Home Food for the Holidays
Diner 24
by John Mariani

American food in excelsis

Diners have been an integral part of American food culture since the first roadside eatery—the horse-drawn Pioneer Lunch Wagon—opened in 1872 in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, where it still resides. Built to look like railroad dining cars (but rarely housed in the real thing), they were the brainchild of New York State’s “Pop” Tierney, who made his millions off the concept.

By the 1930s, there were more than 6,700 streamlined diners across the land. And by the 1940s, Greek immigrants—for no apparent reason—dominated the industry. In more recent times, after a “sit-in” of black protesters occurred at a Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, lunch counters served as flashpoints for the Civil Rights movement. It was at the Florida Avenue Grill, a soul food restaurant in Washington, that many of the movement’s marches were planned.

Diners are also embedded in American literature, film and television lore. They have featured in memorable movie scenes in classics such as Grapes of Wrath, Five Easy Pieces and GoodFellas. Of course, no mention of the big screen genre would be complete without touting Diner, which was filmed at the Bendix Diner, built in 1947 in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Ernest Hemingway set one of his most famous stories, “The Killers” at a place called Henry's Lunchroom. And the lunch counter at Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern became so popular after being featured in a recurring “Saturday Night Live” sketch—where all it served was “Cheezborger and Pepsi”—that it opened several outlets all over town.

Gastro Punk design

Diner menus have expanded over the years, with a Greek diner's choices potentially numbering in the hundreds, and many creations have evolved into traditional diner fare. So you wouldn't think there’s still much room to grow in the genre. But Diner 24 on a busy corner in Chelsea is reason to cheer. Owner Alex Freij had design company Gastro Punk Productions fashion a comfortable 60-seat interior that offers a sleek, contemporary take on California diners of the 1960s—the kind where you'd expect to find Troy Donahue putting the moves on Connie Stevens over burgers and fries. The expanse of windows gives a wonderful view onto the rush of the city, and the fake leather chairs and booths, along with rough stone, shiny tabletops and a semi-circular bar, have a real architectural integrity that is part of the fun.

The place can get loud, and it truly doesn’t need the piped-in music, but the overall friendliness makes up for the discomfort. This is American food in excelsis and proof that there are no bad dishes (well, maybe Cincinnati chili, but that’s thankfully not on the menu here), only bad chefs—a designation that most certainly cannot be applied to chef Vincent Nargi. Nargi has both a respect and a love for the kinds of dishes that usually don't get no respect. His renditions of items like macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie and meatloaf are so delicious that I would not hesitate to bring any gastronome from Europe here to see just how wonderful such food can be. Nargi knows the food intimately. You can tell the man's a nosher.

A little slice of home

His mac ‘n cheese is made of elbow macaroni (classic), with creamy Emmental and Gruyère cheeses (classy), and a toasty breadcrumb topping (blissful). There is a fish taco (a San Diego invention) made with mahi-mahi, queso blanco, roasted pico de gallo and cranberry beans. And the chicken pot pie has a marvelous flaky crust and enough chicken and vegetables to satisfy the most enthusiastic trencherman. The richness of the creamy sauce in which the pie's ingredients simmer is textbook perfect, as is the crispiness of the fried chicken with little buttermilk biscuits, horseradish coleslaw and chicken gravy. (I intended to bring the leftovers of this dish home to my always ravenous sons, but my friends and I polished it off, along with everything else we ordered.)

There is also a "TV Dinner" du jour, and the evening I came in it was an impeccably cooked sea bass, with potatoes and vegetables … though putting a lump of dessert on the plate was taking the joke too far. Also of note was the terrific meatloaf, made of ground duck meat with plenty of flavor and nicely lumpy mashed potatoes, wild mushrooms, carrots, peas and a duck jus—not something you'd run into at the Parnassus Diner or Mel's. You see what I mean when I say that Nargi takes a basic diner dish and infuses it with better ingredients and an admirable amount of creativity. French fries (though flaccid one evening) are very tasty, lavished with fines herbes, truffle oil and a Brie fondue—whoa! Desserts are all you'd hope for at a diner, including milkshakes, banana splits and good Key lime pie. The apple tart needs work.

Diner 24's wine list is nicely chosen, with a "Top Ten List" of "interesting, affordable choices." Interesting they are, though the prices are not exactly bargains. A 2002 Patz & Hall Dutton Ranch Chardonnay runs about $30 in a wine shop; here it's $75. 2003 Pascal Jolivet Sancerre goes for $20 in the shops; here it's $42. Not massive mark-ups, but not as low as you'd expect in a diner. Then again, I didn't see a lot of wine being consumed at the tables around me.

Since I don't live in Chelsea, or even in Manhattan, swinging by Diner 24 for breakfast (which includes poppy seed lemon ricotta pancakes) is probably not in the cards. But if I was a local, I'd come here round the clock for breakfast, lunch, pre-theater, dinner or late night (midnight to 6 a.m.). Just like the food it serves, it’s comforting to know this place exist, day in, day out... a little slice of home (and home cooking) when you need it.

John Mariani is well known for his frank and poignant writing in Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink and co-author, with his wife, of the Italian-American Cookbook.

(Updated: 07/08/08 HC)