Retro Diner: Comfort Food from the American Roadside

Rating:
Summary: Step into the past with top recipes from top diners
Review: Dive into the specialty dishes that made the old-time diners famous. "Retro Diner: Comfort Food from the American Roadside" won't make it onto the top healthy foods list, but it sure makes some old-time favorites come to life.

With recipes from the 1930's to the 1960's you are sure to find your favorite diner meals here. Alabama Sweet Potatoes, Monte Cristo Sandwich, Butterscotch Pie, you'll find recipes here that you won't find anywhere else. But don't look for any shortcuts here; these are the original recipes, which means the recipes don't start with a plain cake mix but with flour, eggs, and salt.

The book can be confusing at times like where step seven of Dixie Diner's Blueberry Pancakes say to "bake in your waffle iron", which would make it a waffle and not a pancake, or the Chipped Beef recipe that does not include toast or biscuits in the ingredients list but does state to serve it over toast or biscuits, a bit of an annoyance if you are done preparing it and then find out that you have no bread. Things like this are the only reason this did not receive a full five star rating.

Still, even with the small annoyances, the book is a pleasure to read. To add to the enjoyment of the book, it is filled with illustrations, advertising, and photographs from the appropriate years. For those who would like to travel back to a time of simple pleasures the book is a wonderful nostalgic trip and the recipes sure to delight.

Rating:
Summary: Step into the past with top recipes from top diners
Review: Dive into the specialty dishes that made the old-time diners famous. "Retro Diner: Comfort Food from the American Roadside" won't make it onto the top healthy foods list, but it sure makes some old-time favorites come to life.

With recipes from the 1930's to the 1960's you are sure to find your favorite diner meals here. Alabama Sweet Potatoes, Monte Cristo Sandwich, Butterscotch Pie, you'll find recipes here that you won't find anywhere else. But don't look for any shortcuts here; these are the original recipes, which means the recipes don't start with a plain cake mix but with flour, eggs, and salt.

The book can be confusing at times like where step seven of Dixie Diner's Blueberry Pancakes say to "bake in your waffle iron", which would make it a waffle and not a pancake, or the Chipped Beef recipe that does not include toast or biscuits in the ingredients list but does state to serve it over toast or biscuits, a bit of an annoyance if you are done preparing it and then find out that you have no bread. Things like this are the only reason this did not receive a full five star rating.

Still, even with the small annoyances, the book is a pleasure to read. To add to the enjoyment of the book, it is filled with illustrations, advertising, and photographs from the appropriate years. For those who would like to travel back to a time of simple pleasures the book is a wonderful nostalgic trip and the recipes sure to delight.

Rating:
Summary: A compendium of nostalgic, yesteryear cuisine
Review: Retro Diner: Comfort Food From The American Roadside by Linda Everett is a compendium of nostalgic, yesteryear cuisine that is a kind of birthright culinary legacy for every American. Profusely illustrated throughout, Retro Diner is a celebration of great eating as experienced by generations of men and women who ate "blue plate specials" and other palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, pocketbook friendly fare from a local diner. From Granny Glenn's Biscuits n' Gravey; Corn Chowder from the Sweetheart Diner; and Off the Grill Ham n' Cheese; to Countryside Chicken n' Dumplings; Big Daddy's Diner Meat Loaf; and Mushroom Burgers from Mooney's, Retro Diner is a pure and highly recommended celebration of a distinctive American cuisine and individualistic dining ambiance that was to pass into cultural history with the introduction and coming dominance of the fast-food franchise.