The American Diner
Coffee, booths, pancakes and the appeal of a place that knows what it does well.
Some of the best travel memories have very little to do with famous landmarks. A good breakfast can stay with you just as long. In San Francisco, diner breakfasts were part of what made the trip memorable: the straightforward food, the ritual of sitting down, and the feeling that breakfast was an occasion in itself.
There's a useful lesson in the design of the classic diner. The furniture is practical. The menu is recognisable. The atmosphere comes from repetition and familiarity rather than chasing novelty. It is the kind of character we admire in clothes, too.
This isn't a ranked guide to restaurants or a claim about any particular establishment. It's an appreciation of a particular sort of place, and why we keep looking for it.