks delicious, @Smapti . Where do you find that in Pueblo?
I’ve been to Pueblo. The best we could do was the Dew Drop Inn, which had very unique tasting pizzas. Tasty, certainly, but give me two reasons to visit Pueblo, instead of just one.
If a menu lists “Chili with beans” then that’s fine for the mentally troubled people who like beans added to their chili. I won’t eat it, but I don’t want to deprive people of the opportunity.
To address the question directly, a hamburger or hotdog is better by itself than with chili and beans on it. Putting chili with beans on a dog or burger without explicitly stating that it contains beans is an outrageous and blatant case of false advertising.
Yes indeed for chicken-fried steak, eggs over hard, hash browns, wheat toast. Coffee.
Or a BLT, no mayo, mustard instead, fries. And a coke.
Dive bar? Burger, add bacon, no cheese, fries, knife and fork. Tall can of Pabst, a glass, and a Johnnie Black, neat. Or two eggs, over hard, potatoes, bacon, wheat toast. Drink same. And two bucks in quarters.
I’ll always choose breakfast. 7 pm in a diner that specializes in prime rib? Nope, I’m getting fluffy, nicely-browned hashbrowns, sausage patties and thick, flavorful bacon (or homemade corned beef hash), topped with two eggs, sunny-side-up*.
*By the way, I prefer 'em over easy, but they look so… sunny this way!
I’m glad to see Pueblo borrows more from the NM style chili traditions - green chilis, pork not beef, no beans. Which reminds me, now that life with COVID has been normalized (sadly) we in the Springs should be seeing corner roasters in the near future with any luck.
-crosses fingers-
Back to diner food, a bowl of NM style green chili is a huge help during the cold high desert winters. It was a favorite side / a la carte option when I lived in Las Cruces and Albuquerque years ago, and a MUST when I went skiing in the Taos area as a teen.
Breakfast? Pancakes. Maybe some bacon and/or sausage on the side. However, absolutely, positively, no eggs - I’m a total Guy Fieri on that one.
Lunch/Dinner? Pot roast. The two that come to mind are, (a) the “pot roast sandwich” (pretty much just pot roast meat on sourdough bread) at the Freedom Beat restaurant at the Downtown Grand hotel in downtown Las Vegas, and (b) what used to be called “bison pot roast” (now it’s “bison brisket”) at Ted’s Montana Grill, even if the sliced carrots at the Columbus location are served rock hard (seriously, if the Blue Jackets run out of pucks, they can just go across the street, then explain to everybody, “These are experimental high-visibility orange pucks…er, it was Gary Bettman’s idea”).
I spent a week Phoenix. Possibly it was actually hell based on the heat. If it was hell than they’ve got some fantastic Mexican/Southwest food and I’m looking forward to eating it again someday
I am also reminded of an old joke. Someone visiting the Southwest was looking for good Mexican food. He was told by a local the best Mexican was found at a restaurant he pronounced as ’ Al hoe-naze’. Looking all over town for such a restaurant the visitor finally spotted a sign for Al Jones Diner and put it all together.
Breakfast: Full breakfast, scrambled eggs, definitely hash browns crispy. I know it takes forever to do that, I’ll happily wait.
Lunch: Greasy sandwich, like a Dago. Hot Crinkle Fries and ice cold Heinz ketchup. Vanilla shake.
Dinner: Steak. It sounds dumb, but Diner steaks are alright and affordable. Usually thin and with a large fat cap, but with 57 sauce it rocks. Baked potato side and a coke.
They throw them together so fast, you have to stand in line to pay.