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Another staple at diners was Swiss steak. Usually made with 'minute steak'. Chewy but cheap and filling.
Oh yes. I loved Swiss steak. Haven't seen it in ages either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
I have a pub-type restaurant near me that has Prime Rib every Wednesday night. Place gets packed.
No pubs near here unfortunately. The closest thing to a pub is a local bar that has fantastic burgers. Their black and bleu burger is awesome. But other than awesome burgers, none of the classic pub menu items. My wife and I were talking about this again while out running errands this afternoon and we found it interesting that the different college towns we visited with our kids all had really cool pubs and similar type places that weren't chains. One of the reasons we loved visiting our kids while they were in college is the food we could get there even though the towns themselves were smaller than where we live. It seems colleges attract a lot of cool, low cost, eateries.
I don’t see Prime Rib in restaurants much any more.
50 years ago I used to get prime rib when my dad took me out to a restaurant. Thick, juicy cut. Last time I had it (20 years ago?) it was like a slice of roast beef. Maybe it was just that one restaurant, who knows, I don't eat much red meat anymore.
I miss those diners since I moved to FL. Sorry- those "family restaurants" are not the same.
People in NY, NJ, and Long Island LOVE our diners! The sheer variety and diverse offerings of the NYC area diners to those so called "family restaurants" with their limited meat and deep-fried offerings. Family chain restaurants and bland offerings. Most of the food is prepared elsewhere and delivered to the restaurant.
NY- NJ - LI diners are usually run by Greeks and are the food is prepared on premises. Naturally, their Greek and other Mediterranean foods are well prepared, as are most meals. Diners also have delicious desserts that are quite lavish and equally delicious. Portions are large. Wine, beer and cocktails are available. There are children's menus, but the emphasis is not on children or having a wholesome family environment. They don't always cater to families. Couples, and groups of a variety of ages frequent them, particularly people in their late teens, 20s and early thirties visit diners after concerts or a night on the town. They serve food all night.
Getting back to regular restaurants, growing up my family ate out almost as long as we ate at home. I can remember some foods that were popular at upper middle tier restaurants -
consume' - I never see this. It's a very rich beef broth that is served as a first course.
Jellied madrilene. This was a jellied beef broth - like a meat Jello. Believe it or not, this was very popular and both soups where on many if not most, menus.
Sauerbraten isn't as popular as it once was. Other than at a German restaurant, in Michigan, I don't see this on many menus. +
veal and lamb. Both of these seem to have fallen out of favor in the 1980s,
Coq au Vin and Chicken Kiev - I am not sure when I saw these once popular dishes.
beef stroganoff, Oysters Rockefeller, Waldorf and Wedge salads.
steak tartare. Raw chopped meat with a raw egg or two, ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, cracked black pepper and capers. I think the reason for this is easy - people are more cautious about consuming uncooked meat and raw eggs.
I think for a lot of us around the country, the chains killed all the diners. That's kind of what I was thinking when I made the list -- used to be a lot of places made things like this, but so many of them are gone now. Haven't seen a diner like you describe in years. I miss them.
As a New Yorker said upthread, they survive in the Mid-Atlantic region — they're still common in South Jersey as well, and you can find them in outlying neighborhoods in Philadelphia as well as its suburbs.
There was a chain of diners all called Midtown (with Roman numerals indicating which in the series it was: I had closed, but II, III and IV survived) in Center City Philadelphia; I spent many a night after nightclubbing at the Midtown II. All are closed now.
But none of the menu items you describe here are on the menus of the diners that survive here. (A famous one, the Melrose, bit the dust recently, but its owner — who's building an apartment building on its site —*says it will return in the new building's retail space. We shall see.) Wraps are a common item, however.
FWIW, I also remember HoJo's "Tendersweet" fried clams. And that chain's famously slow service.
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Originally Posted by westsideboy
some trends that came and went. No statement on the quality of the dishes.
Shrimp Scampi
Blackened anything
Snow crab legs AYCE
Mako Shark, Sword fish, and other fisheries that have declined or collapsed
Cube steak sandwich
Chicken livers, gizzards, which used to be on the KFC AYCE buffet
mozzarella sticks, not saying you can't get them but they aren't "the appetizer" of first recourse like they once were
There are some AYCE indie buffets around here that have snow crab legs as one of the items on offer. But when did KFC have an AYCE buffet? None of their stores in this region have them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl Lagos
Really good list. When I was in the Army I think we had a Chicken a la King in MREs. If you had that and a little bottle of hot sauce you were living large. I will add,
German Hot Slaw
Swedish Meatballs
Is there an Ikea store anywhere near you? You can indulge your Swedish meatball jones at any Ikea restaurant. You can also buy bags of frozen Swedish meatballs to take home.
Shrimp salad
Crab salad
Caviar - not that this was on a lot of restaurant menus but it used to be talked about a lot more than it is now.
Red eye gravy with biscuits and country ham
Meatloaf
Veal Parmesan - definitely agree that you don't see veal on menus like you used to.
Was the HJ recipe from when Jacques Pepin was there?
Years ago, someone on CD shared the recipe for Yarmouth ME fried clams. They had some kind of festival every year. I wonder if it still goes on?
Here it is! (Maineah, 2008)
This is the recipe we used at the Yarmouth Clam Festival for many years. We sold over 200 gallons of shucked clams every year bringing in over $30,000 in three days. It was a lot of work but we enjoyed it. With aging membership we gave up the fried clam booth several years ago and passed it to some other organization. They are using a different process (not nearly as good) for breading the clams. We have had people from all around the country write to us via the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce asking for the recipe for the famous Son's of Amvets fried clams. I posted this recipe before though in an obscure thread so I thought I'd re- post it as fried clam season is upon us once again!
The recipe is easy and really good. Here's a pared down version for home use
1 pint of Maine shucked clams bellies and all.
4 cups of flour
4 eggs
6 cups of water
1- 8 oz. package of Nabisco Cracker Meal.(not corn meal,flour,fry mix, or anything else.) Other cracker meal can be used but it HAS to be cracker meal.If you cannot find CRACKER MEAL you can grind up saltine crackers in an electric coffee grinder. I have done this and it works well. Some food processors may work too but they usually leave the meal too coarse.
Oil for deep frying
Set up three bowls one for flour, one for egg wash and one for the cracker meal.
Make the egg wash by cracking the eggs into a bowl adding the water and using a kitchen whip. beat until frothy.
Take the clams ONE AT A TIME and drop them into the flour, shake off excess, then the egg wash,shake off excess, and finally the cracker meal. It's important to keep the clam "rounded out" through out the process so they don't roll into a sticky mass.
To avoid making breading "gloves" use one hand in the wet(clams, egg wash) and one dry hand(flour and cracker meal)
Also as you go along it's nice to sift the lumps out of the cracker meal once in a while. Breading takes a while and there is no way to rush it and have the clams come out good. Have a beer while you're breading.(use your wet hand or you'll drop the bottle!)
Fry in hot oil (375 degrees) until golden.
Serve with tartar sauce, ketchup and salt.
1 pint will easily feed a family of five.
Cole slaw goes nicely with fried clams too.
Do try this recipe...you will really enjoy it!!
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