Cool, Gay-Friendly Diners
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Clover Grill, New Orleans, Louisiana
This infectiously fun, pink-tiled diner on rollicking Bourbon Street is known as much for its saucy, irreverent staff as for its artery-clogging, sinfully good food. The smart-ass servers here love to poke fun at customers - the more you talk to them, the more mercilessly they'll tease. Little notes posted on menus offer pithy comments, such as, "If you were a good customer, you'd order more." Clover Grill is open 24 hours most nights (closing at midnight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and serves such memorable dishes as chicken-fried steak and eggs, biscuits smothered with gravy, and chili burgers.

Crest Cafe, San Diego, California
A sleek deco diner that's open till late in the evening, the Crest Cafe is one of the Hillcrest neighborhood's true culinary and social fixtures. The home-style and often ambitious American chow includes outstanding homemade pies and a memorable chopped salad with turkey, mangoes, walnuts, gorgonzola, jicama, apple, spinach, and honey-chipotle dressing. In the San Diego tradition, service is extremely friendly and fun.

Empire Cafe, Houston, Texas
An old gas station along Westheimer Road's antiques row has been transformed into the trendy Empire Cafe, offering great pizzas, hearty frittatas, and such breakfast treats as hot polenta with honey-cream and toasted almonds. The Empire is on the edge of the gay Montrose neighborhood but draws all kinds of folks. In good weather, grab a table on the large patio.

Haven Brothers Diner, Providence, Rhode Island
Here's a genuine slice of diner history, a late-night greasy spoon that's been serving hearty, simple food (double cheeseburgers, Italian sausage sandwiches, coffee milkshakes) to everyone from Ivy League students to truckers since the 1930s. This lovably gruff hangout with just eight diner stools is actually a diner on wheels, which the owners park outside City Hall into the wee hours (rather oddly, it opens at 4 p.m. and closes at 4 in the morning, 365 days a year).

Florent, New York, New York
The West Village's cobblestone Meatpacking District has become relentlessly hip and cool in recent years, but long before the hype, this Formica-and-linoleum-filled diner serving outstanding French bistro fare was drawing a curious mix of nightclub impresarios, drag queens, models, actors, and colorful characters. Duck mousse pate, escargots in garlic butter, and grilled skirt steak with crispy french fries are among the specials here, available 'round the clock, seven days a week.

The Floridian, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
This sprawling, 24-hour restaurant along otherwise upscale Las Olas Boulevard is packed morning, noon, and night with every imaginable type of customer, from beach bums to politicos. The chatty waitresses love to dish it up with the regulars - they whip around the several dining rooms with amazing speed and agility. As for the food, even by diner standards it can be a little greasy. But when you're starving at 3 in the morning, you'll be happy this place exists.
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