Pls Help! American Diners?

muki89

My parents bought a burger place about 6 months ago. Business is pretty good but we'll like for it to improve.

We'll like to turn it into an American/Asian fusion style diner, since it'll be pretty unique here. I've looked up a few in Sydney (To find some inspiration) but most 'diners' turn out to be more like gourmet cafes.

So I'll like to ask the Americans on this forum to help me out. What kind of food they serve? Decor? Any extra ideas?

Currently we serve burgers (beef and chicken), chips, nuggets, Asian stir-fry, and kebabs (Written into the lease so we have to serve kebabs) We have a few 'American inspired' foods already, the burgers (obviously) and cheese fries.

Any help and suggestions will be very appreciated

BoxMeIn21

Here is one of my favorite spots in Atlanta. http://www.okcafe.com/

gingersmom

In my opinion, it's not a real diner unless it serves
- chili
- grilled cheese
- milkshakes

RonE

Frequent, live performances by The Waifs couldn't hurt.

Curbside Prophet

Hmmm, or maybe a bit more infusion. You could hire Eason Chan to sit in the corner and sing an endless stream of Elvis and Men at Work tunes. Or maybe it would be better said as Elvis and that Men at Work tune.

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Puppy_love_122

Slushies, hotdogs, giant pretzels and cheese, chili, corndogs, fries, chili dogs, fried chicken, bbq chicken.

Shalva

onion rings
and chicken nuggets and mozzerella sticks

skunkstripe

As far as I'm concerned you can spot a good diner by the breakfast food they serve. Eggs any style, bacon, toast, and decent coffee!

Shalva

good point 24 hour breakfast mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm

cshellenberger

Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes with Country gravy (White Milk based gravy) and sliced buttered carrots. this can also be served for breakfast with Hash Browns and a bisciut

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, seasoned green beans

Club Sandwiches

MonteCristo Sandwich

Pulled Pork BBQ (slowmsoked pork shoulder, pulled fromn the bone and shredded with the preferred style of BBQ sauce or if 'white' no sauce)

Honestly, American food varies from reagion to region and at times from city to city.

BTW, email me if you'd like some recipes, I'll scan some of my favorite in

Willowy

For decor, old rock-n-roll memorabilia is the standard for the small local diners. And signed pictures of "famous" people who have eaten there, even if it's just the local weatherman . Antique farm implements seem to be popular decor here, but I doubt that's true of most other areas of the U.S.

Shalva

thats so true because other than the sandwiches and the meatloaf the other things you mention are not things that are available.... it is very regional

cshellenberger

I can get great Chicken fried Steak here in Cali, even though it's more a midwestern and southern thing IF you know where to look (Claim Jumper is better than mine!). Meat Loaf is pretty comom most places.

If you really want to get an idea on good American Diner food, you might order a season of Alton Browns "Feasting On Asphalt".

What yuo also have ot remember about American food is that it's influenced by the predominant ethnic population of the area you're in and what is commonly available.

The North East has very heavy Italian and German influences with a little Irish thrown in.

The South has very heavy French influences (especialy Louisiana)and some Spanish, Carribean and African thrown in for spice.

The Midwest is very "Meat and Potatoes" with heavy German and Norse influances.

The Southwest has Heavy Native American, and Mexican influnces.

The Northwest, similar to the Midwest, but with more fish in the diet.

ACampbell

Agreed, but can't forget Hash Browns...ohhh I love those things chopped up with an egg over easy and a ton of Tabasco sauce

Don't forget desserts too!
Pumpkin & apple pie, cheesecake, carrot cake....**is headed to the kitchen to make something sweet now hehe** and things like brownies smothered in fudge with icecream...

Wraps are another good thing to serve at lunchtime (I'm thinking of what the military serves during the week at the different lunch meals - some of it is really good and other things suck) like chicken, cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing wraps. They also make some really good ones that have usually provalone cheese, salami, ham or turkey, pepperocini peppers, onions, and ranch dressing. The prime example of how to make a wrap into something tasty and not so good for you anymore.

skunkstripe

I don't have any recipes but I don't think you can go too far off if you use the Friendly's menu as a starting point.
http://www.friendlys.com/menu/index.aspx

cshellenberger

Ruby's Menu
http://www.rubys.com/

Claim Jumper
http://www.claimjumper.com/hypertext/menus_dinein.htm

Cracker Barrel
http://www.crackerbarrel.com/

Marie Callenders
http://www.mariecallenders.com/

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