| F Street Diner gives feel
I of grandmother's kitchen
By Jennifer Johnson
Staff Reporter
Diners. Doesn’t everybody love
a good greasy spoon?
Eating at F Street Diner, 900 S.
13th SL, made me realize why people
like to eat at diners.
Diners offer comfort and com
fort foods — medicine for the inse
cure or those longing for home.
Walking into F Street is like
walking into a grandma’s kitchen.
'Ihere’s an antique-green early 1900s
stove that has condiments, syrups,
peanut butler, crackers and news
papers piled all over it. 1 expected
to see a cat lying on one of the
burners and someone’s shoes kicked
off in the corner.
i ne aimospnere is rustic (.except
for the rock music coming from the
kitchen). Saws, pots and pans and
pictures of unknown Victorian beau
ties hang on the walls. And in the
spirit of a true “home,” hand-made
Halloween tissue-ghosts hang in
the window.
I went to eat at F Street on a
Sunday night and I’ll admit that I
was a little leery because there was
only one other person there. But as
the professional food critic that I
am not, I didn’t let that bother me.
I went ahead and ordered — no
easy task — there were no menus
but a huge wall sign with tons of
items to choose from. Then came
that ever-famous Denny’s/Perkins
decision, “Do I want breakfast or
dinner?” because just like its com
mercialized counterparts, breakfast
is available all day.
I decided on the hot turkey sand
wich ($4.49) with the hopes that
the mashed potatoes were real,
because I realized that I may not
have the time to peel a real potato
before 1992. My dining compan
ion, hungry little bugger that he
was, answered the breakfast/din
ner question by ordering both — a
patty melt with fries (a special at
$3.49) and a half-order of biscuits
and gravy ($1.85).
Diners offer comfort
and comfort foods --
medicine for the inse
cure or those longing
for home.
Our food was good, and yes, the
potatoes were real with lumps and
everything. The gravy on my plate
was that gelatinous bright yellowish
kind that is served in high schools
everywhere, but it was good. The
patty melt and fries were a little
greasy, but whoever can figure out
how to fry these foods without
grease either deserves to win a
Pulitzer or knock Florence Hen
derson with her Wesson Oil right
off of television
We didn’t have desert, but there
were several pies from a Kansas
City bakery to choose from — $ 1.49
a slice or $1.99 a-la-mode. Now I
was a little confused at this point
because in the front window there
is a neon ice cream cone that reads
“Ice Cream” below it, but the only
ice cream they sell is vanilla.
At F Street, you order your own
food; there are no waitresses to
wait and wait on like at some other
popular diners, and no 20-minute
waitforsomecrackersor jelly while I
your food gets cold. 1
It’s a pretty simple place aimed
at self service — whicn is appeal
ing After all. who doesn’t get tired
of servers coming to the table 50
times, every time (strategically cal
culated by the waiter or waitress)
while your mouth is full so that
extra glass of water is totally out of
the question?
i ne prices are pretty good. 1 nere |
are daily specials for $4.49 such as
creamed cnicken on biscuits, Caiun
meatloaf, Salisbury steak and other
homey favorites. The portions are
large and include potatoes, a vege
table and a roll. Not a bad price for
a meal that even mom would con
sider truly "square.”
F Street is a place where you can
go alone and keep to yourself just
fine. No one will bother you wnile
you eat and you can read the
newspaper, study or just sit back
and pretend you’re at someone’s
house. Please don’t leave your shoes
in the corner though. It’s a homey |
place, but they’re still required. j
Papa
Continued from Page 8
adequate for the average appe
tite. Papa John’s is not one of
those watercress sandwich, tea
room places where you buy a
sandwich, then wonder what
happened to the rest of the meal.
If you’re not in the mood for a
sandwich, the Papa John’s spe
cial Greek salad is a meal itself
and the homemade soup is not to
bemissed. Ifyour palate(or stom
ach) can’t handle the peppers,
feta cheese or other ingredients,
the employees will omit them.
Papa John’s pricing is simple:
all dinners are $5.99, sandwiches
are $2.99, homemade soup and
salad bar is $3.59 and the Greek
salad is $4.99.
Besides the above, Papa John’s
serves desserts, imported and
domestic beer and wine and non
alcoholic beverages.
The restaurant is located at 114
S. 14th St., and opens at 7 a.m.
daily for breakfast. Sunday through
Thursday, Papa John’s closes at 8
p.m. and Friday and Saturday at
10 p.m.
Drake confirms reality
! We are OK, now that he has arrived
It’s a little tougher now. I never
know when they’ll come. I might
be out on the street or sitting in the
community tub, doing nothing and
minding my own.
Sometimes they’ll wake me up
or maybe keep me from falling
| asleep. I’ve tried to make them
come, but they are on their own.
Images mostly, or sometimes bits
of conversations. Fear is the w orst.
I’ve got their tension, but no way
out.
There are different people, maybe
eight or 12. 1 don’t know whether
they know if I’m here or not, or
whether they’re calling out to me
or anyone at all.
♦ # • t •
“Your father is worried about
you."
I probably shouldn’t have told
him. I thought he might be able to
help, get me something.
"Your father has no authority for
prescriptions, regardless of what
might be stashed in his desk. A
man that far up gets many privi
leges. I am not certain, but I doubt
any psychoactives will help you.’’
You must know I fit about 19
kinds ot crazy.
“I icaring voices, seeing images,
we all do a little of this. Yet you
have reported phenomena of such
magnitude and persistence . . . in
other circumstances I would be
concerned Here, though, we sus
pect something else. Especially
considering your observation pe
riod.”
(I chuckle to myself upon hear
ing that phrase.) The whole com
pany knows about this?
"Only a few, your father and the
2IC team.”
Is it me or not?
“I don’t believe so. That’s the
best I can offer at the moment.”
What are we talking? Implants?
Synthetic hallucinogen? Telekinetic?
"Telepathic. We can rule noth
ing out at this point.”
Why now, why me?
“2IC did not pick you up by
accident. But to test something new
on you is too much, too risky. They
know your father.”
t # • t *
Like I said, the fear is bad, but
sometimes they’ll give me some
thing nice — resting under a tree or
reading under a pile of blankets
with a mug of coffee. The real stuff,
not the synthcaff.
The worst problem is I don’t
know when or where lhey’11 come.
I’ve tried reaching out myself but
gel nothing, it l keep trying, con
centrate harder, maybe I’ll get
through.
It would help if I could reach
someone. I’ve tried numbers, names,
sentences, everything. I’m starting
to wonder about myself, no matter
what my psycho program says. I
mean, they’ve got to be out there.
• • • • t
Greenish-yellow leaves rustling,
savoring their final dayssuspended
above the ground. A branch bob
bing up and down like a pump
handle. Moving up the branch
toward the gnarled trunk. There,
behind those leaves. His tail thrash
ing about making squirrel talk.
He keeps picking something up
and putting it to his face. Then he
stops, motionless, and springs three
feet vertically, limbs splayed in every
direction. He circles a branch and
vanishes. I
YF.S, YES I’M HERE.
Who?
Drake, I’m Drake. We got
through. You saw the squirrel, the
old tree.
We’re OK then, not crazy
All right, all right, let’s figure this
shit out.
Peterson is a senior philosophy and
psychology major and a Daily Ncbras- •
kan reporter and columnist. This is the
fourth in a continuing scries. I
exP- 10/28/90 1
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