Your Favorite Dive

[shel]

We all probably have one - a restaurant or cafe that may not be at all top notch, one that you'd not take your mom to when she comes for a visit, but that we go to because it's got a comfortable, unpretentious atmosphere, or maybe because it's convenient and offers cheap eats, or there's one or two dishes you gotta have every now and then.

Perhaps you can take a moment to describe the food and the layout, and tell us why you like it.

For me there's a little Chinese noodle joint not far from my house - Little Hong Kong - just down the street from one of the markets I frequent. Not much decor, but great prices for a hearty lunch. Some lunch dishes can be had for under $5.00, and include soup and rice. The service is fast and friendly, the food is fresh, and some dishes are really quite good. It's been written up in several "fine dining" magazines and articles. A really first rate dive, although probably a couple of notches above a true dive. There are other such well-regarded Chinese dives in the area, and I've tried most of them, but have found this one to be a very comfortable place to eat, and it has an ample parking lot and good on street parking as well.

San Francisco Magazine - Little Hong Kong

Shel

[allie]

In Kendallville, IN, there is an ice cream/sandwich shop called "Sandy's Sweet Shop". It's a really cute place with a decor reminiscent of a 50s style soda shop. They have the best Reuben sandwich I've ever had. Every few months, I take what I call "Mom's Day Out" when things start really stressing me. I go to Main St., browse in all the antique shops, bookstores, etc. and make a stop at Sandy's for a sandwich.

[RouxTheDay]

El Tepeyac Café in the Boyle Heights area (East L.A.) is a true dive with the most amazing rancho-style Mexican food outside of Mexico. It's a legendary LA institution that's been in the same little shack of a building since the 1950s. The owner, Manuel, is a tiny little old man who's a real sweetheart -- he's everybody's tio or abuelito. If you're nice to him, and he knows you're somewhat of a regular, he'll share some complimentary beer or tequila from his stash under the counter (it's always free because he has no liquor license).

El Tepeyac is famous for its Hollenbeck Burrito (chile verde), and fat, crunchy shredded beef taquitos with amazing guacamole.

It's really an experience not to be missed. If you're uncomfortable being in the barrio at night, go for lunch. Be prepared to wait in a long, but relatively fast-moving line if you want one of the 10 or 11 indoor tables. Otherwise, use the take out window (a much quicker line).

812 North Evergreen Ave., Los Angeles, CA
(213) 268-1960

[Chef at Heart]

I live in a pretty small town, so I was surprised to read that a local place was featured in the book "Road Food" since I had never heard of the place. The write up said that the local place - Bon Ton - has some of the best fried chicken in the south.

My husband and I mapped it and set out to find it one day. We drove right past it while looking for it, and saw a mailman so we stopped to ask him where it was. Then we looked up and saw that we were in their parking lot. Ha! It turned out to be about two miles from our house, which makes it all the more funny that we didn't know about it.

As it turns out, Bon Ton - in Henderson, KY - is a tiny cafe with maybe 10 tables (which were all full). The article called it a convenience store, but the one standing cooler with soft drinks hardly qualified it as that. The kitchen was on the other side of an old cash register on a low counter. There was a lady cooking back there who looked like she could be anyone's granny. We ordered a whole chicken to go, and she came out to make sure we knew that it would take a little bit because everything was fried to order. She also offered us a cold drink while we waited, which was sweet. When the chicken was done she wrapped it up in a brown paper wrapper and handed us napkins in case we couldn't make it home without sampling.

I have to admit, it was some pretty fantastic chicken.

[bubbamom]

Jake's Corned Beef here in Milwaukee. The place probably hasn't been upgraded in 50 years but they serve, without a doubt, the best corned beef and pastrami in the midwest. Oh-my-gosh, it's sooo good, the place is always crowded! They only have a few booths and tables and most of their business is probably carry-out. Just writing about it makes my mouth water and brings a smile to my face.

[phatch]

Chuck 'n' Freds Beyond dive. Run by two fishermen to support their fishing habit. They've since retired and it is no more. The most awesome mushroom cheeseburger and good pot roast, french dip and more.

JoJo's Too This was technically the second installation of JoJos, but JoJos went out of business shortly after JoJos Too opened. Popular with truckers, everything was good and LARGE. They too have succumbed to the no-smoking laws as did Chuck 'n' Freds. I don't smoke and don't really like to be around smoke but smokers sure do know how to eat.

Las Cazuelas authentic mexican food at low prices and dive atmosphere as well as mismatched accoutrements and table settings, a bit dirty Excellent rellenos, tongue tacos, entomatada. I could keep going. They are still in business and doing well.

George's Greek Cafe I've posted about here

[tessa]

there was this great little place in Darjeeling India, we had been there (in India) for nearly amonth this time last year and we stumbled across this place called Keventers in Nehru road
and it didnt look like much, but the view was just magnificent looking out over the 3rd highest mountain in India and we spied bacon and ham on the menu , (it was the first time we had seen/smelt bacon in 5 weeks)pork products arnt very big over there
and so we ordered breakfast which cost us probably around $1us and OMG we just about fell off our chairs when it came out , it had ham , bacon (the very very best airdried bacon we have ever ever tasted and can still taste in our minds today)
sausages, toast 4 pieces on the side, and tomatoes with eggs

it was a truck drivers breakfast if iever saw one it was just huge. We asked for our eggs to be poached ........ they poached them in oil but the rest of the meal was wicked.
i felt so stuffed i could hardly move.
We thought that was a great place and so decided that we would go there again the next day , Bruce cracked me up i think he was trying to get his months supply of bacon in 2 days he decided he was going to have a smaller breakfast that day and so just ordered bacon and eggs and tomatoes ........ we had told the guys who were working there about the bacon being so good,
Bruce was expecting a smaller plate of food , omg they piled his plate up so high with bacon , basically they had replaced the ham, and sausage and just given him 3 times as much bacon , i decided on trying the chicken sausages expecting 2 sausages on a plate , the **** plate was full to overflowing of these tiny delicious sausages for like 50cents or so , i couldnt eat them all so ended up sharing them with the local dogs.
i think the staff were a bit shocked

there is a place here called the spicy house , its a szechuan restaurant full of lots of very traditional chinese dishes, i have soon learnt not to order anything that has the word HOT in the title everytime we go in there we are the only europeans in there its always full ofchinese people, mainly students and its open until 6 am
its such a great place, looks quite run down not much atmosphere but boy oh boy is the food great.

there is another place called the yummy tummy it is very much like its come out of the 70s decor era, and they do the best best custard slices ever tasted and they are super cheap. They are a lunch cafe with ultra cheap food and loads of it

[shroomgirl]

custard slice?

dives....the tacqueria on California and Chippewa is wonderful. All tables are outside there is a counter with about 15 stools facing the outside wall. There's a flat top griddle usually manned by a couple of guys, which is some of the most entertaining cooking around. A small line for cold prep. A back room for storage/sinks/refrigeration.....
Cabeza tacos, or head tacos....we're unclear about what part of the head the meat is from but it is sooooo tasty. The shrimp Quesadilla is wonderful....spicy shrimp griddled, lettuce, creama, onions, mild cheese in a flour tortilla that's been griddled golden brown.
Sat. late mornings the guys will be cooking beef shanks or what appears to be tougher muscle meat with tendon....large quantities of onions, tendon and then "Cajun Spice"....using a 8" handled flat painting spatula thingy and a very long thin flex knife they flip and hack at the tendoned meat until it's cooked and cut into fine chop. What a dance!

Not divey really, but cheap eats....Pho Long.....incredible pho. I 170 and Olive in STL......They've got a massive pot in back for stock and make incredible pho. $6-9 a huge bowl. The tendon/brisket keep me coming back time after time. Family owned and run, just good people....clear, clean flavored good food.

30 years ago I would have written about Busters in New Orleans in a very very rough part of the French Quarter. Red Beans and Rice with sausage....the waitresses always gave the down and out looking guys a longer link of meat. Now that was a dive in the best sense of the word.
I can remember my fiance at the time taking my mother (designer clothes etc) to the Hummingbird Inn for breakfast....now that was a dive and the food was crap....oily greasy gross food......the kind of place you'd go if alcohol had impaired your judgement and there were no other places open.
A dive in the worst sense of the word.
New Orleans had (probably still has) an amazing amount of diner dives.
St. Louis....hmmmmm.....guess we do, but discerning the gross from the "fine" is alittle more taxing, STL has alot of bars/dives where the food is not from scratch, nor good....add adjectives that are negative....
Just seems like New Orleans' dives usually had scratch decent food....it was unusual to get a dog meal.

[shel]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

St. Louis....hmmmmm.....guess we do, but discerning the gross from the "fine" is alittle more taxing, STL has alot of bars/dives where the food is not from scratch, nor good....add adjectives that are negative....

I recall eating in what I can only describe as a "soul food" dive in the Gaslight area before it was redeveloped - back in 1963 or so. Fatty Feldman, Crazy Harold, and I walked into this small, dark rrestaurant - and I use the term loosely - because the sign in the window offered lunch for $1.00. We were pretty scruffy looking, with Fatty looking a lot like Fat Freddy of the Freak Brothers. I don't recall what we were served for that $1.00, but I do recall how good it tasted, and the waitress gave us free seconds. She felt sorry for us ...

Another great dive was a Chinese place in Havre Montana, located on the high line. It was a basement joint, a place you had to walk down into, like descending into hel* - and the food was some of the best Chinese food I'd had until then. It was family owned, and had been there, and in the family, for a few generations, ever since the Chinese worked on building the railroad through Montana.

Man, the more I write the more great dives I can think of, many literally holes in the ground, or back-alley places like Edsel Ford Fong's place, Sam Wo's, in San Francisco's Chinatown - a narrow, greasy place on four or five levels that served incredible Chow Fun - incredibly bad or incredibly good depending on your point of view. Edsel had the rep as the world's rudest waiter. RIP Edsel - I miss you and your antics, and these new-age Yuppie-Foodies will never understand what made your place so great.

And some of the "roach coaches" in Los Angeles, East Oakland and San Francisco can pump out great Mexican food - you might be surprised.

shel

[Mezzaluna]

Bubbamom, I've never been to Jake's (except the one in Brookfield)- nor to Solly's. They're on my list! How does Jake's compare to Benji's (either location)?

[FR33_MASON]

Two blocks from where I live there is a vietnamese noodle house. It would be real nice if it wern't for the red vinyl seats clashing with the natural tones that the rest of the decor.

The food though is what I go for and that is what you definitely get. Noodle bowls, garden rolls, vietnamese subs, and especially their salt and pepper squid which has a coating on it that has a light crackle and beautiful buttery taste. Obviously the food speaks volumes over the decor as the lunch and dinner crowd are everpresent, seven days a week.

[tessa]

a good custard slice is worth walking to the ends of the earth for, its a layer of either cooked flaky or puff pastry, with a thick filling of a creamy custard/pastrycream/creme anglaise , topped with another layer of cooked pastry then iced with either a vanilla or chocolate icing , very much a kiwi classic. heres a great website to have alook at some of the best custard slices available in nz
Famous DENHEATH DESSERTS - Welcome to the home of New Zealand's Famous Custard Squares

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

custard slice?

dives....the tacqueria on California and Chippewa is wonderful. All tables are outside there is a counter with about 15 stools facing the outside wall. There's a flat top griddle usually manned by a couple of guys, which is some of the most entertaining cooking around. A small line for cold prep. A back room for storage/sinks/refrigeration.....
Cabeza tacos, or head tacos....we're unclear about what part of the head the meat is from but it is sooooo tasty. The shrimp Quesadilla is wonderful....spicy shrimp griddled, lettuce, creama, onions, mild cheese in a flour tortilla that's been griddled golden brown.
Sat. late mornings the guys will be cooking beef shanks or what appears to be tougher muscle meat with tendon....large quantities of onions, tendon and then "Cajun Spice"....using a 8" handled flat painting spatula thingy and a very long thin flex knife they flip and hack at the tendoned meat until it's cooked and cut into fine chop. What a dance!

Not divey really, but cheap eats....Pho Long.....incredible pho. I 170 and Olive in STL......They've got a massive pot in back for stock and make incredible pho. $6-9 a huge bowl. The tendon/brisket keep me coming back time after time. Family owned and run, just good people....clear, clean flavored good food.

30 years ago I would have written about Busters in New Orleans in a very very rough part of the French Quarter. Red Beans and Rice with sausage....the waitresses always gave the down and out looking guys a longer link of meat. Now that was a dive in the best sense of the word.
I can remember my fiance at the time taking my mother (designer clothes etc) to the Hummingbird Inn for breakfast....now that was a dive and the food was crap....oily greasy gross food......the kind of place you'd go if alcohol had impaired your judgement and there were no other places open.
A dive in the worst sense of the word.
New Orleans had (probably still has) an amazing amount of diner dives.
St. Louis....hmmmmm.....guess we do, but discerning the gross from the "fine" is alittle more taxing, STL has alot of bars/dives where the food is not from scratch, nor good....add adjectives that are negative....
Just seems like New Orleans' dives usually had scratch decent food....it was unusual to get a dog meal.

[shroomgirl]

like a Napolean only more custard goo.....yes I can see the attraction

[bubbamom]

Hi Mezz! Jakes on North (about 16th & North) is in my HO the best of the lot. I think the atmosphere pushes it over the top. I don't know if there's a connection between Jakes Deli (16th & North) and Jakes in Brookfield. Again, just thinking about one of those corned beef sandwiches is making my mouth water even as I type.

[annud]

When I was living in the bay area my SF friends would often pile me and my roommates into a tiny car and drive out to this Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall downtown, right about where Market starts getting sketchy. I don't remember the name of it but I only remember thinking to myself "how can food from a restaurant with such a malodorous bathroom taste like this!!".