Main Street Diners: Where Hoosiers Begin the Day [Paperback]

Gary Varvel (Author), Wendell Trogdon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2000

Note: Some of the restaurants listed have changed ownership and a few may have closed. However, the atmosphere and ambiance, the food and the friendliness remains at most of the eateries.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ever long for a trip back home-back to that small town diner where eggs and bacon sizzled on the open grill, where no one was a stranger? It's still possible to return to such places despitegifts for men, basketball skeptics who say there no longer is a sense of community, that homemade food is a thing of the past, that friendliness and neighborliness are only memories of another time. Those critics are wrong. That down home goodness many of us abandoned yesterday for the convenience of today still exists. It just takes a while to find it. This is a guide to Indiana's Main Street diners where we all can renew our faith in the old-fashioned virtues of kindliness and friendship while savoring tasty home cooked food. Check out the 125-plus diners author Wendell Trogdon describes in this book about small town cafes where the aroma of eggs and bacon wafts from grills across dining rooms unchanged by time. Enjoy the harmonious atmosphere of diners where wealth or position is unimportant, where one man's opinion is as good as another in the conversations that take place at what some call the "liar's tables."

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Backroads Press (April 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964237172
• ISBN-13: 978-0964237179
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,901,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Indiana

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting places to eat in Indiana, October 14, 2003

By 

Jim Snapp (Wabash, IN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Main Street Diners: Where Hoosiers Begin the Day (Paperback)

This is a fun book to read, and a way to find some good eats when you are on the road in Indiana.
Basically, it is a record of mom/pop resturants in small town Indiana, places that look like they did 50 years ago. Most are on Main Street in the town, and all are frequented by early traffic (5:00 am in most places) Usually the food is good, the coffee is hot and the pie is excellent!!
Be sure to check ahead if possible, because, with the competition from fast food and franchises, some of these wonderful places have gone out of business.
Enjoy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!, July 3, 2007

By 

John B. browning (charlottesville, va) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Main Street Diners: Where Hoosiers Begin the Day (Paperback)

In these days of explosive population growth and burgeoning suburbs where anonymity seems to be the order of the day, it's good to be periodically reminded that there are still small towns with restaurants "where everybody knows your name." The author does an excellent job of capturing the unique ambiance of about 140 of these Indiana restaurants, complete with their "liars' tables," plaques with pithy (and somewhat slightly raunchy) sayings, and waitresses who never let the newcomer remain a stranger for long.