BS: Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited

Subject: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 12:48 PM

You've seen 'em in every town. It's the kind of restaurant where neither the decor nor the menu has changed since 1945 or even 1935. If you scraped the residue off the floors or looked on the underside of the tables, you would find trace remains of every toxic substance known to science, and some not yet identified.

The menu is based on the following:

MEAT AND POTATOES. Eggs and bacon. Dairy products (CHEESE on virtually everything). Sugar-laden desserts. Coffee that would rot the guts out of a gila monster. Sugar, Salt, Pepper and Ketchup. MORE MEAT AND POTATOES.

Did I mention meat and potatoes???

Oh yes, here and there you might find a pathetic shred of some overcooked vegetable or some canned fruit, hiding amongst the culinary delights...

This place has never heard of: the New Age, vegetarianism, macrobiotics, food combining, wholistic medicine, meditation, whole wheat anything, brown rice, or nut butter. Or rice milk. Or soy anything.

In this place, the soul is something found on the bottom of your shoes...along with a wad of gum from yesterday's careless waitress.

And then there's the clientele...they are almost universally elderly or middle-aged, wearing nondescript, rumpled clothing. Their faces are furrowed and lined with care from too many years on a lean income, too many cigarettes, too many of life's small disappointments, and too little real satisfaction. They are essentially good people, the salt of the Earth you might say, but time has worn them down. Their dreams were long ago traded in for a Readers Digest subscription and a cable TV contract. They have been coming to this restaurant so long that they could probably find it asleep and blindfolded.

Nothing ever really changes there, it just deteriorates.

You've probably seen Dagwood at the front counter on a regular basis. It's where he always goes for lunch.

I ate in such a place this morning...eggs, bacon, homefries and toast. I committed a subversive act and drank tea instead of coffee, though.

And you know what? For a greasy spoon it was actually pretty good. And the waitress, bless her heart, was entirely helpful and courteous.

Have you got a greasy spoon or two in your town? No town is complete without one.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 01:06 PM

I would eat at such places, but most allow smoking, and that's all you can taste. We have one here called KC's Caboose. It's at the end of my street -- about 5 blocks away. Ate there once. Everything tasted like cigarette smoke.

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Lanfranc
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 01:34 PM

Even in the City of London, a solitary greasy spoon survives, across the road from the Broadgate complex with its skating and sushi, premium lager and million pound bonuses, the "Copper Grill" in Eldon Street, EC2.

It was there when I started work in the City in the 60s, I think it may have had a makeover once or twice during the ensuing years, but the menu is still the same, cholesterol, sugar, carbohydrate and industrial-strength coffee and all.

Whenever I sing Paxton's "Victoria Dines Alone", in my mind's eye is an image of the "Copper Grill".

If it isn't Grade I listed for preservation, it ought to be!

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: lady penelope
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 01:58 PM

Ah yes, I remember it well. The San Siro Cafe at the bottom of Highgate hill in London. Many was the hour that we bunked off school to sit in this hallowed, er, hall. The tea had astonishing powers of revival ( many was the time I saw the dead brought back to life ) and the sausage sandwiches were to die for, but always with that peculiar tasting "tomato sauce". I believe it still exists, although Tony is no longer running it. I remember one chap actually had an account there that his parents paid for!!! Ah where is Thomas Hogg these days I wonder? Gawd, this thread's even worse than "the songs your mother sang" thread for nostalgia value. Any minute now I'm going to use the phrase " young people these days........"

Letmeouttahere.........

TTFN M'Lady P.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 02:24 PM

Just love that expression TTFN...it makes me wish I was in Soho...and not much else does. :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 02:42 PM

2 stand outin my mind... both from my home town...

The fist was called the busy bee... the kind of place where, when ya sat down at yer table or at the counter in the morning, they didn't even ask, they just put coffee in front of you... The food came it 2 protions, fecking huge and 'oh my god, look at thge size of that', but the prices were sop reasonable... I could get a rare burger the size of my head, with bacon, mushrooms, cheese and gravey for 6 or 7 bucks...

the other was the westside cafe... right near the bridge to Soo muchigan... the thing it had slightly over the busy bee, was that it was open all night, so after a gig, or a nights heavey drinking with the lads, the westside was a must... same food as above, in the same portions... French stippers chatting up truck drivers and playing bad music on the juke box...

Now here in Windsor, all the places are too clean, ya gotta go outside just to have a fag, the protions are sorta the same, but the cold meat salad that used to cost 5.50 is now 8.75...

I guess maybe I haven't pulled the carpet back far enough to find a decent place yet...

;-)

(nice thread idea)

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 02:49 PM

At Rombo's, in Orillia, Ontario, you can get a very good hamburger for $4.95 Canadian, Clinton. That's only $3.17 in US Dollars!!! What a deal, eh?

It's what you'd call a good normal sized hamburger, and it's the real thing...not like those pathetic specimens at McDonald's, Harvey's, et al.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 02:55 PM

Ha!

I had the triple bacon and cheese classic (new?) at the harveys outside Home Depot at midnight last night on my way to the new place to paint... that was one hell of a burger, lemme tells ya!

But ya.. nowhere near a good greesy-spoon burger!

;-)

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: jeepman (inactive)
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 03:19 PM

If you are ever in Asheville, NC., try the Tasty Diner, and the Hot Shot. Been around since Moses and both have the best home cookin you can imagine.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 03:27 PM

When I was going to college at UW in Seattle I often went to a cheap place familiarly called 'The Greeks' but formally the 'Olympic Resturant'. The food was good and the price was low. But one night about 3 years after I started going there, I glanced down at my salad and saw that it was teeming with maggots. A few more and they could have carried off the whole salad plate. It cost a bit more, but I ate elsewhere after that.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 11:33 PM

around here it's The Tastee Diner ...It has been a local landmark for many years...open 24/7 and all the greasy food and insults from the waitress you could want... they just moved it to make room for a new building. (There are actually 3...the one in Bethesda serves grits, and Jonathan Eberhart used to delight in dragging folk singers up there at midnight after a concert and trying to feed them grits .... Holdstock & McCloud, Lou Killen ...etc)

In Wichita, Kansas the one I knew about was The 21st Street Grill...one of the daily specials was an "Onion & Baloney sandwich" It was in an industrial park, and had slaughter houses and oil refineries for neighbors...the odor was....ummm....interesting.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:04 AM

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST,Meadow Muskrat
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:09 AM

The Schuyler diner in Lyndhurst, nj fits the description perfectly, and their Lobster Bisque on Friday is better than anything in a gourmet restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 01:10 AM

This is a TRUE STORY ... Back about 1957, my brother was a long haul truck driver. He also made extra money by running guns to Castro, who was then a rebel in the Cuban mountains. Once, on his return from a very lucrative gun running trip, he stopped at a greasy spoon, just as you decribed, somewhere in Texas. He had the same waitress you described. After pie and coffe, and feeling thankful to be alive, he left her a $50 dollar tip. He peeked through the windows to see her reaction. You query brought back this true memory.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Night Owl
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 02:23 AM

Capeside Diner here, has been in business forever. NOT to turn this into a musical thread or anything......BUT Deckman.....wondering if the name of the place you mentioned in Texas might be THE "Buffy's Quality Cafe" Bill Staines wrote a song about??

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Night Owl
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 02:23 AM

Capeside Diner here, has been in business forever. NOT to turn this into a musical thread or anything......BUT Deckman.....wondering if the name of the place you mentioned in Texas might be THE "Buffy's Quality Cafe" Bill Staines wrote a song about??

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Night Owl
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 02:29 AM

whoops..it's late..repeating myself.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 02:50 AM

Deckman back to "Night Owl" ... I'll be talking with my brother tomorrow and I'll remind him of his story and ask. As soon as I get an answer, I'll let you know. By the way, another piece of CAFE minuta ... whenever you are in a REAL cafe, don't bother to read the menu. I have two tricks for ordering: one, just ask for the blue plate special. (This is always the cooks 'signature' plate and is always good) or ... ask the waitress what SHE plans on having for lunch! It never fails. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Gervase
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 06:04 AM

When I was on the road as a hack the word doorstep was a verb as well as a noun, and thus many hours were spent in the wind and rain, waiting (usually in vain) for the person of the moment to emerge and give the assembled media a few pearls of wisdom.
Greasy spoons were an essential part of life back then - and were always preferred by hacks and monkeys (photographers) to the sanitised charms of Mucky-Ds and other chains. We'd delegate some poor agency hack to stay on the doorstep and decamp to the nearest greasy spoon to mull over the papers, eat and drink huge amounts of unhealthy food and bitch with each other; bringing back a cold cuppa and a bacon sarnie for whichever poor sap had been filling in for us on the doorstep.
At one stage I could navigate around London by the greasy spoons - there were many of them in a stone's throw of Fleet Street and all over the grottier parts of town, and the usual way to find a new one was to ask a cabbie (the old green cab shelters, of where there are still a few, serve the most fantastic bacon sandwiches and pint mugs of NATO-standard tea, but you have to be a cabbie, or plausible enough, to use 'em). Even in the recesses of Kensington and Chelsea you'd find one - usually run by Italians working ferocious hours and spending their day in a miasma of steam, grease and fag-smoke.
The other joy of working in Fleet Street were the Smithfield market pubs which, through some archaic licensing quirk, were allowed to open before dawn to give the bumarees (the porters) their breakfast.
Many's the time I staggered into the Fox and Grapes at 5.30am for a mixed grill and a pint of Guinness to dislodge the hangover before starting the early shift - this when the top bar of the Harrow had finally called last orders at 4am, leaving just enough time for a shit,shower and shave before the self-abuse could begin again in earnest. Jesus, no wonder so many of us ended up divorced alcoholics with heart disease!
The other great institutions were the transport caffs, where lorry drivers would stop to stock up on their cholesterol. My kids to this day would rather find a proper trucker's caff than any Little Chef or Happy Eater any day.
One place that stands out above all others isn't in the UK at all. The Manhattan Cafe was a wonderful place just around the corner from that evil drag that is Leeson Street in Dublin. You could get a full Irish breakfast - bacon, egg, black and white puddings, bubble and squeak, fried slice and unlimited tea - at four in the morning after a night of misbehaviour, and you wouldn't need to let anything else solid pass your lips for the rest of the day.
And to think that, in these healthier times, the average day starts with nothing more lethal than a cup of tea. Ah well, blissful memories!

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 08:47 AM

I remember one Saturday when my mom was sick, and my dad didn't want to fix me a meal, so he took us to a hole-in-the wall greasy spoon. It was up the main road going south from the Veterans Retirement home at Annapolis, Washington (on Puget Sound). He told the waitress to give me a bowl of soup. It was beef-barley soup with about a quarter inch layer of grease on top. I loved it! It's only equal as a soup was mom's oxtail soup.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 10:53 AM

The best kind of Greasy Spoon for me has been the kind where the waitress knows your name and automatically brings (what she remembers as) your "fave" to the table before you ask. The Good Bite on Yonge St. here in Toronto was like that. The Greek ladies would say "Halllo Ricky, one pea soup coming up". Damn, that's a sense of "family" and it always made me feel good.

The worst kind always seemed to be on the road, when you venture in after the gig and you just KNOW that one of the local punks is gonna say "Hey you with the guitar, play us some Zeppelin"! (with the implied message: "or we'll kill you"!)

The VERY WORST scenario? You're on the road in some small town, you've made acquaintance with a local young lady and you go into one of these establishments WITH her. The local guys see this and are NOT impressed! Can be dangerous.

I was in a play a few years ago with a mixed race cast (black and white). We were touring through Northern Ontario. Watching three black and three white actors coming through the door almost caused the staff and customers of various greasy spoons to faint dead away. And this was in the EIGHTIES.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Willie-O
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 11:20 AM

Yup.

If you're ever passing through Perth Ontario on Hwy 7, pull into the Minuteman for any kind of combo with fries. They're the last surviving independent fast-food joint on the whole sad strip there, which now boasts (east to west) McDonalds, (right across from Minuteman, boo) KFC, Pizza Hut, Robin's, Tim Horton's, Wendy's. This in a town on 6,000. Gone in the past few years: the other indies, Leaches, Frank's and KC's.

The Minuteman's great, though, my friend Jody left her purse there many years ago, wrote a song about it, ("Purse In Perth", duhhh) and later came back to the joint and made a video of the song with her band The Toasted Westerns. Needless to say there's a framed faded newspaper clipping on the wall of this event.

Good Lord, there's a robin (the bird type) jumping up and flinging itself against the basement window...I guess I should go shoo it away.

Willie-O

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: MMario
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 11:58 AM

My folks practically make a hobby out of finding out of the way obscure little mom'n'pop type diners to eat in. While not filling all the requirements of a "greasy spoon" they share the trait of having good-tastin' low cost - notnecessarilyhealthyforyourbodybutfantasticforthespirit food.

Most of their kids have picked up the habit. Not that we don't enjoy "good" quality restaraunts

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Hollowfox
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:15 PM

Youngstown, Ohio, the Golden Dawn Tavern.
Jonesborough, Tennessee, Gayle's Restaurant (especially good for breakfast).
Troy, New York, the North Troy Tavern.
Schenectady, New York, Jumping Jack's. (Technically across the Mohawk River in Scotia, this is a summertime only, old-fashioned drive-in. They call out the orders in their own code. Be sure to tip them.)
And for the best..Mount Vernon, Illinois, Opal's Smorgasbord. People on a low-fat, low-sodium diet shouldn't even drive down the street past the place.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:30 PM

Where's Annapolis, Washington? I can't find it on any map.

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Don Firth
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:43 PM

I couldn't find it either. Anacortes maybe?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 01:04 PM

Anacortes I could find with my eyes closed. Lovely city.

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 02:10 PM

Little Hawk, if you're suggesting that Rombo's is a greasy spoon, I beg to differ. Greasy spoons don't have anything for me to eat because I'm a vegetarian. Rombo's had a nice meatless selection, and it wasn't greasy at all. It's a great restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 04:18 PM

Isn't this a GREAT thread! I'm always amazed at the twists and turns these things take. MUDCAT IS S W E L L !

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 04:23 PM

By the way Don, I know where Annapolis is! I'm surprised you don't, after all, you've had more years than I to find it! (hee hee ... tomorrows my birthday and I'm trying to catch up with you)! Hugs, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 04:50 PM

Deckman to "Night Owl" ... I just talked with my brother and asked if he could remember the name of that cafe in Texas. He said it could have been "Buffy's Quality Cafe," but he doesn't remember for sure. THEN, he started on a list of all the cafes he could remember, in sequence, on his various truck routes through the South. I was amazed: he could name every place, what they were known for, who the waitresses were, etc. (the exciting thing to me is that my dear brother is still recovering from a stroke two years ago) He told me that they drove an eleven day circuit, started in Wichita and ended in Wichita. Drove South, then back. So, I don't know if I've added anything of interest, but I sure thank you for the question. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: hesperis
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 05:53 PM

Carol - Rombos IS a greasy spoon. Just because the food is good doesn't mean it isn't a greasy spoon. Just because it's a nice little family restaurant with spaghetti sauce that is the definition of spaghetti sauce, and it even serves escargots, doesn't mean it's not a greasy spoon.

(If you're still not convinced, let me put it this way - YOU didn't work there. You haven't seen the floors like I have... or the blackened bits on the grill that a very strong man couldn't remove even with steel wool and a chisel... *shudders*)

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 05:58 PM

Don't beg, Carol, it's unbecoming...

You have to go to Rombo's repeatedly, and closely observe its regular clientele...and then one day it hits you...like a cold piece of back bacon or a fried egg in the kisser...that it is a classic upscale greasy spoon...the kind, however, that serves GOOD food in generous portions.

Yes, they DO have some vegetarian alternatives.

It is SO greasy in there...specially in the kitchen. Ask Hesperis if you don't believe me. There is grease there that was old when Elvis first hit the stage.

Besides, who but a greasy spoon would mount a porta-potty ten feet above ground level on the rear wall of the building? NO ONE. Trust me. Case closed. :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 06:09 PM

Here in Nashville we used to have Mack's Cafe, which was open 24 hours. It was where you went to get a cheeseburger at 3 am after last call.

That was 13 years ago. Now it's a sushi bar.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 06:32 PM

A sushi bar??? Oh, the injustice of it all! What did American boys give their lives for on Iwo Jima anyway!?! Is nothing sacred??? By golly, I think you should write Dubya at once, and have something done about it! :-D

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 07:16 PM

Ok, hesperis and Little Hawk, I'm prepared to stand corrected. But "classic upscale greasy spoon" sounds like a bit of an oxymoron.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: hesperis
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 07:32 PM

Ahh, but Carol...

There are different ranks of greasy spoons just as there are of "better" restaurants. There is the "Piece de crap" greasy spoon, where mere mortals dread to eat. (Those who have not been blessed by Le Bon Dieu with iron stomachs.) Then, a step above, theere is the "Piece de resistance" greasy spoon, with one dish beyond sublime - but don't order anything else. Then, another step above, is the "classique" greasy spoon. This is the typical, well-loved greasy spoon. Then, the greasy spoon "De La Famille" where the environment is, by only a slight stretch of the imaginiation, suitable for children. Then, the best of all, the "Haut Cuisine" greasy spoon.

You were merely confuzzled because Rombos is a "Haut Cuisine" greasy spoon. I hope this little dessertation has cleared any remaining confusion that you may have.

~*sirepseh*~

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: hesperis
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 07:34 PM

...or, shall we say, "La Crème de la Crème", where even the grease if of a better quality.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 07:34 PM

Hey Bill D. What's that dreadful looking establishment that's across from the hotel that used to be Howard Johnson's at the intersection of University Blvd. and Viers Mill (I think. If not Viers Mill, then Georgia Ave.) in Wheaton?

I've been driving past that place for more than 30 years and I've never been in it. But it sure looks like a greasy spoon to me. Or is it even still there now that they've put a new face on Wheaton?

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 07:45 PM

Wow, hesperis! I had no idea! I've just always tended to stay away from greasy spoons because I though they didn't have anything for me to eat except white bread toast. Just think of what I've been missing all these years!

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: flattop
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 10:09 PM

If a very strong man couldn't remove it even with steel wool and a chisel... then it ain't grease, it's a fossil. How could you slander our fine dining establishments with this greasy slur, hessy. I bet you, if they ever start a new publication called, Where to Eat in Canada with Attached Portable Toilets, Rombos will get five starlets.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 11:12 PM

that is a diner that is only open for breakfast & lunch, Carol (Ben's Diner? something like that)...I have only been in there once, though it is only 3 minutes from me....the Tastee diner is the hangout of choice,(and is open late)

there is also the Little Tavern hamburger place a couple blocks on Viers Mill! "Buy 'em by the Bag"....tiny, onion-laden pieces of leather, fried by some guy they picked out of a police line-up the day before!...but it stays in business!

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 11:20 PM

Does Little Tavern have a location down in Silver Spring? If so, I think I ate a burger at that one before I swore off meat altogether. (Hmmm... wonder if there's a connection there... )

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 11:39 PM

they used to have them all over..this is about the last one...it has nearly closed several times

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 12:55 AM

The Five-ways Cafe in Croydon (Greater London). The Full English Breakfast was good, many people spoke well of the bubble-n-squeak, but the real McCoy was the liver-n-bacon with mashed potatoes & onion gravy! (fried egg extra).

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: DougR
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 01:05 AM

On the other hand, when traveling by car, my family and I always sought the small family owned cafe in a small town off the Interstate. Maybe not the most healthy fare in the world, but we figured if it satisfied the locals, it certainly was good enough for us. We were rarely disappointed.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: roopoo
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 02:04 AM

To bring it to the UK, (and also the home of the transport caff)... my son showed me a street corner establishment in Trefforest, Glamorgan, where he is at uni. This does a sustaining cholesterol-laced all-day breakfast which has saved many a penny-pinched and hungover student.

Then, closer to me, there's the Karachi in Bradford. This excellent legendary eatery down a little back street, though not English, is the Asian equivalent, I'd say. It is even listed with the tourist board. The most expensive dish is £3.50 and 8 of us once ate there for £32! The menu never really changes and is on one of those old fashioned boards with the push-in letters. Anything that might have changed is shown as white rather than yellow letters. I sometimes feel you could read it off the waiter's jacket. BUT the white formica-topped tables are scrupulously clean, as is the crockery. The food is great, and the service is excellent and friendly.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Gervase
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 04:47 AM

Jesus, Crazy Eddie!
Liver and bacon with a fried egg on top? Nuff respect, man! That's what I call a greasy spoon.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: sledge
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:27 AM

When growing up I would often go on deliveries with my Dad who drove lorries (trucks) for a living, Breakfast would often be taken at wonderfull unhealthy greasyspoon type road side cafes.

While they were never as clean as some might like they produced the best bacon or sausage sandwhiches ever, I have not tasted their like since. Oh and huge mugs of tea.

The best one was half way between Banbury and Oxford, sadly it no longer exists.

Sledge

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Kim C
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 10:35 AM

Little Hawk, Mack's became a sushi bar under the Clinton administration.

Liver and bacon and fried eggs. Damn I'm hungry. Let's add a side of grits with a pool of butter and fluffy biskits drowning in thick sausage gravy. And a plate of fried taters.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 10:57 AM

Orillia has 2 full-fledged greasy spoons of the highest calibre. One is Rombo's (they of the wall-mounted McGill porta-potty, already famous on Mudcat)...and Hill's Family Restaurant, where you can get a superb breakfast (if you can stand all the cigarette smoke...yuck!). When I eat at Hill's, I usually get takeout to avoid the smoke.

Orillia also has a couple of not so good greasy spoons...namely George's Family Restaurant (I give them 3 out of 10), the Hastee Tastee Diner (1 out of 10), and the Royal Oak (5 out of 10), and the Golden Dragon (scary! I've never eaten there at all.) The Hastee Tastee may be out of business now, I'm not sure.

The absolute worst greasy spoon I recall was Black Cat Fish & Chips on Avenue Road in Toronto. What a hole. I got the worst goddamn cup of coffee I have ever tasted in my life there. It was 1/3 normal strength, and I think it had been watered down with soapy dish water from the last sinkful in the kitchen. I had one sip of it, recoiled in horror, and left the rest to decay on the counter. This grotesquely bad establishment went out of business in the 80's sometime and has not been missed by anyone.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 11:07 AM

the best greasy spoon in the Boston area was The Tasty in Harvard Square--open 24 hours.

Sadly it closed (along with an Italian-owned German pub called The Wursthaus which had a huge selection of German beers) last year and that whole block was bought by developers and the entire look and feel of Harvard Square has changed irrevocably. All the old businesses have had to close due to high rents from greedy landlords and desires to renovate from new developers. This string of old businesses in ther heart of historic Harvard Square is now pacific Sunwear store and an Abercrombie and Fitch store and a chain bagel shop...

I loved it there at The Tasty. I went there about once a month for a grilled cheese sandwich or some bacon and eggs. The two hot dog special was popular and everytime I ate there someone walked in and ordered one and left with it. A tiny place where the sweat from the frycook's forehead was always millimeters from dripping into your coffee. Where goth-clad street urchins shared the ten leatherette stools with Harvard professors, students, tourists and locals who worked retail in the Square.

I still mourn its loss every time I walk by.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 12:27 PM

UK Tipton/Dudley Port (Birminghamish) there is (was 5 years ago) a greasy spoon theat rejoices in the name
"Sam & Ella's"
'bout 1/2 mile west of the Pie Factory.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 02:52 PM

Since the Rombo's McGill has been mentioned at least twice on this thread, I guess I should post a link to this famous Orillia landmark...

Rombo's... Now I ask you, does that look like a greasy spoon?

Rombo's famous McGill... Well, yeah, I guess maybe only a greasy spoon would be decorated like that...

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:01 PM

Nice pictures, Carol. Y' know, only a dummy would use a McGill that's mounted 10 to 15 feet above a parking lot, with no stairs leading down... :-)

Bizarre, isn't it? I wonder who he got up there in the first place? I wonder how it got up there? So many questions and so little satisfaction...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:11 PM

Well, you know how it is in Orillia, Little Hawk. Crop circles, Jonny Death, episodes of spontaneous levitation...

It's a hotbed of unexplained and unexplainable phenomena.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Hollowfox
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:16 PM

It's suppertime, and this thread's making me hungry/nostalgic. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Original Hot Dog Shop, also known as the Big O and the Dirty O (it's not dirty, though). Beside the hot dogs, there's a mind boggling variety of variations on the hamburger. And the container for a large order of fries (chips to the Britishly inclined) can be used afterward as the manger in a Christmas pagent, it's that big. Really.< In Kent, Ohio, there's Mike's. It's the one with the Star Wars x-wing fighter out front and the drawbridge around back. the food is good and generous, and the menu is worth the trip in itself.
Also in Kent, but only in the evenings, is Taco Tonto's, in the basement of the Loft Tavern (it's only one story high, go figure). they don't make tacos, but rather burritos as big as my forearm, and done well. Thwere used to be a couple of other good greasy spoons in Kent, but they either shut down or went upscale. Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:47 PM

So where the Hell is Annapolis, Washington? Anybody?

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 06:56 PM

Me too, Alex,

I eyeballed several Washington State maps and came up empty. For kicks, I pulled up MapQuest, typed in "Annapolis, Washington" and this is what popped up. Not too revealing. But then I zoomed in, and something labeled "Annapolis" showed up dead center. In or near Port Orchard, but it looks like it can't be much larger than about thirty-six square feet. Dunno if this is what's being referred to or not. I guess we'll have to wait until Deckman again comes on deck. Or maybe Bruce O. will cast light upon our ignorance.

By the way, you wouldn't believe how long those URLs in the blue clicky things are -- 266 characters each!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 07:06 PM

Boy, that's a pretty small something, whatever it is.

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 10:00 PM

Well -- it looks like that's it. I pulled up google.com, went to "Advanced Search," and tried various combinations of "Annapolis," "Port Orchard," and "Washington," and came up with quite a bit of stuff. Some of it is on-line bus schedules and ferry schedules (apparently the passenger ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton takes off from there), some genealogical info (so I guess people actually live there), and shoreline and water-quality stuff.

On placesnamed.com I found this: Annapolis, Washington, United States [Place] is in Kitsap County; location is 47°32'52"N 122°37'10"W [Source GSP] -- which, I guess, ought to pin it down fairly well. This is probably what Bruce O. was referring to, located here, just a little way up the pike from Annapolis. Oh, yeah, Bruce, what was the name of the greasy spoon? By the way, the zip-code for Annapolis, WA is 98366.

I've really gotta get a life! I think I'll go watch some TV. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 12:10 AM

GOOD GRIEF YOU GUYS! What with all the high tech whiz bang stuff out there, how is a person supposed to keep a good secret? Yes, it is SMALL, and that's only part of it's charm. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson