RangerSteve,

I know those places! The old diner in Bridgewater was a regular before or after-gig stop when we were up in that area--and the Metro is more or less a landmark--

You are absolutely right about the cake display--it is essential--at the Greek diners particularly, the cakes are HUGE, and there is always a jumbo lemon meringue pie with about four inches of meringue--this hugeness tends to be accompanied by a peculiar, styrofoam texture and an ambiguous sweetness that borders on flavorless--the reason for it is that the frostings and such are often made extra-large with cosmetic tricks, such as powdered egg whites--the Elephant ears are crisp and sweet--they are often purchased by unwitting parents who give them to their kids in the car, where they immediately break into volumes of sticky crumbs.

I wondered about the Greek thing, as well--I asked someone I knew who was Greek and whose family owned a diner--the official answer is that diners could be opened quickly, and, because of the high traffic, would begin making money immediately--in practical terms, my impression is that a number of early Greek immigrants in New York and Philedelphia went into the diner business, and then helped later immigrants do the same thing--as I understand it, extended families
would work menial jobs(often in diners), save, and pool their funds to open their own--

I know that, years back, the "Greek Diner" was kind of a New York City institution, and that it is now more or less a thing of the past--I suspect they moved out to build bigger and better diners in the hinterlands--All you need is a busy traffic circle, and you're in business--

Why is a traffic circle important? Because when people who are looking for a place to eat miss the enterance, they just keep going around the circle--