Best of 2016: Diners
The Goodfellas Diner was in the news recently when two men tried to leave without paying their bill and ended up assaulting the two elderly owners. This horrible news came shortly after I finally watched Goodfellas for the first time and had pledged to return to the diner. Hearing that the assault might force the owners into retirement made a return to the diner my top priority, and we made it back in November. I'm so relieved that it's still open, and hope that the owners are able to make a full recovery because in a city of wonderful diners, the Goodfellas (formerly the Clinton Diner) really blew me away. The interior and exterior is beyond iconic, and they have some of the best interior signage I've seen. The diner is located in Maspeth, Queens, which is a bit of a haul (and public transit options are limited), but a diner as good as the Goodfellas is worth the trip.
The Clover Grill was our first stop on a weekend trip to New Orleans and it was a perfect introduction to an incredible city. Their claim on the "world's best hamburgers" might be dubious, but it was a very good burger. The service was Southern hospitality at its best and the signage, pink walls and punny menus made me wish I lived close enough to become a regular.
I'm so glad we made it to the Lake Effect diner on our way out of Buffalo, even if Buffalo wasn't its original location. The pancake platter was enormous, the service was friendly and the omelette was definitely a step above normal diner quality. The faded pink and blue color scheme was dreamy, and I'd go back in a heartbeat just to sit in a padded, wraparound corner booth.
I had been charmed by Kane's hyperbolic signage (***** High Class Steak & Shrimp) nearly two years before I actually ate there, but the inside is a wood-paneled, classic diner dream. During my visit in May, I mused about the awesome possibility of adding a woman's portrait to the Presidential placemat, which is still, depressingly, not a reality.
All of the diners on this list have some variation of classic diner decor—it feels like the 1940s at Clover Grill, the 1950s at the Goodfellas, the 1960s at the Lake Effect and the 1970s at Kane's—and the Floridian's 80s-style Miami Vice decor had us instantly feeling like the Golden Girls. The Floridian is covered in mirrors and teal vinyl booths; the servers are straight out of Central Casting; a manager was adding up receipts on an ancient, beige adding machine and our waitress didn't believe us when we said we lived in Brooklyn. The Floridian is actually located on Flatbush Avenue, the street I live on—just under 6 miles but more than three decades away.