WHAT Good diner cuisine on a relatively tight budget.
WHERE Adams Morgan’s main drag, 18th Street.
TRY THIS The “Diner Royale,” a breakfast sampler piled high with eggs, toast and a choice between French toast or pancakes and bacon, ham or sausage.
SCENESTERS SAY Good place to get a beer or Belgian waffle. Or both.
As a self-proclaimed hotspot that serves “early birds, night owls and everyone in between,” Adams Morgan’s The Diner is the perfect place for brunch, a juicy burger or a late-night snack. Affiliated with neighbor Tryst Coffeehouse and Open City, The Diner has become the perfect eatery for D.C. college students and young hipsters alike.
With a menu that declares that “all men and women are created with equal appetites” and that diners have “the right to eat breakfast whenever the hell they please (like 4 in the morning); the right to wear running shorts, pajamas, or last night’s clothes to Sunday Brunch and the right to eat out in D.C. without breaking the bank,” before listing the food offered, eating at The Diner is an experience in and of itself. Expect to find club-goers stopping by for a very early morning bite to eat or locals chowing down on grilled cheese with a glass of red wine.
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you won’t find any jukeboxes or poodle skirts in this diner. However, with red vinyl seats, checkered black and white floors, high ceilings and jazzy music playing in the background, The Diner is more of a trendy hang-out than Al’s Diner from “Happy Days.”
As for the food, expect to find an array of ethnicities and cultures represented on the menu. Jerk chicken, homemade meatloaf, stuffed portobello mushrooms and Croque Monsieurs are featured, while American breakfast staples and samplers dominate the menu.
If you’re in the mood for the most important meal of the day, be sure to try the “Diner Royale,” a breakfast sampler piled high with eggs, toast, and the choice between French toast or pancakes and bacon, ham or sausage. The homefries are not to be missed either: with a soft center and crispy outside, these potatoes are breakfast stars. Craving a cup of coffee? Look no further, as The Diner grinds its own beans and brews it fresh.
And then there are the omelets. The Diner offers a Spanish omelet with salsa, jalapeños and pepperjack cheese, a Greek omelet with spinach and feta and the classic cheese omelet, to name a few. But don’t worry about making it to The Diner before noon if you want to enjoy eggs and bacon: they serve breakfast every hour, all day long.
The lunch and dinner fare is your basic diner food: burgers, sandwiches and salads. Don’t miss out on The Diner’s delicacy, the original grilled cheese, or a twist on the classic comfort food, the Plymouth Rock, with Swiss cheese, turkey and cranberry sauce, or the Original Deluxe with cheddar, tomato and bacon.
Though not as notorious as Kramerbooks and Afterwords Café’s desserts, The Diner offers typical diner sweets like sundaes, malts and milkshakes for post-meal treats.
As mentioned in the declaration, The Diner promises to keep wallets deep with change. The average price of a bountiful breakfast sampler or sandwich and fries is about $10.
kholliday@theeagleonline.com
