Cheap Eats - Diner daddy

Mom & Pop’s dishes up tradition

Mom and Pop’s usurps the space vacated by Denny’s smack dab in the weird borderland of Cheshire Bridge and Lindbergh Plaza along Piedmont Circle. It’s an area where hipsters go to bowl and peepers go to fondle. But they all have to eat, and the 24-hour diner banks on the fact that when Dunk ‘N Dine is packed or you’ve had one too many nachos at 2 a.m., you’ll duck in and get some old-fashioned meatloaf. Despite the place’s potential clientele, the interior — with its woven baskets, Coca-Cola memorabilia and oven mitts glued to the wall to cover up the Denny’s corporate decor — harbors a certain naivete. Booths remain, but there are also chunky wood dining room tables and lattice work with grapevine. It’s already collected an eclectic crowd of businessmen and sweet older men who like to share their stories while sipping an endless cup of coffee.

BUFFET: The restaurant bills itself as a meat-and-two. But the middle-man is absent here and it’s a free-for-all at the buffet line. Choose between one trip ($5.95) or all-you-can-eat ($7.95) at over half-a-dozen chaffing dishes. One visit included barbecue pork chops, fried chicken, pastas and sides of mixed grilled vegetables, mac & cheese and a vinegary tomato, cucumber and mozzarella salad. The buffet isn’t designed to chart any new terrain, but it did have some surprises like the glorified Hamburger Helper of ground beef and tomato sauce with penne that had a homemade quaintness. The choice of desserts included a slice of Snickers bar cheesecake that was sweet and thick with peanut butter. But most won’t complain to get all this food at such a bargain.

OLD FASHIONED: If food that’s been sitting around for an unknown amount of time doesn’t pique your appetite, there’s a long menu of other traditional faves served up tableside. The country fried steak ($6.95) is a thin, tough bit of cube steak that is thoroughly coated and fried and then submerged in a pool of white pepper gravy. I preferred the dark, rich mushroom gravy poured over mashed potatoes that came paired alongside a mouth-watering fried and quartered chicken.

BISCUIT BREAKFAST: Breakfast is served all day and the large flaky, buttermilk biscuit sandwiches are the best deal. Mix and match between ham, sausage and bacon with egg and cheese, or go for the hearty steak or chicken ($2.50-$3.75).

BIG BEAR: I’m not sure if the Big Bear breakfast and dinner specials are named for the expected burly gay clientele or simply for their large, papa-bear portions. But the Big Breakfast Bear Special ($.5.95) puts to shame the restaurant’s former Denny’s Grand Slam. Two eggs any style, two buttermilk pancakes as well as a choice of grits, home fries and hash browns plus ham, bacon or sausage. Wait, you also must choose between white, wheat, rye bread or a biscuit. I was disappointed by the bacon, even if I did get five strips. It was lifeless and seemed re-heated. Forget lunch, the weight in your belly will keep you full the rest of the day.

jerry.portwood@creativeloafing.com