The earliest appearance of the term in print was in Macmillan's Magazine in 1906, referring to events of an earlier time: a restaurant in Paris was visited daily by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1874.
"...the Cremerie in the Rue Delambre, - an eating-house much frequented by artists, and familiarly known as The Greasy Spoon..."
Nicknaming cheap fried food restaurants after an unwashed spoon dates back at least to 1848: "The Gabbione [in Rome]... has withal an appearance so murky and so very far removed from cleanliness, that the Germans have bestowed upon it the apellation of the 'Dirty Spoon'."[5]
A typical American greasy spoon or diner may offer a full meal for a special price, sometimes called a blue-plate special. A British or Irish cafe will typically offer a "full cooked breakfast" all day.
A greasy spoon diner is often located alongside a main road to serve passing motorists, particularly a truck stop catering particularly to truck (lorry) drivers; this is known as a transport cafe in Britain.
Popular culture
Although there are now far fewer establishments due to the dominance of corporate fast food restaurant chains, the greasy spoon diner is still nostalgic thanks to "counter service, jukeboxes and hearty comfort cuisine". The greasy spoon is a common setting in movies and TV shows.[7]
Comic strips and humorous magazines have often lampooned the greasy spoon diner. The Better Half had Bert's Beanery, and Dagwood Bumstead continues to eat at Lou's Diner in Blondie. The kitchen and mess hall in Beetle Bailey provide the military equivalent of a greasy spoon. In their art, staff members tend to be unkempt in some way -- hirsute, unshaven, tattooed, wearing a stain-covered apron, or smoking a cigarette while cooking or interacting with a customer. A gag cartoonist may emphasize filth by drawing vermin such as cockroaches, flies or rats; an example from MAD Magazine #55 (June 1960) is "In a Greasy Spoon Diner" by Don Martin.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Greasy_spoon, and is written by contributors.
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