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| - Wait! What? What's THIS? A REAL 'diner' downtown???
Three months new to working downtown again, and I've been searching high and low within walking distance for food. On a daily basis, I walked past this little place and barely looked at it. The front door is recessed, no windows, and certainly looked like nothing fancy...in fact, it didn't look like anything at all.
Then one Friday, I started thinking about that Friday Fish Sandwich, and asked around the office for where I might be able to find a GOOD one nearby. A couple of folks said that I might try Hanlon's, and I said 'Where's that?" When they told me, I said 'There's a restaurant there?'
So I headed off in the direction of the place I'd passed every day getting to and from the bus, and voila...there it was...in all it's diner glory. Well, kind of like a diner cave. The sandwich board out front advertised the jumbo fish sandwich with fries for $6.99. What the hey, and in I went.
Wow! An inner sanctum of greasy spoon diner, just exactly what a greasy spoon diner should be! Naugahyde booths in two rows, an uber long lunch counter, a lot of people, a handful of real-people waitresses, and a handful of cute regular guys working the line.
I ordered my fish sandwich to go, paid, and off to the office.
Pretty damned good fish sandwich (although again on a hamburger bun - seriously Pittsburgh) and a LOT of fish. Good quality fish, decent breading, fried just right. Decent fries. Worth a return trip. Could this be the normalcy I've been seeking?
Even tried the Reuben once, and not bad. I'm a Reuben fanatic, and can easily have four to six Reuben meals in a four day trip to NY, just because I KNOW, regardless of where I get it, it's going to be GOOD - and I've yet to find one in da burgh to rival ANY NY Reuben - but for a Pittsburgh attempt at a Reuben, Hanlon's didn't completely disappoint.
Then came the no-carb diet, and a lack of food in my house, which forced me into meat and cheese omelet land. Not only were they accommodating with the no potato, no toast request, but after dumping styrofoam into the trash every day in the office, I decided to take in my own container to be green. They were even glad to help there. And...good omelet, filled with meaty bits of bacon, ham, and sausage, gooey cheese, and I do believe real eggs, not poured-from-a-carton eggs.
Went to a meeting there about some banking stuff, and me and a friend and a financial adviser all had a very satisfying diner meal. The only issue I had that day, never having actually eaten 'there', was that my clothes, including my coat, pretty much smelled like a french fry for the rest of the week. Well, that and the financial advise issue...
But all in all, this to me is exactly what a diner SHOULD be, reminding me of Jimmy's East Side Diner in Miami. A friendly neighborhood greasy spoon, with a good heap of food, decent prices, an effective and totally unpretentious staff that is friendly and kind, AND they have both Coke AND Pepsi products! Pepsi from the sludge machine, and Coke kept fresh in the sweet cans in the cooler!
A co-worker loves their buffalo chicken strips and fries. And I do have to say, once off the diet, I'll be heading back for some fish - I was hooked.
The prices are very reasonable as well. But friends, it's NOT the Grand Concourse (thank goodness) - it's a diner. And if anyone out there is confused by what a real diner is supposed to be like - listen up..."Hanlon's". Ritter's has cut so many corners, that it's virtually child proof, and Tom's 'diner'? Listen to the song by Suzanne Vega - it's tastier and more satisfying.
I just wish a place like this would actually do the real-city diner thing (other than Ritters) and be open 24 hours.
I am a fan of Hanlon's...hands down. The little diner that could - and DID!
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