Lifelong New Yorkers eat here
A diner is by definition a place of trust . The neighborhood restaurant where neighbors have been going for decades. They are generally small places. Always cheap. Long menus, although you always end up ordering the same thing. Focused on fried and grilled. Sandwiches and soups. A good diner classic will make you the best milkshake and will have an endless assortment of desserts. It serves generous portions and, in addition, its waiters and cooks will attend in record time. You will never lack water in your glass, or coffee, if you go at breakfast time.
Edward Hopper filled New York diners with nostalgia and fascination when he painted in Nighthawks a nocturnal scene within one that no longer exists, if it ever did. As Hopper portrayed it, in a classic diner a bar with stools fixed to the floor will dominate. And, in addition, it will open 24 hours.
Nighthawks, a 'Hopperian' ode to the diner
In the thirties and forties when they proliferated more, they were prefabricated premises, which looked like a train car from the outside , for its steel plates, and its windows. The details were of art deco design and the booths or sofas facing each other –as in trains– occupied the space left by the bar.
Very few of these classic diners remain in New York today . The residents of New Jersey, on the other hand, stand proud as the state with the most diners per inhabitant. In New York, gentrification has swept away many, such as the empire diner, closed and reopened several times already, but without success. That is why those that remain, and those that we gather here, are authentic survivors of another era. Sites with popular history where you already know what food you will find.
TOM'S RESTAURANT
You may recognize it by another name, the Monk's Cafe : it was the meeting place of Seinfeld and his friends . At least the exterior, because the interior was shot in a studio in Los Angeles. It also inspired Suzanne Vega for her song Tom's Diner . But above all, it's a classic diner for Upper West Side residents, open since the 1940s. On their breakfast menu, eggs and more eggs in every possible variety. In its lunch and dinner menu, Greek influences. It was common for diners to be run by Greek immigrant families, which is why in many you will find gyro and kebab dishes , next to the hamburger or salad with feta, next to the Caesar.
It will ring a bell if you are a fan of Seinfeld
TOM'S RESTAURANT
Same name. That's where the similarities end. The Tom's Restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn , has been open since 1936 and has been in the same family ever since. It is a restaurant that has survived and still survives the gentrification of this area, hidden behind a wall of plants and serving the best breakfasts in the area. On weekends the wait is long to try their shakes with seltzer or their pancakes. It is the perfect plan after a visit to the Brooklyn Museum or the Botanic Garden.
Tom's Restaurant in Brooklyn
LEXINGTON CANDY SHOP
This classic of Upper East Side It is the best option to eat cheaply in the area after a long morning on Museum Mile . Last year they celebrated their 90th anniversary. They call this diner a time capsule. And it is, from its shop window with all coke bottles that have existed, to its interior of ocher colors and its waitresses with the same tradition as the place. The last renovation of the premises is from 1948. At least go inside to try their smoothies or their freshly made lemonade. Of course, it has candies as the name suggests. You will recognize him in the movie The Three Days of the Condor.
Its smoothies and freshly made lemonade are essential
KELLOGG'S DINER
Steel walls, big windows, Open 24 hours , burgers on their menu. It's a diner, a classic one. And now a hipster favorite in Williamsburg. A hamburger or eggs and potatoes at 5 in the morning after a long night They are the best way to conquer them.
THE BONBONNIERE
A pompous, chic name for the only greasy, yellowish restaurant left in the entire West Village. For something is one of the favorites of the neighborhood increasingly posh. Ethan Hawke is a regular, they say . No cute decoration and author's menu, in its formica bar (as a good diner bar should be) burgers and milkshakes served.
JUNIOR'S
Possibly the longest menu in New York, but you only have to sign up for one dish: CHEESECAKE. Traditional cheesecake, with strawberry, red velvet . As you like, but cheesecake . Its most classic venue is Brooklyn, near the Barclays Center. But the cake is also served in the restaurant in Times Square and Grand Central.
CHEESECAKE
JOE JR. RESTAURANT
Possibly the best burger in New York to ever appear on lists of the best burgers in New York. Without pretentions. A hamburger whose recipe has not changed since the seventies because it is based on good meat at the right point. And a little fat, of course. As it should be.
JACKSON HOLE
**Henry (Ray Liotta) and Tommy (Joe Pesci)** wait outside the Airline Diner to pull off the robbery. the boys from One of ours they moved around Queens. It was his kingdom and territory. And this diner, now renamed Jackson Hole, still stands in Astoria, with the same poster that Scorsese recorded.
Astoria, in fact, is a neighborhood for diner tourism: a few blocks west is the Neptune Diner, local favorite, and where David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve dined in 1982. For that alone, isn't it worth a visit?
The Bel-Aire Diner, on 21st Street, it's even more classic in its looks and its neighborhood-befitting Greek-American menu.
SQUARE DINER
The only classic diner for its architecture and appearance that remains in operation in Manhattan. Small among the enormity of the Financial District and Tribeca It is like a train car stopped in time. Greek-American menu.
Follow @irenecrespo\_
Diners, a tradition: a lifelong bar
With the diners you don't play
*** You may also be interested in...**
- Gastronomic trends in New York for 2016
- The taco is the new burger in New York
- The Ultimate Guide to Burgers in New York
- Eight essential breakfasts in New York
- New York for two
- The 25 most romantic hotels in Spain: where Kings Size rules
- New York hotels whose walls speak
- 40 movies that will make you fall in love (even more) with New York
- New Jersey: in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen
- Asbury Park, New Jersey's rock beach
- Touring New Jersey like Tony Soprano would
- 15 reasons to return to New York in 2015
- Little Galicia, the New Jersey neighborhood where you can eat octopus à feira
- 24 tips to avoid looking like a tourist in New York
- The triumph of fast casual in New York: the new 'diet'
- Everything you need to know about New York
- All articles by Irene Crespo
CHEESECAKE