When Local Isn't Local

Last week we went to eat at a brand new diner that opened recently in a neighboring town. It is the second location for a famous diner located in our state’s largest city. While I had never eaten at the original, I had seen it profiled on one of my favorite Food Network shows, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and it seemed like a great, classic, old-style diner. We went fairly early on a Friday night, but it was packed -- a good sign. The décor was very diner-like, albeit a bit kitschy. I looked at the menu, and found at the end a full page of logo souvenirs for sale – not a good sign. Then, while waiting for our food, I read a history of the original diner and learned that they were actively franchising the “brand” and looking to open many more. Definitely not a good sign. But all this could be forgiven if the food was good, so I ordered two dishes that I thought would be a great test of the diner – meatloaf with gravy and a side of mac & cheese. At the risk of turning this blog into a restaurant review, let me say that the food was a huge disappointment – crumbled ground beef that didn’t even hold together in slices, awful gravy, and bare elbow macaroni with some cheese sauce ladled on top. I can’t help but think that something was lost in translation from a great local favorite in business for 50+ years to this new incarnation of the “brand”. Local is almost always better. We had a wonderful diner in our town for many, many years which finally closed, and the empty lot is now destined to be future expansion space for our fire department. I missed our diner when it closed, but hadn’t realized how much until last week.