A few friends and I have started this new tradition of heading up to the Catskills for New Year's Eve and locking ourselves in a cabin, making tons and tons of food and falling asleep early. It's quite a blissful getaway from the city during that crazy time of the year. On the way to the cabin, the boys usually stop at the Catskills Brewery for a bit of beer tasting and growler purchasing. This year, we got off to a bit of a late start and by the time we ended up near the brewery, most of us were hungry. There weren't aren't a lot of options nearby so we narrowed down our food search to 2 places: greasy diner food or local artisanal sandwiches. We figured, what the heck, let's go greasy spoon diner.
The moment I stepped into the empty diner I felt transported to the set of Twin Peaks. The decor was super old school: old retro furniture, 1 super friendly waitress and 1 very old guy working the grill. It couldn't be a more picture perfect diner setting if you had paid someone. We were the only ones in there except for a guy at the counter who sadly didn't seem to have enough money to eat but the kind waitress seem to let him nibble on some food for free. It's kind of a dose of reality when you come to these local towns and see what most of rural America lives like which not the glitzy life of living in a big city.
The menu there is classic diner food with a smattering of random German food like goulash and stuffed cabbage. Aarti, Nat and I stuck with the diner staple of grilled cheese. I got mine with tomato and bacon while they stuck to just cheese. Kinney got the corned beef sandwich upon the recommendation of the waitress who said it was fresh and a very generous portion. Will was adventurous and got the stuffed cabbage and we split an order of onion rings and fries for the table. Since we were the only ones there, the food came out lighting quick. As expected from a diner, the grilled cheese was gooey and delicious - made from basic American cheese and wheat bread. Sometimes the most simple basic dishes like this really hit the spot and the combination of the tomato and bacon made me very warm and happy. Nat thought that there was too much cheese in it but for me, you can never have too much cheese. The corned beef sandwich was indeed a very full sandwich and the meat looked pink and delicious. The stuffed cabbage was also a very large portion and came out piping hot with lots of cabbage, mashed potato and red sauce on it.
Overall, we were happy with our meal and it's the kind of place where if you stick with the diner basics you can't really go wrong. The waitress was super sweet and while it's obviously not a culinary wonderland, there's something to be said about a good local diner that always has a soft spot in my stomach. Total bill: $48 for 5 people including tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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