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Comment by chiph | Hacker News Reader

I took a visitor from Finland to a Jim's location in Austin, and they were in awe. "It's just like from the movies!" (because it was - it has been used several times as a filming location).

If you have a classic diner in your town, take your foreign guests there for the experience.

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Looks like they have them in Helsinki:

> https://maps.app.goo.gl/NCiZgiRjGckp6Jzn6

And if that doesn't appeal, there's another one: https://maps.app.goo.gl/e3ZWtXWEKPvDnded8

Something you've got to realize is that this form of culture is something that has gone far beyond America's borders. To the European, it is the very pinnacle of "American Food" -- and 50s/60s themed diners are all over the place.

From Belgrade, Serbia: https://share.google/qGq9vC7tKgf0ISyLz

To out-of-the-way towns in Austria: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bzHfTAobTRkHpvAN9

Germany's chock full of them. (The Germans are also more obsessed with "Cowboys and Indians" and Western US culture than any nation I've ever seen.)

France has multiple "American Diner" chains e.g.: https://www.happydaysdiner.com/

I'd hazard that there are nearly as many of these restaurants outside the US as there are inside of it. Within the US it's "throwback/nostalgia." Outside the US it's "exotic/kitsch."

Maybe your Finnish friend was remarking that the American version somehow felt more "real"? I don't know... I've been to all sorts, and the ones in Europe are truly very similar.

I think there's a difference between the "squeeze-in" style diners and simply American-style diners like the ones you've posted. A lot of the nostalgia comes from the tiny prefab buildings that barely manage to fit a bar and row of booth seats. Those are the ones from the movies that feel more authentic/classic in person, at least to me.

> Something you've got to realize is that this form of culture is something that has gone far beyond America's borders. To the European, it is the very pinnacle of "American Food" -- and 50s/60s themed diners are all over the place.

What do they serve?

Burgers, shakes, pancakes, hot dogs, sometimes BLTs and tuna melts. That sort of thing. In Europe, the "American Diner" is usually the only place that'll serve a normal plate of pancakes. (Everywhere else it's crepes, which are completely different...)

Fried chicken, liver and onions, biscuits and gravy - the breakfast options are my jam, but not really the other entrees. You can order dessert regardless though!

Sounds pretty reasonable.

Within the US, there are at least two major diner chains:

https://www.dennys.com/

https://www.ihop.com/en

At a diner in America, I'd be unsurprised to see some less "diner" offerings. When I go to my local non-chain diner, I order fettucine alfredo. And the article here has a good picture of a diner advertising "American and Korean food". I think part of the core diner concept is a somewhat athematic menu that is meant to cater to local tastes.

With that in mind, Cheesecake Factory might also be thought of as a diner. https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/menu

So I'm a little surprised at the idea of a diner that only has classic burgers / shakes / pancakes, but I'd have to admit those are fairly core dishes.

I'd say a waffle house is a better chain if you're in the lower Southeast. Much closer to a true diner experience

Yes, absolutely. They talk to you the way I expect to be talked to in a diner (lotsa “huns”), the coffee never ends, and sometimes you get to watch UFC live. The food is so easy to eat, too.

Do they serve hashbrowns?

Yes, in fact. I was at the one in Belgrade about a year ago, and their hashbrowns are terrific. It's mostly a burger and pancake joint, though.

Your first link is a restaurant in a shopping mall. It has the interior facade of being a diner, and it serves...avocado bites, spicy chicken nachos, kimchi burgers, etc. Not really the same!

Vegas has an eiffel tower too...

I was born in Finland and 100% agree.

Diners are something else. In Germany we have "American diners" where you pay for each cup of coffee.

It's not the same.

Every now and again someone will open a "American Diner" here in London, then have normal opening times and serve basically the same food every pub serves, only with more milkshakes.

Like, no. I want my American-style hash browns, over-easy eggs, and country-fried steak, not the same burger every pub on the street is doing.

And (refillable) filter coffee please, not just espresso drinks.

Pancakes, maple syrup, and bacon... Biscuits and gravy...

We had a place like that in Berlin about ten tears ago. Free coffee refills, free tap water on every table. That place sadly did not survive.

Nalu?? God I miss that place. Run by an American couple but they moved away and I’ve not found anything truly comparable since.

Yes Nalu. Me and my American partner still miss that place...

Fun to see all that, but curious why I haven't seen any on any of my trips across the UK and Ireland. I even asked some locals and they did not know of any diners anywhere in the country. I would've thought they would've been all over it.

The UK has these "American Diner" chains too: https://okdiners.com/

I thought that the "Elvis Diner" was practically a meme in the UK, actually. Hah.

Interesting. In my mind (west coast US) our diners are more Nighthawks than Happy Days. Smoking or non-smoking?

We have an independent one, Herbie's, just down the road from us outside Cambridge. It's pretty good! They have a wide range of imported US fizzy drinks cans too!

Eddie Rocket's is an Irish chain of American diners. I've eaten there in Dublin. Although at least that location is downtown, and in a bigger building, not a classic diner style building. The inside is very much American Diner themed with vinyl seats, chrome, jukebox controls at the table, and of course the menu of burgers, fries, shakes, etc.

https://www.eddierockets.ie

It's reassuring in a vague, indescribable way to know that while the Irish are exporting Irish pubs to the USA, we're exporting diners to Ireland.

Like, maybe they're passing each other somewhere over the Atlantic, and giving each other a friendly nod as they go along their respective journeys.

Today, you're one of the Lucky 10,000 to discover Ireland's thriving Country Music scene!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl%C3%B3r_T%C3%ADre

https://tg4.ie/en/search/play/?pid=6387807695112&title=Gl%C3...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philomena_Begley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_(singer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_O%27Donnell

(The Irish have been performing Country Music for more than 50 years)

Have been to both. Apart from the decor there is absolutely nothing diner about it. The first one especially has terrible food.

Jim's is legit amazing. I end up going very rarely but every time I do it's been a perfect diner experience.

I tried their liver and onions (an aquired taste it turns out I don't really have) and a slice of some meregiune pie and idk, it really transported me, the food is always very real tasting, it's hard to isolate what it is that makes so much food taste manufactured now.

It's like Donns Depot, places that connect us to some wholesome parts in our shared history.

I've never had a bad meal there. My favorites are the pancakes and the chicken-fried steak.

I recently visited my brother in Spokane (we're British, he moved out there a few years ago) and we went to Frank's Diner, still in it's original 1906 railcar. Not my first diner experience, but by far my favourite. Diners are probably my favourite part of American culinary culture.

Also, on my first visit to San Francisco, my mum and I stayed opposite the Pinecrest Diner on the edge of the Tenderloin. Being jetlagged, I woke up at 5am the first morning and went there just as it opened, and having my coffee and huge breakfast as various diner regulars stopped by was just fantastic.

I was really sad to learn recently an old diner I went to often in Venice Beach (Cafe' 50'S, on Lincoln and Lake) burned at some point and the building is just an empty husk now.

That place was great cheap food.

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