Diner Style

Burgers are my love language. No truer words could be spoken about me. I literally LIVE for a good burger and enjoy no food more than a good, juicy burger. I’m 100% obsessed - from $50 burgers at James Beard restaurants (that’s definitely happened) to ones from the actual burger shack around the corner from my house…I love them all. & if I had no conscience about calories and what I was putting into my body, I would happily put on 15 pounds of burger weight. So with my love for burgers I wanted to put together a Friday night dinner that was all about the burger - a low-key Diner Style Datenight at home.

I really don’t have a ton of first hand experience with a diner - I mean I feel like the modern day diner is a dive bar (especially in the PNW), and the time to meet your friends at an actual diner was left in the 1990s. When I think of the optimal diner experience, I think of the Max from Saved by the Bell, Al’s Diner from Happy Days, or wherever the heck so many Seinfeld episodes took place. Just something kind of retro, quirky, and all the waitresses had matching uniforms. It’s just not the typical eating out experience these days, so more reason to commit to a retro menu for an at-home diner dinner.

It’s funny - I Googled & Pinterested “Retro party” & “Diner style”, & there were lots of images of poodle skirts and banners made out of paper records strung together. Probably a little too 5 year old birthday party for the vibe I was going for, so I stuck with keeping my focus on a retro menu and limited my inspiration to images of classic red & white checked tableclothes & old-school Coca-Cola bottles.

Whenever I want to do a themed dinner at our house, I try to be realistic about it. What kind of time can I put into it? What do I need to make it feel like a date-night? What meals am I actually capable of making? Is it too cheesy for our vibes? Burger & fries I can do, and I think I can do it without turning my dining rooms into the full on set from Happy Days. My mindset and inspiration leaned heavy on that classic red checkered pattern, leading to my conclusion that a diner style dinner is so easy to commit to & pull off with very simply decor. I looked to three key elements to make a night of it - a good menu, a simple decor, & a retro activity.

My menu is always number one, and I opted for an old-school burger variation - the patty melt. They aren’t really something you see on many menus, and certainly nothing I’ve ever made before, butI’m convinced the patty melt was the predecessor to the burgers I know and love today, created prior to the time of gourmet bun options. I don’t even know if I’d ever really eaten one, but they feel old school so I went with it. My Diner Style Patty Melts with Green Chilé Queso made the perfect main course. Just as fun to eat as a traditional burger, just greasier and cheesier, and I’m here for it.

One crucial point about a burger datenight menu - what’s the point if it’s not burgers & fries? There are so many good frozen fries these days, and I’m not ashamed to admit that we’ve enjoyed a few at our house. Our favorite, however, is Better Than French Fry Potatoes (recipe at the bottom). Fingerling potatoes tossed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, then roasted until the edges are crispy and you have a perfect oven fry. Literally they are better than French fries, and certainly better than anything we’ve ever picked up from the French fry section of the freezer aisle. Plus they’re so so easy. There is only one key to make sure you do it right - heat up the pan first. When I turn on my oven to preheat, I make sure to throw in my foil lined baking sheet. I leave it in the oven for like 10 minutes so it is super hot when I put by oiled potatoes on it for roasting. Essentially you’re potatoes will sizzle like crazy right when you put them on the pan, and that’s what you want. It’s the KEY to crispy potatoes opposed to sad oven fries. They hold up, and are delish dunked in ketchup or any other French fry condiment.

As mentioned, I love the old school checker pattern seen on so many diner table cloths, or used to wrap burgers when they’re served up. I think the pattern is so classic and a nod to American diner style, so I purchased some paper basket liners for a little decor. & PS - so functional. We had a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday and re-purposed this paper to use on a big serving tray that we then just loaded up with ribs & brats. It left no grease on the serving tray and looked so cute for our party. I’m a big fan!

For our datenight, I used the paper plate liners on a super oversized serving tray as the base for creating my own overstuffed plate of food. I love a piled high plate, so with an oversized serving tray you can load your entire dinner (sides & all) on one big plate and serve it family style right at your dinner table. I also put just about every single patty melt on the tray even though it was just us two, but screw it…it looked so much better that way. & that pop of the pattern on the serving tray helped set the tone for a curated and thoughful dinner.

My other favorite burger combo next to burger & fries is burgers & a coke. It seems so 1950s teenage date-night…go to the diner for a burger and a coke and then a makeout sesh in your boyfriends car. Is that not the whole story line of Grease? So for an at-home burger date-night you can totally take it next level by getting some glass bottle cokes (we prefer beer so I opted to not do that). So instead of old school cokes to wash down our burgers, I opted for the next best thing - coke bottle cupcakes.

I recently discovered the simplest chocolate cake mix that’s totally fool-proof, along with the simplest butter cream frosting. I whipped those up and topped each with one of those coke bottle gummy candies. & personally, I think they looked so cute plated on a mini cakestand. For a little extra fun, I dropped an Oreo cookie in the bottom of the cupcake liner pre-bake, so each cupcake had an oreo bottom. A baked in filling for any simple or store bought cupcake mix is always a fun surprise, and who doesn’t love an Oreo? The finishing touch was a cupcake wrapper with the red checkered print that mimicked the paper liners I purchased.

We set-up up our dinner in our dining room with the Diner Jukebox Spotify station playing in the background, chowing down on patty melts and dancing in our chairs to the oldies. Our take it to the next level datenight activity - Madlibs. Which I totally have a new appreciation for. As my husband put it - half don’t make sense, and when you get one that fits perfectly it’s everything. & extra funny with a couple beers.

It’s a homemade datenight that is just that - homemade. Curated just enough to make it stand out as totally themed in comparison to our usual at home meals, but in no way perfect. There is so much potential to do it even better than I did, add in some milk-shake or coke float variations instead of cupcakes, or even amp up the decor, but bottom line is a burger night is a totally achievable theme at home. I don’t get too obsessed with the decor or making it “perfect”, and instead focus it enjoyable for just us two, and this one sure was.

Diner Style Patty Melts with Green Chile Queso

find my recipe here

Better Than French Fry Potatoes

1 lb fingerling potatoes, halved
2 tbsp EVOO
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Place a foil lined baking sheet in the oven as it preheats for 10 minutes.

Toss the potatoes with the EVOO and a large pinch of both salt a pepper. Lay the potatoes in a single layer on a the hot baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes. Turn the heat to 450 and roast for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Serve with ketchup and other dipping sauces.

Oreo Stuffed Cupcakes

14 Oreo cookies
3/4 almond milk + a little extra for frosting
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Gummy coke bottle candy
Frosting: 1/2 butter + 2 c. powder sugar

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners, placing an Oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner. Preheat the oven to 350.

Place a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Add 3/4 c. milk and the cocoa powder to the bowl, whisking over the simmering water until it’s perfectly mixed and mirrors melted chocolate. Remove for the heat.

Whisk in the sugar and oil, stirring until all of the sugar is dissolved. Then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, & a pinch of salt. Next add in all remaining dry ingredients stirring until there’s no clumps. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners so they’re 90% filled. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and powdered sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed for about 10 minutes. Add in a tablespoon of almond milk and a little splash of vanilla (if you have it), and keep the speed on medium. Pipe the frosting on cooled cupcakes in a swirling motion, topping each with a coke bottle for a finishing touch.

Lesley does Datenight

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