Post #508716 by woofmutt on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 9:48 AM

All of this recent discussion about the new Sambo's Tavern & Diner (Coffee Shop or Not Coffee Shop?) has got me thinking about the following again....

Do any of you view Denny's as a form of "Diner-ization"? It's introduction of diner theme elements has people calling it both a diner and a coffee shop (as well as a senior citizen early birds perch). Could this fall into the category of "the introduction of a generic American diner theme with no definite identity"?

(Also, what about Twix...Could it be considered a cookie or is it candy? And if it's candy why isn't a cookie that's loaded with candy also considered candy? Is it the shape? If a Twix were round would we call it a cookie even if it was sold in the candy aisle?)

Now I know that the Denny's Corporation never intended Denny's to be a classic coffee shop-style place but the general public and the media are viewing it that way. I've even seen major articles refer to it as "The World's Greatest Coffee Shop." (I also saw a minor article on how you can resole your own shoes using old tires and rubber cement...Anyone know anything about this?)

Is this a form of devolution or is it a positive evolution as part of the coffee shop revival? Or like other positive evolutionary steps such as when humans first stopped walking and started dancing or Little Lost Tiki stopped claiming his hair was "naturally Billy Idol white"?

I personally view it as the latter (the coffee shop revival, not what's-his-face's freak-do) since I'm probably a bigger fan of well-executed "Coffee-Shopica" than I am a 100% classic coffee shop style purist. Except I would take a well executed coffee cake over any coffee shop's reheated danish or butter horn any day and it wouldn't matter if the coffee cake were served in a diner or coffee shop or even a Greyhound bus depot Burger King as long as it was good.

Denny's Corporation may very well be the first entity to push Coffee Shop-style to the next level. You might also argue that Denny's shouldn't be classified as a coffee shop in the first place but represents something new and different...Like a donut made of meatloaf and filled with gravy that you're supposed to eat for dinner, not breakfast. Damn, that'd be cool!

I've had this same informal discussion with some local coffee-shopapheliacs who agreed that I had a good point (not about the meatloaf donut, I just made that up) but warned me not to post this. They said I would be dipped in egg batter, rolled in cornmeal, deep fried, and served with a side of fries by the Denny's Club For Men (DCFM) contingent who would view this as a flame against Denny's. (Which this isn't, I'm not just a big fan of the DCFM...I'm a member!)

I just wanted to have a thoughtful discussion of what constitutes true coffee shop-style and in a fever driven moment of delusion I thought that sort of discussion might be able to take place here on Coffee Shop Central.

Be nice. (And if you can't be nice then at least buy a round of drinks from time to time. Then folks'll think "Yeah, he's a bastard, but sometimes I get a free drink from him." Especially the cheap-ass morons who'll put up with all sorts of crap if there's a free snack or drink in it.)