Eat'n Park, Pittsburgh

Eat'n Park
Perkins/Denny's/Embers/Big Boy-like chain of diners in Western PA that was surprisingly not as bad as it looked

According to Eat'n Park's website, when the chain was founded in 1949, ""Park & Eat" was as common a sight as "Drive Thru" is today and could not be copyrighted. In a brainstorm, [the founder] decided to reverse it -- to Eat'n Park."

The restaurant itself is very much in the mold of a Perkins or Denny's or Big Boy, a family-themed restaurant that offers diner-like fare (big breakfasts, sandwiches, steak'n'chicken entrees with gravy and mashed potatoes). But Eat'n'Park goes a step beyond that. In addition to the usual diner fare, they offer a gluten-free menu, an "Eat'n Smart" menu, and a low carb menu, things I would expect to see more in a California restaurant than a western Pennsylvania one. The salad bar is about what you would expect, but has some good healthy stuff in it as well, and the soups included a wild rice and portobelle mushroom soup that was quite tasty.

And of course, there are the trademark smiley cookies, sugar cookies with colored frosting in a big smiley design. They also had (for a limited time!) dinosaur cookies that were cute enough that I had to get one for our friends.

The big plus of those family diners is usually the friendly, homey service. We were there at an off hour, so we didn't get attended as well as we might've hoped, but the waitress was very personable when she did come by. The food was pretty tasty overall, a notch above what we were expecting. If this is representative of the whole chain, then we'd pick it over other family diners, if we were set on eating at a family diner-type place.

Ruby's Diner, Redondo Beach

Ruby's Diner
50's style beachfront diner in Southern California

I lived near Ruby's for three years and only went there a handful of times, but when we stopped in Torrance on our way to San Diego, that was the first place I thought of for breakfast (sadly, Kincaid's is only open early on Sundays for brunch--that review will have to wait for a while, or be a retrospective).

Inside, the red and white uniforms of the staff match the decor. Around the ceiling, suspended fish swim through the air, and the booths are all shiny red faux-leather vinyl. Your waiter or waitress may not quite match the buxom proportions on Ruby's model, but this IS the Southern California beach--they're bound to be just as perky and friendly. Ours certainly was, recommending the multi-grain pancakes over the malted waffle, which I opted for. We also tried the breakfast tacos and the corned beef hash and eggs.

The hash drew high praise, made with real corned beef, and the potatoes served with the tacos had great flavor and light texture. Breakfast potatoes are hit and miss--either too bland, undercooked, overcooked, or somehow drained of all their moisture. Ruby's had none of these problems, mixed perfectly with the onion for a great side to the tacos. The tacos, like miniature breakfast burritos, had a good mix of eggs and cheese, except in manageable portions. And the multi-grain pancakes were good and fluffy, though I didn't notice much different about the taste other than the occasional nut. They did slightly overcook the "over easy" eggs, but that's a minor problem.

Not to say it wasn't good. If you like a diner breakfast and are lucky enough to live near a Ruby's, you'd be hard pressed to find one better. And if you're lucky enough to live in Southern California, you can watch the community pool out the window, and the ocean just beyond it, while you enjoy your meal.