My Love Affair with Diners

During our trip to NYC we obviously had to eat, but there was only one place on my list and that was Serendipity over on East 60th Street. (I did order their famed frozen hot chocolate, but I prefer the version at Sparrow better!) We basically ate wherever we ended up....no fancy restaurants for us this time around.

On our second day, we took a cab down to Tribeca. Our goal was to visit the neighborhood and pay homage to the World Trade Center. As we rounded the corner onto Leonard St., I spotted a Starbucks and directly across the street sat this gem. I know Diners can be a bit dodgy, but I've been in love with them ever since my father took my sister and me to several different diners at least once a week when we were children. We walked in, deemed it safe enough, and sat down to a very large and delicious breakfast. We liked it so much, we went back the next day.

The Square Diner is only one of five diners left in NYC. It has a chrome exterior just like a train car, and the inside feels like you stepped back in time with its polished wood ceiling, red vinyl seats, and Formica tables. The menu includes your usual diner fare, and as New York Magazine once wrote, the "service is best described as surly with a smile". Yes, there was a lot of NY attitude, but when in Rome...

My family ate a lot of pancakes, mugs of hot chocolate and coffee were passed back and forth, and I kept it somewhat healthy by ordering up the yogurt parfait filled with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and granola along with my English muffin. I need my carbs in the morning.

We were then ready to tackle the hike to the WTC after I got a vanilla latte at the Starbucks I spotted earlier.

The real reason we visited Tribeca. Does this look familiar to anyone? (TaylorMadeSince1989)

Be sure to read Nick Carr's post about The Last Five Stand-Alone Diners in Manhattan. And check out this recipe to make the perfect diner pancake.