Gothamist Names Brooklyn Heights’ Park Plaza As One Of NYC’s Top 10 Diners

By on February 27, 2013 8:57 pm in Food

The Park Plaza Diner has made Gothamist’s list of the the Top 10 diners in New York City. The Cadman Plaza eatery joins such NYC icons as Prospect/Crown Heights’ Tom’s Diner, Neptune Diner in Astoria (Homer’s haunt backintheday) and Manhattan’s Market Diner (Poppa Fink’s fave).

With this honor, the diner seems to have bounced back from last August’s fire that shut it down for a month.

Gothamist: Park Plaza is like the diner you’d find in a suburban strip mall—which is pretty much what you want a diner to be like. The Brooklyn Heights establishment is family owned and operated, and just survived a recent fire. They serve up a huge array of food, 24 hours a day, which you can get delivered, but then you’d miss out on the diner experience. They’ve got the classic diner bar chairs where you can order up a cup of coffee and a slice of pie, solo style… but they’ve also got large booths that you and your hangover can disappear right into. If you like your grilled cheese buttered to the perfect level of saturation, and a cheap side of crispy onion rings to go with it, then this is your place. But they’ve also got seven pages of other items, from soups and salads to grilled chicken to breakfast all day long.

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  • Ronnie Ann

    This has been my favorite diner for a long time. Glad it’s finally been recognized for the qualities a real diner should have – a huge menu, great booths, a family-run feel, and some mighty fine sweet potato fries.

  • AEB

    One of the best things about the nabe. Not so much for the food, which is certainly diner-worthy, but because it’s there when needed, welcoming, inexpensive, and home to a nice cross-section of folks, who return again and again.

    AND the waiters tend to the (often very fixed, it seems) needs of the clientele, as in, “I’ll have the burger without the bun, no fries but onion rings instead, and can I have a SMALL Caesar Salad?” with a smile.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Not only that but it also sports a pretty cool bar scene reminiscent of the 1980’s By George, for those who remember.

  • DIBS

    Very nice sports bar. Have never eaten there though and heard it was always crap

  • Topham Beauclerk

    Dibs,

    What you heard is accurate. The food is crap. I went there two weeks ago, the first time in some 15 years. I was curious to see it after the renovation. I had an omelette – ordinary but edible or so I thought. When I got home my digestive tract exploded.

  • willowtowncop

    Diners should have to be open 24 hours to be in the running for top ten.

  • MonroeOrange

    Love the By George reference!….I used to eat in By George all the time as a kid…and always wondered about that bar scene, or the slot machine;)

  • MonroeOrange

    the food is alright, good french toast and pancakes…Omlettes are always a risk anywhere

  • O2C
  • MonroeOrange

    it is open 24 hours, fri and sat…Happy Days is open 24 hours everyday…and i’ll say park plaza is better.

  • Andrew Porter

    Why does the map wrongly show Old Fulton Street extending inland of the BQE?

  • Knight

    I eat there regularly. As far as “diner food” is concerned, Park Plaza is top notch. If you go there expecting Waldorf-style food & service, you will be disappointed … until you get the check!

  • David on Middagh

    M.O., why are omelettes risky? I don’t make them or order them, mainly because I don’t love cheesiness or browned eggs, but I do like scrambled eggs. Is it the added ham & vegetables?

  • AEB

    David, if I may: omelets can be tricky to do well–that is, to create a creamy-just-firm egg “enclosure.”

    Raw eggs can go from liquid to overcooked and rubbery in a blink. Diners are notorious for getting omelets wrong, as a definite bit of skill is needed to make them properly.

  • ltap917

    The food is awful. We ate there once and never went back.

  • ltap917

    Omelettes should never be a problem at a good diner.

  • David on Middagh

    AEB, so if the chef errs on the side of undercookedness, there can be unkilled salmonella bacteria?

  • Wiley E.

    Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger.

  • AEB

    David, I believe the risk of salmonella in eggs here is less than once thought–and most restaurants, for obvious reasons, are careful to buy eggs from reputable sources.

    That said, to be absolutely safe, one would have to make sure that one consumes no raw egg–but omelets and other egg dishes, like scrambled eggs, loose their appeal very quickly when even moderately overcooked.

    At home, when I make omelets, I like the interior to be slightly undercooked; after folding, carry-over heat tends to cook them completely, and the texture is almost soft, which is to my liking. Ditto with scrambled eggs.

    I think, however, that out of design, fear, or incompetence, the omelets at the diner and other such spots aren’t going to be a risk. They’ll be cooked to the far side of done, which is really a pity, I think.