brian and i went to diane's for dinner tonight. around 4:30. we were both hungry. for those westsiders who aren't familiar with diane's location, it's in the same plaza with the pirate's den. i know this is not quite the landmark is used to be since it no longer resembles an actual pirate ship, but generally everyone knows where it is.
diane's reminds me of eating dinner at my grandparents'. the potatoes are from a box, the green beans from a can, and there's rainbow sherbet for dessert. (my grandmother stopped cooking sometime in the 70's, and my poor grandpa does the best he can.) this cooking style is prevalent at several westside independents, and it seems to be popular. even though it was only 4:30, many of the tables were occupied. granted, we were the youngest people there by about 40 years.
i wonder why more fresh ingredients aren't employed. maybe it's economics - the canned and boxed products probably are less expensive, and that allows prices to remain very reasonable (our dinners totalled $24). maybe it's that tastebuds become accustomed to convenience foods. maybe it's for speed of service. i'm not saying it's bad food, but it's not necessarily good either.
maybe it's just comforting for people to eat something familiar.
3 comments:
We went to the one near our house, on Cleves Warsaw once with my daughter. She HAD to have the pizza....it was directly from Chef Boyardee. Really...it was pretty disgusting.
Now, we have had good BREAKFAST there, tho. But, it's hard to mess up goetta and eggs.
I had a coupon for Habig's once so I convinced my gf and another couple to try it. Habig's was just like Diane's; packed at 5pm with old folks served food uncomplicated by flavor.
you are so right! what i remember most about habig's was everything on my plate being brown-gray, from meat to vegetable to gravy. yuck. and i think i was having chicken...
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