He slices everything coarsely, mixes it into a large heap and goes at it with a slice of toast in his left hand and fork in the right. While he eats (toast, fork, toast, fork) the young women wolf down plates of food that "is sooooo bad" for them. When he has finished and stacked up his plates, the man pulls out a red bandana and turns away from the girls to blow his nose. The waitress clears his plates and goes to refill his coffee cup. He shakes his head and gestures to the three girls. They're too close to ignore it but don't know what he wants. He points again and says in just a whisper, "Café? Más café?" They smile widely, say, "No, thank you. Gracias," but he has already turned away, and their faces drop into confusion.
The waitress looks at them. "Oh, he can't hear," she says and leaves their check.
— Kristen Klempert
Location Info
Map
Lumière Place Casino
999 N. Second St.
St. Louis, MO 63102
Category: Casino
Region: St. Louis - North Downtown
|
0 user reviews
|
Write A Review |
| Save to foursquare |
|
Courtesy Drive-In
3155 S. Kingshighway
St. Louis, MO 63139
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: St. Louis - Dogtown
The Buttery
3659 S. Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
Category: Restaurant > Diner
Region: St. Louis - South Grand
Tiffany's Original Diner
7402 Manchester Road
Maplewood, MO 63143
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: Maplewood
Courtesy Diner
1121 Hampton Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63139
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: St. Louis - Dogtown
Uncle Bill's Pancake & Dinner House
3427 S. Kingshighway
St. Louis, MO 63139
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: St. Louis - South City
City Diner
3139 S. Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: St. Louis - South Grand
Eat-Rite Diner
622 Chouteau Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63102
Category: Restaurant > Diner
Region: St. Louis - Downtown
Denny's
1515 Hampton Ave.
St Louis, MO 63139-3038
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: St. Louis - South City
Coffee Cartel
2 Maryland Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63108
Category: Coffeehouses
Region: St. Louis - Central West End
Related Content
More About
Tiffany's Original Diner, 1:49 p.m. Donny's in town from the West Coast — he won't get more specific than that — running through comedy sketches with a friend over the phone.
"So they blamed Dwayne for all of the plagues, but he really only caused the last one. He comes home from school, grinning, on the day of the death of the firstborn. Didn't affect him, because he was adopted." Donny pauses, gives the person on the other end a chance to think about it. "Dwayne the Egyptian: He benefited from the death of the firstborn. Isn't that a funny thing?"
As he paces through Tiffany's — first leaning against the counter, then sitting on the edge of a chair near the video-poker machine, then shuffling back to the counter again — Donny worries aloud about the complexity of his routine. "Once I get into the Red Sea, there are just too many details," he laments. "I'm thinking about doing the one about the teenage dolphins smoking pot in a station wagon. It's hilarious. But I have to pass a joint and do two different dolphin voices."
He stares thoughtfully at the video-poker screen. "Once you get into the mechanics, you lose the magic."
Donny's the only one talking in the diner, except for when Marilyn engages customers in conversation, something she does frequently and with considerable charm. She provides an exhaustive, nearly academic description of the various ways to cook eggs, after a teenage customer says she finds runny yolks creepy. She gives a regular patron an update on a change coming soon to Tiffany's: the daily lunch plate. Fried chicken on Tuesdays, pork steaks on Thursdays, your choice of two sides.
"Sounds good," says the regular. "Seems like you guys are doing a good business again."
Marilyn waves her hand, either dismissing the compliments or making a more general gesture about the impact the bad economy has had on this small place, where everything is homemade, cheap and delicious.
Today Tiffany's is doing good business. The stream of customers has been steady. This is a place where little things matter: onion and green peppers mixed into the crisp hash browns, the TV turned to the History Channel so a customer could watch a program about World War II. If business ever slows, it's because of an outside force. Nothing to do with what's happening inside.
Donny's still on the phone, this time with a producer for a cable show he's doing, and he's offering a mea culpa. "I'll take the fall. This is the truth: No one is exempt from criticism. Even Jesus Christ took criticism for what he did." He takes a deep breath. "I'm OK with things not going well. I have to be."
— Brooke Foster
Courtesy Diner (Hampton), 2:43 p.m. The tail end of the lunch rush, but the newer, less grungy Courtesy Diner still hums with activity — literally hums, as the ventilation hoods keep pace with the hissing grills. Burgers are the hot item right now, the cook tossing patties on the flattop as casually as you might deal playing cards.
"Looks like we got a lot of young kids in here," a waitress tells the cook. Young children? Not so much. Teenagers and young adults? Yes. They throng the counter and fill the booths, snippets of their chatter now and then rising above the collective hubbub:
"Are you that stupid?"
"Can I have one of those steaks?"
"You have to get right with your child."
"Those aren't steaks. They're pork chops."
"I'm like, 'You're a douche. I hate you. If I could punch you right now, I would.'"
This last statement dissolves in a fit of giggles. And then, suddenly, silence. The counter is empty, save for a father and young daughter digging into bowls of chili. The booths are abandoned. With the grill empty, the hum of the ventilator hoods fills the space.
After a while the cook ventures out from behind the counter and feeds the jukebox: Elvis followed by George Thorogood and the Destroyers followed by Cher.
Anything to drown out the hum.
— Ian Froeb
Uncle Bill's Pancake and Dinner House (Kingshighway), 2:57 p.m. Despite the few cars in the parking lot with out-of-state plates (Iowa, New York, Minnesota), the stone-and-brick diner sits largely empty. Inside, the staff takes advantage of this downtime by refilling salt and pepper shakers, whisking away drained coffee pots and wringing out wet towels over old plastic ice-cream buckets.
Now Trending
2012 - Food & Drink
-
Voice Places
Find everything you're looking for in your city
-
Happy Hour App
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
-
Daily Deals
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
-
Best Of...
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
- Profile
- Newsletters
- Mobile
- Logout
