An Introduction

            The American diner, in its timeless simplicity, is an international symbol. It’s quintessential American dining. Across the country, diners line major highways, dominate the center of small towns, and dot the corners of city blocks. But what really makes a diner…a diner? Why the mystique? Why, after years, is the diner still such a popular, symbolic part of American life?

            That’s what we would like to answer. And we’re certainly equipped to explore those questions. Growing up in New Jersey means that, as a child, the diner culture is ingrained in you. You’ve gone to diners your whole life, for Sunday brunch after church services, a long dessert with close friends after dinner, or that 3 am snack on the way home from the shore. You can name at least ten diners in your immediate area, and rely on the diner even when you’re away from home. You have a special claim, and friends or family from other parts of the country, or other parts of the world, cannot possibly know or understand what a real diner is. So you educate them.

            What qualifies a restaurant as a diner? There are a lot of fakes out there, claiming that they are diners when they’re really a) chain restaurants with an unfortunate theme or b) ordinary restaurants masquerading as diners for the sake of reputation. We New Jersyans can spot the difference pretty quickly. Here are a few signs that you’re dining in a real Jersey diner:

•     There is an L-shaped dining area, usually with a “restaurant” (with tables and booths) on one side and a “diner” (with booths and a sit down bar) on the other.
•      There is a vestibule before you walk in (more often than not with either video games, candy dispensers, or toy dispensers, or a mixture of all of them).
•      You have to walk up steps or a ramp to get in. The whole building is elevated.
•      A refrigerated desert case is in the front (with an assortment of cakes, pies, and cookies).
•      There are placemats that advertise local (and often hysterical) businesses. There might be a maze involved.
•      There’s an Italian or Greek man standing near the door who obviously owns the joint and ain’t gonna take no crap from anybody.
•      The menu is huge. It often has numbers for meals and there are at least 50 numbered meals plus appetizers, breakfast, sandwiches, desert, etc.
•     There is bottomless coffee.
•      “Hon.”
•      You pay at the door. Usually the Italian or Greek man takes your money and turns out to be a really nice guy. He knows when you’re from the area and treats you different from the guy off the highway.

             On to The Diner Experience. It’s a four person summer experiment to visit, rate, and review all of the diners within a 15 mile radius of our South Jersey hometown. The restaurants must satisfy at least three of the above requirements. We will rate the quality of each diner’s food, coffee, menu, pricing, service, and bathrooms. We will give an overall review of the experience, and we will get a picture of all four experimenters in a booth at each diner. There are 37 diners in that 15 mile radius, and we’re timing our experiment to two months. That’s a lot of diners. We're up for the challenge.