New Jersey diners, especially along route 40, are about as good as they get. Check this out:http://www.route40.net/page.asp?n=88&s=NJ&x=New%20Jersey.

We usually visit family in Margate for Thanksgiving, and it's become our (enjoyable) habit to stop for breakfast along the way at the Elmer Diner (http://elmerdiner.com/), watch the T-Day parade on TV, joke with the waitresses, drink too much coffee, and eat way too much (I'm partial to the chipped beef on toast, while my son says the corned beef hash is the best).

Here here!

When Richard Burton lived in New York doing Camelot he would eat breakfast in a diner everyday. He loved the speed, and variety which was hot and ready before he had finished the sports section.

When I first started dating my girlfriend/wife, we used to spend hours chatting it up in a variety of diners around town. Those were the days....

Love diners. In college we'd occasionally go to the one in Red Hook, NY on a Sunday morning. Helped the hangover.

To me, chains aren't the same thing.

[4] rbj, perhaps we discussed this before but it looks like you and I went to the same college..was that the RailCar Diner in RedHook you went to? Many a hungover weekend mornings there for me too.

I'm so sad the diners in NYC are closing..they just won't stop till they turn the city in a complete chain-store/Disneyfied hell..

[4] I might have been to that diner; anywhere near Holy Cow?

I don't have a favorite, but the ones I go to the most in the city are Skylight on W.34th and 9th Ave, Tick Tock on 34th and 8th and the Market Diner on 11th Ave and W.44th; all Manhattan-pricey, but better than most. The ones in the outer boros are much better though; a lot of them in Astoria.

[6] Chyll, if I remember correctly Holy Cow was a little outside town.
Man, this May will be 20 years since I graduated..I'm an old basterd now :(

[5] Disney has largely disappeared from Times Square, but the impact remains. Many touristy stores and theme restaurants and of course the thee-AY-tah, not to mention great glass office edifices and overpriced hotels.

I was on a film set for a movie starring a well-known English actor several years ago; it was at the Cheyenne Diner on W.33 and 9th Ave. It was one of the few original diners left in the city that resembled a train car, but it was already shut down. Unfortunately it smelled of long-dead rodents when opened up, but after much set dressing and rewiring it was spic-n-span clean. I don't know how long they actually shot there, but only a few weeks later the whole place was carted off to the Midwest and all that remains is a vacant corner lot.

I also was at the Moonstruck Diner way downtown a day or two before that too was carted off to Wisconsin; I didn't know that was happening until I saw it being loaded on the truck. The only one that I know of that still has the train car design is the Empire Restaurant on 10th Ave and W.22nd (technically no longer a diner). Would not be surprised to see others in the outer boros, but I can't recall where they are.

[7] Yes, definitely on the outskirts. I've only been through the village a few times, though my sister had a friend who lived there when they were college classmates and they often roamed around that area (the whole of Dutchess County is roaming territory, except maybe downtown Poughkeepsie >;)

[9] Poughkeepsie good feet-pickin town though!

Ah yes, the diner! Lots of amazing memories, though mostly in north jersey diners for this jersey boy. Unfortunately, I don't eat at diners very often anymore. I just can't handle the grease (and recently diagnosed with crohn's on that front) and I often couldn't eat much there anyhow (vegan disease haha). Seriously though, it's sad to see diners disappear.

[10] Hee-Hee. The town maybe. But the Po-Town part of it that looks like they only just finished dismantling elevated tracks, well you'll be pickin' your feet alright (glass, lead, paraphernalia...) funny how Beacon used to be like that (and Beacon still has their 50's style diner off Main Street that Paul Newman shot a film in), not funny that it's sister city Newburgh still is like that...

[5] Yeah, Bard. 1987. Don't remember the exact name of it, as it was the only diner in town. That's another good thing about small town diners, you just say you're going to the diner and everyone knows what you're talking about.

I hardly go to diners anymore, as it is just a change in lifestyle.

But I remember in high school and college that it was a real treat and almost every weekend of high school was spent eating fries with gravy after a night of drinking with pals.

In college at New Paltz, I lived in walking distance to one my junior year and it was amazing when I could come up with the scratch to afford it. I used to get "Mexiskins" They were potato skins with cheddar cheese, meat loaf cut up and bacon bits, and it had salsa and sour cream too. My mouth waters just thinking of them.

The diner was always the late night thing or early morning, and those aren't my hours anymore.

For breakfast, I always thought (and still do) that nobody can really screw up eggs, bacon and toast. Some might do it a little fancier, but most are quite the same. But for $10, I will make a breakfast for my whole family now, and have double the bacon.

I miss the leisurely meal of the diner (or anywhere now that we have kids) and the connection that you talk about in your post Alex. It is a little piece of Americana that is fading away, and that is sad. It is tough for diners, even the ones in good locations to compete with franchises that get their wares cheaper.

[7] May '95 - me too!

we went to diner's all the time in high school and college. i still dig them, but down here they're actually kinda expensive...

Diners were right of passage growing in Jersey. Just like yous, I spent a lot of high school nights and college weekend afternoons (brunch) in diners. After college, it was more of a post-concert thing, etc. But when my Manhattan sister came to town, she always wanted to go to the Cranford Diner. That's Cranford, NJ, yo.

Damn, Jazz. That's what Tokyo (or Yokelhama) needs: DINERS! "Family restaurants: just don't cut the mustard.

Now I'm jonesin' for diners…Gah!

When my dad used to take us to greasy spoon diners we'd play a game to see if the bun for the burgers were right side up or not.

I don't go to diners much anymore. Emily and I went a few weeks ago. The food was lousy but it still sort of nice to be in that environment.

What I like about walking past diners, at least in Manhattan, is that they are no-frills establishments and you see regular, working class and middle class folks in there.

We love the diners on Route 40 in NJ, on the way to Atlantic City. Stop there every Thanksgiving on the way to visit family so we don't arrive starved. One favorite is the Elmer Diner (fabulous corned beef hash, great chipped beef, wonderful triple deckers)

[16] I grew up in Cranford! Me and the diners there had many good times.

I really don't think I could live somewhere where I didn't have immediate access to a 24 hour diner.

[20] I crewed on a commercial at a diner in Cranford. We are in a small, small world us Banterers >;)

There's a diner on South Columbus and Fulton here in Money-Earnin I should check out; seems like it's always crowded. Meanwhile there's a diner-like establishment (more of a luncheonette) also in town called The Sugar Bowl that I heard was a favorite spot of some past musical talents. I do know it's expensive and looks kinda greasy; nothing I couldn't make at home cheaper, but I guess it's the name that counts.

Then there was this hole-in-the-wall cheesesteak joint on Sandford Blvd that made surprisingly great steak and cheese heroes among other things; there was originally a direct link to a place in Philly, but when new owners took it over a few years ago the quality went down immediately and they went out of business a little over a year later. That was an outrage I still haven't completely gotten over (the sinking of the quality leading to the shutdown, I mean).

21) Awesome.

[16] [20] Amazing! Cranford was my adopted young woikin' professional home. Great town. Great area (Westfield, Union, Elizabeth, etc.). Lotsa good diners.

I actually grew up in Morris County, a bit farther west and north, in a little town called Denville.

[16][20][24]
Isn't Cranford where Rupert Pupkin was from?

[22] I've been enjoying all the comments on diners. In the small world department, I did several consulting gigs in the early 90's with an agency called Fred/Alan that was run by 2 guys that were involved in the MTV launch. Ed Levine (the article's author) was one of their Account Execs. Ed has done much better in his latest job running "Serious Eats!"