Johnny Rockets - the Great American Diner

America has had a love affair with the Diner since the 1930's. Back then you could find them everywhere - in fact they were the predominant type of restaurant in America for perhaps 30 years. Sure there were variations on the Diner, some came prefabricated, others were made from train cars and then during the 1950's, the Diner morphed into the Drive-in. The Diner set within Arnold's Drive-in was the principle shooting location for 8 or 9 seasons on ABC's hit sitcom Happy Days. A Diner featured prominently in the movie Grease. And eventually a small Diner from California turned itself into the World's largest restaurant chain - McDonalds. Diners were everywhere - but not anymore. While there may be tens of thousands of McDonalds spread across the globe, the chain gave up on its Diner roots long ago.

One of the true great American diners

"Beauty School Drop Out" from Grease took place in the Diner

So what is it that makes a Diner a Diner anyway? Here are some of the key criteria:

• It must have the Diner look and Feel. That means lots of metal in the decor, stools to sit on with a counter and jukeboxes for starters. (booths are nice too)
• It must have a limited menu, one focused on traditional diner cuisine. Now this doesn't always translate to burgers and fries but it is limited pretty much to what you can be cooked short order using larger grills.
• A Diner absolutely, positively must serve Milk Shakes, Malts and Floats. Diners in fact inherited the role of Malt Shop once that institution migrated out of drugstores in 1920's and 30's. It is still the best place (outside of a Coldstone perhaps) to get real quality Milkshakes.
• Diner employees tend to wear white uniforms and funny hats. This is an important part of the experience.
• Diners aren't healthy - this is where fast food was born. Eating vegetarian or organic food in a Diner seems a bit oxymoronic. 
• Diners are friendly, casual dining environments. It's not meant to be fancy - you come as you are.

The opening of a Johnny Rockets Diner in Texas

In every city or region there a few hidden gems lurking about - Diners that somehow survived or were reborn. Place like Culp's Cafe in Dayton Ohio and Dot's Diner in Bisbee, Arizona. But there is only one true Diner chain that evokes the memory of what the American Diner used to be and that's Johnny Rockets. They've got outlets across the country and in more than a dozen nations. They've even put a number of Diners in Royal Caribbean cruise ships - that's not something we've tried but it certainly sounds intriguing.

The American Cheeseburger - king of cholesterol 

So why do we like Johnny Rockets so much? Here's our reasons:

• Because they have absolutely awesome Milkshakes - the cherry chocolate is a life altering experience.
• Because we can find them in the places we like to go - (from DC to Tuscon to Cincinnati).
• Because it's become a family tradition. 
• Because you can go there just for dessert and the experience of being there - so you could get a pizza somewhere else or go to a movie and then just stop by for shakes. 
• Because they know how to draw smiley faces and other animal characters using Ketchup. 
• Because we love only paying a nickel to use the jukebox that's at each table (when it's working).

This song has nothing to do with the restaurant but we liked it and put it in anyway

Eating at a Diner is a unique part of living in America and now it has become a way to relive our past in a tangible and tasty way. It may not be good for us but it's a heck of a lot of fun and Johnny Rockets is perhaps the best place across the nation to experience this for yourself.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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The World's Tallest Milkshake

Here at Raving Reviews we don't limit ourselves to just critiquing movies or TV, or even popular culture - we also review restaurants, attractions and even products - but only the things that really stand out. Today's review was definitely outstanding; the world's tallest milkshake.

When we went to Vegas some time back we knew we'd be on the lookout for great food - we don't tend to gamble much because we just don't have the aptitude or luck for that sort of thing. We do however have some skill in finding good restaurants. Anyway, we had gotten it into our heads that the best locales in Las Vegas were buffets, but last time around we were getting disappointed so we decided to try something different. We checked out the ESPN Zone but weren't too impressed and then we happened to be strolling through the Stratosphere Casino watching retirees sink all their life savings into the slots and then we heard what sounded like a concert. We were drawn to it somewhat like a siren call and then we soon discovered that there were two locations with live musical activity close to one another - one had drinks but the other looked like a diner so we ventured towards the diner.

As we entered it was soon apparent that this was no ordinary eatery. On half of the tables giant 2 foot tall milkshakes were fairly noticeable and the wait staff was dancing around with microphones in their hands. At first we wondered whether this was some bizarre variant of the ever-unpopular restaurant birthday humiliation ritual and were about to Skedaddle - but it soon became apparent that they were singing for everyone and there were no birthday lyrics. So we took a booth.

We were too dumbstruck to videotape our experience at Roxy's, but many others have

We were hungry and decided to go with both shakes and typical diner fare - hamburger, fries, onion rings - the works. While we were waiting for our meal we noticed that the wait staff sometimes took turns signing and sometimes joined in together a bit like a mini-musical and in some cases the patrons stood up and joined in. We were somewhat dazed by the whole experience given our previous dining history - it just wasn't something our rather conventional brains could comprehend too well, but it did seem like a lot of fun.

And then they arrived. Two foot tall milkshakes in giant plastic glasses that were shaped in the form of the Stratosphere tower. We estimate that each one of these mega-shakes had approximately 3,000 calories worth of jaw-dropping ice cream mixtures in them although there is no way of telling for certain. We figured ours were probably even more densely packed with calories given that we had added fudge and extra whipped cream. The shakes came first and as you might have expected that's all she wrote for the rest of the meal. Our stomachs were pretty well extended to max by the time the fries and burgers arrived - we had just enough room to taste them but no more. We seem to remember that they were good but everything got a bit blurry after the milkshakes as we sank into a semi-euphoric state of near oblivion.

The Stratosphere casino has a giant tower, some games in it, other restaurants and even a few shows but all we can remember is Roxy's Diner. We figure it should only be visited a maximum of once per year to avoid overdosing on their shakes - but the next time we're in Vegas not gambling we're going to spend most of our time there.

Our next review of unique restaurant Americana will be the Velvet Elvis (located in Patagonia Arizona), home of some of the most unique pizzas on the planet.


Copyright 2011, Raving Reviews™

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