24 Hour Diners
July 20th, 2006 by atari
In my voyages abroad, I have often frequented late night food establishments, be it prata shops in Singapore, the Turkish bakeries in Berlin, 24/7 brasseries in Paris, or juice bars in Rio. Round-the-clock food, in my experience, has a universal appeal. I still do think, however, that the good ol’ 24 hour diner concept is one worth cherishing—yet it has not fluorished in the Boston/Cambridge area. I had heard rumors of a mysterious late night diner near South Station in Boston, but only recently did I actually make it there. Decked with red and blue neon lights, booths, and a (high tech) juke box, the South Street Diner features fairly predictable diner fare (waffles to burgers to frappes aka milk shakes) and was pretty damn hopping around 1am.
Yet, if we had some kind of hybrid column, I would peg this as half unreasonable. It is unfortunate that this is the only 24 hour diner around (IHOP does not count), and one is just not enough. I have a feeling the city licensing boards may feel quite differently, otherwise we would indeed have more. Allowing starving, stressed out students or (semi-) cracked out party kids to go hungry in the middle of the night is just not right. Further, always-open convenience stores (read: 7 eleven) don’t even begin to offer a viable alternative. The 24 hour diner is not merely an eating establishment, it is also a social institution—what more could you ask for than late night breakfast or dinner at sunrise?
July 21st, 2006 at 10:47 am
Combo and Redbull do not a dinner make.
Though I seem to have that a lot more often than I should.
The Korea House, which is one of the last restaurants in the city with a 4 AM license is closing soon and alot of the others have adopted earlier hours due to poor buisness.
Apparantly Boston is sleepy.
July 21st, 2006 at 2:15 pm
yes, but part of the problem is that these establishments are all in places (south station/chinatown) probably not all that highly populated by the target audience and as we know, it is not easy to get around this area late at night. if there were a 24 hour diner in, say, allston or cambridge, they would make a killing. i am fairly confident that cambridge has done everything it can to not give out licenses, including imposing disciplinary action on felipe’s in harvard square for staying open past 2am.
yet i have heard inklings of a former 24 hour diner in harvard square—anyone?
July 24th, 2006 at 11:35 am
In New Jersey all diners are 24 hour! I kid you not! Moving here left a hole in my heart for home fries at 4 am. South St. filled it for a while, but recently they’ve started imposing a 5 dollar per person minimum just to sit down. Of course I guess that’s not a problem when milk shakes (or frappes or whatever they call them here) are 5 bucks alone. I’ll take IHOP over that shit anyday.
July 27th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Even though I’m still not sold on South Street’s 24/7 promise, I did enjoy a delicious strawberry frappe there last night. The waitress candidly admitted that their milkshakes suck and that the frappe is the way to go. For $5 it was almost worth it.
July 28th, 2006 at 1:55 am
Unfortunately, South St. is no longer 24/7. It’s now 24 hrs on the weekends and open all night (but not during the day, oddly enough) on weekdays. I saw a fight break out there on my last night in Boston in June; provided some mild entertainment.
also, yep Atari, the Square used to blessed by a 24 hr diner right where [insert bank name here] is, you know, as soon as you walk out of the T to your left. it was called the Tasty and it closed in 1997. You can see it in Good Will Hunting. There’s even a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasty_Diner (it’s sort of painful to read, as it makes you realize we came to harvard about 10 years too late).
July 29th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
yeah—i’d seen the wikipedia article a while back but had forgotten the name.
wow. it looks like the tasty diner fell victim to, surprise surprise, a BANK (cambridge savings) in harvard square. the article makes no mention of it having been open 24 hrs, although outside sources have confirmed it.
and what’s with all of those rumors that felipe’s is going to open a 24 hr diner? i’m thinking it’s purely wishful thinking…
August 19th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Here’s a recent list I found. Nothing 24 hour but a few open after 2am.
Nothing really in the Harvard Square area tho…
September 29th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
There also used to be a late-night diner in Davis Square (Dolly’s) that was open from 11pm to 5am, or something like that. And there was Buzzy’s Roast Beef near the Charles MGH stop, which was open 24/7. You’ll have to settle with the IHOP in Brighton.
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