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I love diners. The food, the bottomless coffee, the pie, the ramblin' man elements. 

I'll kick it off with Counter Cafe in Austin. 

Dot's Cafe in Houston. I also enjoy Yale Street Cafe, it's old school Houston Heights. 

The best chain in my opinion is Jim's. 

RIP Frank's in Schulenburg. 

Pig Stands. Lots of memories tied to the last (?) location on N Broadway Ave in SA.

Pig Stands invented onion rings, carhops, and the common architectural motif, or so I’ve read.

Pig Stands was one - if not the largest - restaurant chain going into the Great Depression. I think they had locations coast-to-coast, all in the southern half of the USA. That downturn plus the WWII-era rationing really killed it, though. They could never recover in time to ward off upstarts like McDonald’s. 

Edited by ImissWallyPryor

Lucky's on Oak Lawn in Dallas. 

 

290 Cafe was always a good stop, loaded you up with the chicken livers. 

  • Author
2 hours ago, Underdog said:

290 Cafe was always a good stop, loaded you up with the chicken livers. 

Really good chicken fried steak there. It almost makes taking 290 from Houston to Austin instead of 71 worth it. 

I'd say my go to diner meals are chicken fried steak/eggs and coffee or pork chops/eggs and coffee. The pork chops at Jim's are pretty darned good. 

Has anybody eaten at Tony's in Sealy? Their breakfast special has always fascinated me. It's a just in an early part of the Houston to Austin run where you don't really want to stop. 

One of the things I love about the Northeast is all of the great mom & pop diners in the region, haven’t run into many I didn’t like. 

Jake and Dorothy's in Stephenville

The Rock House in Jourdanton

Avalon Diner on Westheimer at Kirby

Frank's Grill on Telephone Road. 

 

The Diner off of Belt Line in Dallas. Love that place.

The Diner off of Belt Line in Dallas. Love that place.

On 3/2/2019 at 11:01 AM, ztejas said:

Lucky's on Oak Lawn in Dallas. 

yeah I bet you love that place. 

4 minutes ago, futureman said:

yeah I bet you love that place. 

Oh you know it. Come for the cornbread, stay for the waitstaff 😉

It’s been a few years since I stopped but the Dinner Bell in Muleshoe was tip-top old school diner/cafe.  Great hamburger steak with lots of onions.  These places always remind me of spots my grandparents would know about and love on road trips.  Unfortunately, they are fewer and farther between now, and most the quality sucks.

I may have to stop by Dinner Bell on my return trip from New Mexico this spring.

Edited by MalibuSheriff

I'm not sure if there is much of a difference between diners and cafes, but here are a few that I like:

Mel's Country Cafe - Tomball

Original Market Diner - Dallas

Peacock's - Stephenville

Ramsey's - Victoria

 

Chicken tenders at Lucky's before I dumped a bunch of Cholula in the gravy.

20190304-135710.jpg

Figured I might as well document for this thread.

Tel-Wink Restaurant & Grill is pretty good too.  Around the corner from Dot.

Had a good breakfast at a little place in Johnson City taking the back roads to DFW after the Alamo Bowl.  Can't remember the name, but it was cheap, tasty, and had that classic small town cafe vibe nailed.

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Chicken tenders at Lucky's before I dumped a bunch of Cholula in the gravy.

20190304-135710.jpg

Figured I might as well document for this thread.

That looks delicious.  I've only had their breakfast.  I'm going to have to go for dinner sometime now.

On 3/4/2019 at 3:32 PM, Al_4_ISU said:

Had a good breakfast at a little place in Johnson City taking the back roads to DFW after the Alamo Bowl.  Can't remember the name, but it was cheap, tasty, and had that classic small town cafe vibe nailed.

I hope you aren't talking about the Kountry Kitchen, because that place is awful.

15 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

I hope you aren't talking about the Kountry Kitchen, because that place is awful.

Hill Country Cupboard - looked it up.

Place was kind of a dump, but in a good way.  We pulled in because the parking lot was full.  I had huevos rancheros and the wife had chicken fried steak.  I wouldn't call it the best breakfast I've had, but it was good, and I'd stop again if I found myself rolling through before noon. 

Maybe it's the place you're talking about as I'm sure because I'm from Iowa, I don't anything about real whatever it is, and my uncultured palate didn't know any better (tongue firmly in cheek here).

Edited by Al_4_ISU

I'm partial to Mary's, over in Strawn. Great chicken fried steak.

8 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Hill Country Cupboard - looked it up.

Place was kind of a dump, but in a good way.  We pulled in because the parking lot was full.  I had huevos rancheros and the wife had chicken fried steak.  I wouldn't call it the best breakfast I've had, but it was good, and I'd stop again if I found myself rolling through before noon. 

Maybe it's the place you're talking about as I'm sure because I'm from Iowa, I don't anything about real whatever it is, and my uncultured palate didn't know any better (tongue firmly in cheek here).

Yeah, I don't think that is the same place.

22 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Yeah, I don't think that is the same place.

I avoid places with intentional misspelling like the plague, unless specifically recommended by someone I trust.

1 hour ago, SimonBolivar said:

Does that place in Hico still make good pie?

the koffee kup kafe?

On 3/4/2019 at 2:51 PM, ztejas said:

Chicken tenders at Lucky's before I dumped a bunch of Cholula in the gravy.

20190304-135710.jpg

Figured I might as well document for this thread.

I'm not sure a diner should have "chicken tenders" or mashed potatos with skin in them.  Brussels sprouts are debatable.  It's very corporate masquerading as home style.  IIRC it was a one-off Black Eyed Pea, RIP (never much liked it either).

Edited by TwiceHorn

On 3/4/2019 at 12:53 PM, Errestaurants said:

Westside Cafe and Paris Coffee Shop in Ft.Worth are pretty good.

Would have added Old Neighborhood Grill when Peter Schroeder owned it-now, not so much.  Usually eat breakfast at Paris every Saturday and catch up with Mike.

4 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Does that place in Hico still make good pie?

yes

17 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Every time I drive to Hobby, I think about stopping there. 

Do it. Gut bombs. You will sleep like a baby on the plane. If you are driving the plane, dont stop.

Edited by riloh05

  • Author
1 minute ago, riloh05 said:

Do it. Gut bombs.

Entering a food coma on SWA flight sounds a lot better than your typical SWA flight. 

Granny D's in Canyon Lake.

On 3/4/2019 at 1:46 PM, po elvis said:

jim's is f'in horrible.

You are an f’in liar. Jim’s is diner good. 

3 hours ago, riloh05 said:

Kellys off of 610 south/broadway

I’m not goin to kelly’s just ‘cause you like the takeout girl.  it’s 15 minutes out of our way. 

12 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Does that place in Hico still make good pie?

KKK

On 3/2/2019 at 9:26 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:

Pig Stands. Lots of memories tied to the last (?) location on N Broadway Ave in SA.

Pig Stands invented onion rings, carhops, and the common architectural motif, or so I’ve read.

Pig Stands was one - if not the largest - restaurant chain going into the Great Depression. I think they had locations coast-to-coast, all in the southern half of the USA. That downturn plus the WWII-era rationing really killed it, though. They could never recover in time to ward off upstarts like McDonald’s. 

The Pig Stand was a fixture on Guadalupe for many years and was across the street from Dirty's.

lastpigstand.jpg

The one in the above picture was the last one standing in SA for this Texas based chain.

Good article here.....

https://www.texasobserver.org/2751-last-pig-standing-in-san-antonio-texas-founding-contribution-to-fast-food-culture-hangs-on-by-the-hair-of-its-chinny-chin-chin/

 

1 hour ago, Steamboat1874 said:

The Pig Stand was a fixture on Guadalupe for many years and was across the street from Dirty's.

lastpigstand.jpg

The one in the above picture was the last one standing in SA for this Texas based chain.

Good article here.....

https://www.texasobserver.org/2751-last-pig-standing-in-san-antonio-texas-founding-contribution-to-fast-food-culture-hangs-on-by-the-hair-of-its-chinny-chin-chin/

 

That's the Pig Stand of my past.  It north of the well-hung Indian that stood on the west side of the street.

I see we've got a few diner/cafe hybrids on the list.

Fountainview Cafe in Houston

Also, Uptown Cafe in Thorndale TX isn't a bad place to stop if you happen to be making a run down 79.  I recall the Chicken Fried Steak's being pretty good.

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