Nostalgic Diner Craze Comes to South Florida

When’s the last time you had a fried bologna sandwich on white? Or a Black Cow, cherry Coke or a Green River?

That’s right, Green River, something I haven’t seen on a menu since the 1940s. I used to love ’em. But I used to love fried bologna sandwiches, too. And fried liverwurst.

Green River (95 cents), cherry Coke (10 cents more) and Black Cow — with two scoops of vanilla ice cream over Dad’s Old Fashion Root Beer for $2.25 — all are on the menu of the latest fun place for lunching and munching from 11 a.m. until midnight.

Those blasts from the past are now available, along with the kind of simple fare that always is associated with diners in my mind — meat loaf, liver and onions, pot roast, corned beef hash, roast turkey and breaded pork tenderloin — most of it served in a soupy gravy reminiscent of the school cafeteria.

It’s all on the menu at Joe Bel-Air’s, 1717 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 463-JOES. Nothing is priced over $5.20, including the “Deluxe Plates” served with bread, butter, choice of soup or salad. A dozen of the 16 sandwiches are less than $4 and they are served with a slice of pickle.

Diners are nothing new to Lauderdalians who for years have been streaming into Lester’s Diner, 250 State Road 7, Dania, 525-5461, for that giant cup of coffee — largest in town — good pies and the kind of budget-stretching blue plate specials that are found in such places.

And there are all kinds of diners up and down the Gold Coast. A favorite for lunch is the Dixie Diner, 14821 W. Dixie Highway, North Miami Beach, 945-1576.It sports the sign “Mom’s Home Cooking.” How else would you describe all that gravy on the mashed potatoes, those pork chops and all that frosting on the cakes? The cheeseburger — make sure they smother it in onions — is terrific, as it is at Joe Bel-Air’s.

Then there’s the Gourmet Diner, 13900 Biscayne Blvd, North Miami, 947-2255. It’s not too ambitious a name for a place that instead of fried bologna sandwiches features zingers such as rack of lamb, beef Burgundy and fresh fruit tarts.

In Coral Gables, there’s the popular JJ’s American Diner at Galiano Avenue, 665-5499. There also is a branch in South Miami, 5850 Sunset Drive. West Palm Beach’s star is Daisy’s Diner, 502 W. Military Trail, 689-7222. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and apparently the first of several to open across the county.

Up in Port St. Lucie, close by the new Mets stadium, there’s the aptly named Dugout Diner, 742 SW Bayshore, 879-0308, and it’s absolutely crammed with Mets memorabilia.

In Orlando’s Peabody Hotel there’s the white tiled, neon-bright B-Line Diner. In Cocoa Beach on A1A, you can relive your juke box youth at Herbie K’s, opened a year ago and apparently the first of many to be opened by — Would you believe Howard Johnson? It’s an idea whose time has come. Richard Melman of Chicago’s incredibly successful Lettuce Entertain You operation recognized this a few years ago, when he opened Ed Debevik’s Diner. And Ed Debevik has now come to the Gold Coast. Ed’s former manager, Craig Martin, is running Lucille’s Diner, 3599 NE 207th St., North Miami Beach, 932-5554, on the Waterways Marina. No diner I’m aware of in the country, including Fog City Diner out west, has a better location — smack on the Intracoastal. Joe Bel- Air’s can’t quite match that kind of site; but it does have Port Everglades a few feet away.

There’s been quite a string of strugglers in the Bel-Air building over the years; but none has arrived with such a sense of fun — down to the gum- cracking waitresses and a waiter with a propeller beanie and a blinking bow tie.

The names of the staff that the four of us observed when we took our trip into the past — Susie, Scooter and Spike — must have been made up, and they were playing their roles to the hilt. So was the back room, with desserts such as rice pudding, apple pie with a square of American cheese, gooey cherry pie and coffee served in five-pound indestructible white cups.

It’s all part of the fun, part of the nationwide diner craze.

DINER ROUNDUP

Joe Bel-Air’s

Lester’s Diner

Dixie Diner

Gourmet Diner

JJ’s American Diner

Daisy’s Diner

Dugout Diner

Lucille’s Diner