Editor Pick
American Dream Diner
- October 18, 2005
- Rated 4 of 5 by
joellevand from Edgewater Park, New Jersey
Hunter Thompson said he found the main nerve of the American dream in the Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas. Had he only followed that nerve four thousand miles East, he’d have found the American dream itself, in the least likely of places: France.
The American Dream Diner is a strange anachronism of kitch and neon lighting just down the street from the historical Parisian landmark Harry’s Bar, a garish dinner that, like The Doctor’s TARDIS is bigger on the inside than exterior. From the street it looks like another red-brick café with signs denoting it as "Charlie’s American Cafe" and boasting family-friendly meals like spaghetti and meatballs or grilled cheese sandwiches. However, woe be the parent that takes his child into this bar.
Imagine TGI Friday’s taken to the extreme, with all sorts of bizarre signs and photos and waxworks of Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, with the only lights being bright neon stripes encircling the large, open floor-plan diner and a blood-red Tiffany-style lamp dangling over each red vinyl booth. Imagine red stars on a blue circle and the words "American Dream Diner" stamped every five feet into the carpet. Imagine a place mat which reads "American Dream Diner" and features all sorts of strange, lewd sex acts in cartoon form on a fake Manhattan street and you’re not even a tenth of the way toward experiencing The American Dream Diner.
Of course, the French cannot simply adopt an idea, even if it is "The American Dream"; they have to adapt it and give it a uniquely French signature. A carafe of water is free to drink, and only French wines are listed along with Coca-Cola as beverages. French soft cheeses substitute for Monterey Jack and nacho cheese on their "American Nachos" and the spaghetti and meatballs is offered either as "pomodoro" or "bolognaise."
Still, there’s something ridiculously intriguing and comforting about milkshakes made with ice cream, milk, and syrup and served in a tall glass with the excess in a tall, metal cup, with bacon-covered cheese-fries and soft drinks served in Norman Rockwell-style Enjoy a Coke! glasses. Something about the live entertainment downstairs, the Casablanca ceiling fans and smoking verses non-smoking sections that actually captures the spirit of America better than most of your chain restaurants back home, and in that way, The American Dream Diner succeeds in bringing you an authentic vision of the American Dream, right down to the lizard-like businessmen enjoying a Budweiser at the neon-lit bar.
From journal How to Take Paris