In Praise Of Breakfast, Diners, and My Son

It strikes me that once again I need to rally for the cause of breakfast. I have always thought it was the most important meal of the day but according to one James Carmody it is “the least important meal of the day”. All of the evidence is strongly in my favor.

http://www.amerymedicalcenter.org/amery2.nsf/View/breakfast

So the research and the facts back me up but I have noticed in all me reading that no one really envisions the type of breakfast I enjoy which is sausage, toast, iced tea, hash browns... oh yes, hash browns. Sometimes some sausage gravy. Sometimes a lot of sausage gravy. Sometimes some bacon, in addition to the sausage... on the side. Tiemann tells me it is a death wish but I like to think of it as a death crusade. That seems more noble.

There was a sweet article this last month by Pat Eby in Sauce Magazine.

http://www.saucemagazine.com/section/19

It is excellent and instead of focusing on the diet aspects she compares and contrasts the diner with the ubiquitous and frankly hated “coffe house”. Sure if you need a scone and a skinny lahte I guess it is OK, especially if you need Internet access. But if you are looking for a little solitude and some time with the depressing little rag that has become The St. Louis Post Dispatch you need a diner. She mentions something I had never noticed about that fabulous picture... “no entrance, no exit, no food on the counter”. Perfect. Give that article a read.

St. Louis really does not have any of the classic rail car diners that the east coast is blessed with. They are aging and decrepit but authentic never the less. The St. Louis classic diners at this point are The Eat Rite on Chouteau and the original Courtesy on Kingshighway. They are great. Classic even but I sometime would like one of my rich friends to have a classic rail car diner moved here. Is that too much to ask?

I guess what I am trying to say is... do the right thing. Eat breakfast and even more importantly, get out and eat breakfast locally. Do it for me.

*******

I had a nice weekend this last weekend. I remembered when my wife after much soul searching my wife and I purchased a nice new iPod for our then much troubled son. He took the iPod to camp (against our admonitions) and then did not leave the iPod in his room (as I had begged) and eventually waded into Lake Michigan with the 300 dollar toy in his pocket. It did not end well for the sad little iPod. Fortunately our children grow older, mature, we buy them different toys which they are now old enough to handle... or not.

http://mangosquash.tumblr.com/post/237230297/all-for-the-sake-of-music-so-i-was-at-duffys-on

Happy Monday Kids.

First Official Diner Review

THE COURTESY ON HAMPTON DINER REVIEW ONE:

The Courtesy on Hampton has been my primary morning home since it opened...around ten years ago. It is on Hampton right where the old Arena used to be and up the street from Arena Liquors. The son rises over the Salvation Army building across the street. There are seven booths, the two on the left marked “not smoking” and the other five to the right go all the way down to the bathrooms. It is a classy place. They have a mens room and a womans room. There are 12 stools and of course everything is prepared right behind the counter.


I get there at some ungodly time and there are always a group of older guys, nice huys who sit at the counter and smoke and read the paper and talk about the weather, politics, sports and of course the morning jumble...whatever. It is some fascinating stuff. I did not join them at the counter so I was considered kind of “standoffish” but...they were kind and never beat me up or mocked me. Over the years several of them have croaked...probably because of their diet.

A lady named Janice used to rule the roost there. Janice was a fifty something...180 plus pound woman with hair dyed an off color of...well...I guess it was red or rust or reddish...anyway...Janice was crazy as the proverbial shit house rat. She had a gruff personality but when she liked you she took care of you and over time...she liked me. janice disappeared a few years ago the way the marginally crazy people on the fringes of society often do. There are only about 4 or 5 women who work there in the morning and they are excellent. Recently I have only been going there in Fridays and Saturdays and I have the same girls who cook and serve and they are very kind, often even making me a fresh pot of tea of every morning because...I like to drink iced tea in the morning.



I have been eating the same thing there almost every time I go there for all that time. Hashbrowns with cheese and white onions, two sausage patties and white toast. That and an iced tea. Now sometimes when things get wild and weird...I will have a half order of biscuits and gravy with a couple sausage patties....and and iced tea. The food is hot, the food is fresh. They of course also have the slinger, with Edmunds chili...beans or no beans, whatever you want. The bottom line is that the Courtesy...they are just good people. Most people smoke. The food is hot and fresh and they do a pretty good job taking care of people....especially the regulars.

The decor is...lovely. It is one of the newest diners around and they did it in retro style. It is all black and white with some red trim. The booths are hard plastic and the stools are a VERY classy red vinal. The lighting is properly florescent. It is all good and it is centrally located on the 40 corridor and frankly...it is all good. 9/10 Slingers.

Official List of St. Louis "Diners"

So it comes down to your input dear reader...what are the "real" diners in St. Louis. I want your help...I NEED your help, America needs your help. If we do not get this list right then it is a complete retreat and the terorists win. I think that is what the President told us. Here for your review and comment is a list of St. Louis Diners which need to be visited, photgraphed, catalogued and reviewed. Four our purposes we are limiting the inquiry to the City and County of St. Louis. Below for your review is a partial list but I await to be corrected and where appropriate berated.

1. Courtesy on Hampton
2. Courtesy on Kingshighway
3. Billies in Soulard
4. Big Ed's Chili Mac Diner on Pine, Downtown
5. Spencers Grill in Kirkwood
6. Eat Rite on Vandeventer
7. Eat Rite on Lindbergh near Ronnies
8. Olivette Diner on Olive
9. Tiffany's Diner on Manchester in Maplewood
10. White Palace on Olive in Midtown
11. Hoagie Diner on Olive in Midtown
12. Former Chili Mac now Spencers in Clayton
13. Goodies Diner in North County
14. Big Ed's Chili Mac Diner on Broadway
15. The Buttery

Questionable:
1. South City Diner
2. Waffle Houses
3. Majestic Diner in West End
4. TJ's Diner in Concord
5. Place in Union Station that used to be O.T. Hodges

Purposely Excluded and PLEASE do not argue with me about this:
1. Uncle Bill's Pancake House
2. Mimi's "Diner" in Chesterdield Valley
3. That Big Thing That Says "Diner" up by the airport

These are important discussions. I need feedback. I suspect that I am forgetting a few and further (gasp) that there are several which have escaped my unblinking eye (see Lord of the Rings). Anyway... think on this. The list needs to be exhaustive. I believe one of them can be formally tackled each month and that means that I need to get to work for January's formal review. God this is exciting.

A Thought About The Courtesy Diner

On a more important note I had breakfast at the Courtesy Diner on Hampton this morning. I will begin formal reviews of each Diner down the line but will give intermittent reports on my progress as I go.
One of the great things about the Courtesy on Hampton on a Saturday morning is that if you get there early enough you are likely to catch some professional girls coming off their shift in Sauget. The Courtesy is hard to drive by on your way from the river to west county and this morning we had two young ladies, giggling and slurring as they ate their breakfast loudly making demands on occasional trips to the juke box... But perhaps I judge too harshly and these young ladies were not strippers but you do not see that much in the way of mini skirts, fishnets and five inch heels outside of that....environment.
It all ended badly with one of the young ladies throwing up her breakfast in the parking lot as the regulars looked on over their papers and one well meaning young man offered to call a cab and was loudly told to go screw (slightly rephrased) himself. This never happens at Bob Evans.
God Bless the diner!