You've got Mel

August 5, 2007 6:36 AM

Do you ever get the feeling that there's something going on that we don't know about?
posted by ericbop (43 comments total)

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a quote from the movie, Diner.
posted by ericbop at 7:02 AM on August 5, 2007

"We would love for people to be able to catch their fish and bring it in,” Ms. Pierce said. “Possibly down the road, we might be looking at a buffalo burger.”


The hell?
posted by nola at 7:12 AM on August 5, 2007

Very interesting story along with this diner (scroll down) from the second link. Cool post, ericbop.
posted by amyms at 7:15 AM on August 5, 2007

Now I'm going to have to fly all the way to La Barge to eat at my favorite Manhattan diner. Just great.
posted by nola at 7:15 AM on August 5, 2007

Heh, that town getting a diner would be a good item to do a follow-up or a mini documentary on to see how it changes things. Sort of an Americana version of the bottle in "The Gods Must Be Crazy."
posted by madamjujujive at 7:18 AM on August 5, 2007

nola, just think of what song you can sing all the way to La Barge:

"Ain't nothing gonna break my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin...."
posted by ericbop at 7:21 AM on August 5, 2007

Cool post, Eric.
There is an "imported and restored" diner in my neighborhood and I didn't know about the museum and Diversified.
Love it.
posted by bru at 7:25 AM on August 5, 2007

When I was in college, my favorite diner just up and moved one day. Didn't seem to effect them very much. Yaay modularity!
posted by Afroblanco at 7:28 AM on August 5, 2007

Would love to buy that diner stored in Amsterdam and bring it to London. This city needs a few good diners.

Although this will always be my favorite. I think anyone who lives in upstate NY or perhaps went to school there has probably eaten here at least once or twice.
posted by gfrobe at 7:54 AM on August 5, 2007

When I read the headline that the dinner was being sold with Original Stools all I could think was "Ewww! They keep those? I guess that's news."


Poutine @ The Elgin Street Dinner in Ottawa. A little bit of heartbusting heaven. It better not move because then the name would make no sense.
posted by srboisvert at 8:22 AM on August 5, 2007

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a quote from the movie, Diner.

And here I was hoping for a Diner-themed Illuminatus conspiracy. *sigh*
posted by Avenger at 8:28 AM on August 5, 2007

This city needs a few good diners.

Unfortunately, the UK doesn't do diners. We can buy the things, but inevitably the food is:

a.) overpriced
b.) shit
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:32 AM on August 5, 2007

the moondance was a great diner. seems like there are less pre-fab diners in nyc every year. my heart broke when the great jones diner closed a few year back, that was my favorite
posted by Flood at 8:40 AM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Nice post! That Manhattan diner will end up about 400 miles from me. I'll have to make a detour to visit it next time I'm on a road trip.

About 10 years back, we had several new, pre-fab diners show up in Billings within a year. Shiny, steel exteriors, 50s style counters and stools, jukeboxes, and booths. They are a lot of fun. I spoke to the owner of one of them, and he told me they arrived complete with the vintage framed pictures and magazine covers already on the walls.
posted by The Deej at 8:43 AM on August 5, 2007

A "buffalo burger" is probably like "buffalo wings", only with fish instead of chicken.

</myass>
posted by DU at 8:46 AM on August 5, 2007

You've got Mel

Oh, see, now *that's* funny. Cool post, thanks.
posted by mediareport at 8:55 AM on August 5, 2007

And here I was hoping for a Diner-themed Illuminatus conspiracy. *sigh*

Don't worry, I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with something.
posted by Robson at 9:10 AM on August 5, 2007

Buffalo burgers taste way better than beef.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:13 AM on August 5, 2007

I missed the movie-line reference on first-read and when I clicked on the first link, the NYT gave me a pre-story advertisement page that was some odd sort of human pong game graphic. There was a large crowd of people with little boxes around groups and an animated ball bouncing up and down extinguishing the lights.

I thought *that* was the "something going on" that the post made reference to. Then the ad cleared and there was a picture of a diner and I got hungry for eggs and scrapple.

I've tried to find my way back to the human pong ad but with no luck.
posted by mmahaffie at 9:14 AM on August 5, 2007

I can't honestly tell if you folks are serious or not, but since I'm from Wyoming and I've had a lot of experience with dead bison ...

A buffalo burger is a hamburger made with meat from bison (aka "buffalo," in common, albeit incorrect, terminology) instead of cow. Buffalo are fairly common in Wyoming, and many people raise them in order to sell the meat to restaurants.

It's much leaner than normal cow meat, and it's delicious. I'll take a bison burger over a plain ole hamburger any day.
posted by barnacles at 9:16 AM on August 5, 2007

Flood, I hear you on the Great Jones Diner. I was going to school in the area and had lunch there a few times a week before it closed. The guy behind the counter was worth the price of admission, and the 3.50 (or whatever it was...cheap) steak and peppers hoagie was great.

And yet, it always seemed to be empty.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:18 AM on August 5, 2007

Sorry, SAUSAGE and peppers. Even better.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:19 AM on August 5, 2007

It's much leaner than normal cow meat, and it's delicious. I'll take a bison burger over a plain ole hamburger any day.

Except that, because it's so lean, it gets really dry when overcooked.

And diners? They overcook their burgers.
posted by dersins at 9:23 AM on August 5, 2007

I keep thinking that if I had a big enough yard and some rich friends, I know what I'd ask for as a birthday present. Hell, some of these diners cost less than a Viking range!
posted by ericbop at 9:36 AM on August 5, 2007

I like cheese.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 9:50 AM on August 5, 2007

Yep, what barnacles said. Here in Montana you can get burgers and steaks made from bison, and you can also get "beefalo" which is the result of breeding bison with cattle. I even ran across a place outside of Yellowstone Park that sells elk burgers.
posted by The Deej at 9:56 AM on August 5, 2007

I find this unexpectedly upsetting.

I used to go to that place when my friends were still able to afford to live around the corner, before SoHo became completely mall-ified. I had a number of casual dates, and nice morning-after brunches there.

Now they're dragging it out of New York and planting it in Dick Cheney's home state. Ugh.
posted by bashos_frog at 10:09 AM on August 5, 2007

I like cheese.

I like money.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:10 AM on August 5, 2007

Now they're dragging it out of New York and planting it in Dick Cheney's home state. Ugh.

Why not think of it as the state where Harrison Ford lives.
posted by The Deej at 10:12 AM on August 5, 2007

I suppose it's for a different class than local owners, but I'd be so pissed if I lived nearby and that place was leaving.

I swear, 2nd Ave Deli's gone, Moondance, I'm starting to suspect Manhattan's trying to scupper any chance of me going into the city to eat. Let's hear it for Brooklyn!

Now if only Diner would revert to being an actual Diner...
posted by Busithoth at 10:25 AM on August 5, 2007

Money is just a convenient way to carry around cheese. If we could fit cheese into our wallets -- and Velveeta slices damn near made that possible! -- we wouldn't need money.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:26 AM on August 5, 2007 [3 favorites]

someone buy this for me kthx.
posted by unknowncommand at 11:30 AM on August 5, 2007

well, we still have the empire diner.
posted by cazoo at 12:13 PM on August 5, 2007

I like cheese.

I like chocolate milk!
posted by SansPoint at 1:28 PM on August 5, 2007

Trader Joe's has buffalo burgers. They're good.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:56 PM on August 5, 2007

Bison meat is too lean for most tastes in burgers. I wouldn't mind trying it rare, but anything more and it'll be dry. For a regular burger, go for the *least* lean meat at your local butcher shop. You're welcome.

*Clutches chest*

I had a pretty good burger there last year, but takeout took too long for NY lunch. Maybe they take more time for lunch in La Barge.
posted by lackutrol at 5:44 PM on August 5, 2007

In my experience, never disappointed with buffalo/bison; frequently disappointed with beef.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:39 PM on August 5, 2007

I like cheese.

I like chocolate milk!
posted by SansPoint at 4:28 PM on August 5 [+] [!]

I like turtles!
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 8:55 PM on August 5, 2007

Do you ever get the feeling that there's something going on that we don't know about?

Did not expect that to describe a post about the market in turnkey, transportable diners. Which admittedly I did not know about.
posted by nanojath at 12:05 AM on August 6, 2007

My favourite diner was a purple doubledecker bus with an attached porch-patio. It was always full of goths and the smell of used cooking oil. They served an "Ultimate Burger" the size of a cross-sectioned human head.

One day it came unmoored and drove away to a different vacant lot. That was a sad, sad day.
posted by Sallyfur at 3:45 AM on August 6, 2007

Never had bison, but I can tell you, real buffalo is some seriously good fillet! My partner likes it so much, he's willing to fork the dough to eat it at the most expensive place in town (which isn't to say it's expensive, relative to the 1st world. London, this ain't).
posted by Goofyy at 7:27 AM on August 6, 2007

Haven Brothers in Providence late, late at night holding Salt Dawg's head out of his cheeze fries.
Bubba's in Marin for breakfast. A parody but never the less good.
posted by MapGuy at 6:11 PM on August 6, 2007

Oh man, now I want to own a diner! I do! I want the paper crown waitress hat, I wanna shout orders like "Gimme two hen fruit, hatched, mystery alley to the side, and stretch one and paint it red!" I want to ding the bell. I do. I want a diner.
posted by dejah420 at 8:28 PM on August 6, 2007