Darling's Diner

[rlibkind]

We wanted to stop for lunch at Paesano's to try their pork sandwich (even Tommy says it's good!) but they were inexplicably closed, even though the signage said they're open beginning at 11 a.m., closed Mondays. So we looked elsewhere and wound up at the Piaza at Schmidt's and parked just about in front of Darling's Diner.

Darling's cheesecake place has been near the Franklin Institute for at least a few years, though I hadn't tried it. This is a full-scale diner, with some old favs (meat loaf) as well as less retro fare. The room, at least at lunch, is bright and cheery, and there's a counter with maybe 8-10 stools, as well as booths and tables. All that was missing was the waitress calling me "Hon". (The servers were cheery and efficient.)

She Who Must Be Obeyed went for this:

This quesadilla, served on an elongated rectangular plate, featured chicken, chorizo, and cheese inside, with lots of garnishes, including black beans, roasted peppers, a fresh tomato salsa, sour cream, etc. SWMBO thought it was the best quesadilla she's ever had. The tortillas themselves were very different, not Mexican at all, though still very good; they were basically toasted sandwich wraps (though what's a wrap but a variation on the tortilla).

I had the poor man's choucroute garni:

In this case the menu called it "Polska! Polska!" -- a split, grilled kielbasa served with cooked kraut, four potato pierogi and sauteed onions. The kielbasa and kraut were good, the pierogies with the fried onions scrumptious.

For dessert we shared the Belgian Chocolate Ganache cheesecake. What I liked about it was that it wasn't a chocolate cheesecake. Atop the chocolate wafer crust was a classic cheesecake (if just a tad lighter than my homemade version) with just a barely detectable lemony bite, topped with a thin layer of excellent chocolate ganache. In some ways it tasted like a superior ice cream sandwich! Or an exceedingly rich Good Humor bar.

We will definitely return to work our way through the menu. Breakfast is served all the time, and on Friday and Saturday nights (actually, Saturday and Sunday mornings), they're open until 5 a.m. for those who need some food to sober up.

[visualbang]

fyi... I was in Paesano's last Saturday and they had a sign up inside saying they would be closed from Sept 1 - 7.