Re: Why so few ff places in the northeast?

Tim May wrote:
> In article <srhi-67F734.23521509012008@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Shawn
> Hirn <srhi@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
> 
>> You might be right. We also have great diners, which I don't believe 
>> exist at all in the western states. Some diners have great burgers, but

>> they are definitely not fast food.
> 
> We have diners. Even a chain version of them called "Margie's Diner,"
> seen in many of the same locations In-N-Out is located.
> 
> (And such canonical Western places as Denny's, Sambo's, and IHOP all
> started in California. They are essentially diners, albeit not in
> railroad cars.)
> 
> There are also authentic "train car" kinds of diners in several big
> cities, including ones in downtown San Francisco. For exactly the same
> reason as on the east coast, these tend to be downscale places.
> 

We still have quite a few "railcar" diners around here (most of them 
manufactured in Asbury Park, NJ in the mid-20th century), and they're 
also typically downscale.  But for what they lack in class they make up 
for in speed and (usually) taste.  There's one about 3 miles from my 
home that operates 24 hours and serves a very tasty griddle burger (I'd 
estimate it at 3-4 oz) on a fresh hard roll in under 2 minutes for about 
$2.  They're part of a once prevalent local chain that has been dying 
off and mutating since the 1970's.  This may have happened elsewhere as 
well, but in northern NJ quite a few railcar diners and greasy spoons 
seemed to want to cash in on the White Castle craze when it took off. 
So we have a lot of one-offs and small chains called "White 
Something-or-other", usually tucked away in neighborhoods and away from 
major highways.  The burgers seem to have an ancestry in the White 
Castle formula but now trump WC in taste and value.  The White Manna in 
Hackensack make sliders worthy of a 50 mile pilgrimage.  Of course, it 
also helps that White Castle's burgers have gone downhill since their 
golden days.


-- 
Albert Worschey