New Jersey diners are often owned by Greeks and have these huge multi-page menus that rival Chinese ones. I think 17 of the items from Christina’s list would easily be found in one. Me, I’d stick to what they’re really good at–
Breakfasts, Burgers, Fries, Turkey Club, BLT’s
Ah, ok. I don’t think I’ve actually ever been to a Greek-owned diner, just ‘normal’ diners and Greek restaurants.
I feel so…seen
Lol, I had the same thought as @linguafood - that’s quite a list! I kept hearing Rodney Dangerfield in my head: "Do you look at a menu and say ‘ok’?
I would much rather be someone who loves and eats a lot of things, then the overly picky one who never can find anything they want to eat, so no judgement there.
My dislikes are raw onion bigger than mince, and honeydew. Can’t think of much else.
What did the poor honeydew melon ever do to you?!
In my college years (20+ yrs ago!), our school caf always had canataloupe and melon slices as an option. I don’t love traditional desserts (except ice cream), so I usually opt for fruit if I want something sweet after a meal. For 2 years straight I had melon for 3/4 of the year, almost every day. I couldn’t even stand to look at cantaloupes and honeydew for years after. Now I’m ok with them on occasion, but flash forward and I finally tried the Melona melon ice bars (it’s essentially a honeydew flavor) and they are fantastic! I’ll pass on fresh honeydew, but will take a Melona melon bar any day, any time.
A unique Greek diner
In Canada and some parts of the United States, many small-town and mid-sized city restaurants and diners were run by Greeks. Many non-Greeks in North America didn’t start ordering/paying for Greek food until the 1980s (too foreign), so the restaurants didn’t include Greek dishes if their clients weren’t interested.
Greeks tended and tend to run Italian restaurants and pizza restaurants in cities that don’t have much of an Italian population. My Greek Canadian friend and his BIL are running one in a small town 45 minutes from me right now.
Many of the Greeks who ran restaurants from the 50s-2010s have been retiring, and selling the business if their kids chose other career paths. Some previously Greek-run, non-Greek family restaurants and diners are now being run by newcomers from the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Laos in small Ontario towns as well as in Toronto.
I call Greek-run diners Greeky spoons. The dishes I order: Greek omelette (feta and tomato, ingredients folded into the egg before frying), banquet burger ( bacon and cheeseburger, homestyle patty), hot turkey sandwich, bacon and tomato sandwich, chef’s salad and rice pudding.
We have one restaurant in town where we went to celebrate my FILs bday - his choice. It is marketed as a Greek restaurant, but I noticed on the menu maybe 6 Greek dishes and another 25 that had nothing to do with Greek. Burgers, salads, pastas. I thought it was odd at the time, but I wonder if this is an example of these Greek diners that are run by, as opposed to serve that cuisine.
Quite likely! One of the family restaurants I used to frequent kept moussaka and chicken souvlaki on the menu, and everything else was non-Greek. They still did a good job with the Greek dishes.
I ordered a Greek salad and was disappointed in that literally by weight, 20% of the salad was raw onion (I like the stuff but really) and 20% was powdery feta. Not a good rendition.
Barf!
Here’s a menu from the NJ diner we went to the most.
Sometimes you have to go where other people take you, eh? We don’t have to return
That’s too bad.
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Everywhere (as long as it’s not for dessert): some type of spicy condiment
Turkish restaurants: kaymak (water buffalo clotted cream; to eat with baklava/katmer)
Yemeni restaurants: m’asoob (addictive dessert made of dates, heavy cream, bread, and bananas)
Moroccan restaurant: msemen (square pancake)
Ethiopian restaurants: ayib (a neutral cheese, at least in my experience)
LOL Great line. I know what you mean. Everything under the sun it seems. I had duck a la orange in one once. Wasn’t great, but they pulled off fair. I’m sticking with gyros, fries and baklava for dessert at those joints. Just had some pss n vinegar (and some drinks) in me the duck night.
I take country kids to cities, and there’s a Greek place in Mwaukee I love. Kids get in there and don’t know what anything is. For the frightened, I’ll say “if you’re worried just get a cheebugah with fries.” Kids said that was the best cheebugah around. For the unafraid, they love souvlaki, spanakopita, lemon soup, etc. Little sum’in for everyone. The place is so old, it just smells Greek as hell. Heavenly!