There has always been an abundance of diners in this part of the country. Sure, we still have a few of the old-fashioned, prefab steel-sided greasy spoons with their small Formica counters, a handful of revolving-seat pedestal stools and some booths along the windowed wall.
But when people in New York say "dye-nuh" what they're generally talking about is a 200-plus-seat restaurant with classical statues and marble tile in the restrooms; a place where you can order pretty much anything your heart desires from a cup of coffee and a doughnut to a soup-to-mints five course dinner.
In most cases, you can do that 24/7. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and home-made cakes, pies, pastries and puddings are always served. Ethnic specialties from Romanian steaks to linguini and clam sauce to wienerschnitzel to corned beef and cabbage to blintzes and chimichangas are staples on Greater New York area diner menus.
Most people find their diner-dining experiences memorable, if for no other reason than the microwave-able Styrofoam covered dishes from which they eat their lunches the following day. Chow hounds, like me, always walk away full, offering to carry the nibblers' Styrofoam out to the car. Portions are always substantial, the variety is incredible, the service is diner quick, the food is usually good to excellent and the value -- "bang fuh da buck" as we say -- is exceptional.
Did I mention that nearly all of the hundreds of diners -- even the one across the street from where I work, 150 miles from Times Square -- are owned and operated by Greek-American families. Many of those family members spend 100 hours per week cooking, hosting and restauranteur-ing.
"How many of you?..." is the first half of Stavros' or Dionysios' customary heavily Greek-accented English greeting, followed by "...Table or boot?" Gone are the days when they would finish-off your welcome to the Olympic Flame with "shmoiking or non?" before leading your party to an appropriate table with or without an ash tray and/or a remote jukebox.
So when New Yorkers think of people with a phenomenal work ethic they are very likely to put those100-hour-a-week Greek diner owners and their families at the very top of the list. It is hard for us to imagine, therefore, that thousands of Greek citizens are violently protesting in the streets of Athens for what they believe is their inalienable right to work less -- even during a period of economic emergency that requires their cooperative austerity and, if anything, an increase in their productivity.
Like the daily specials neatly written on a chalkboard near the entrance of your favorite diner, the handwriting is on the wall as regards, simply stated, the excessive social program spending -- in spite of generating too little revenue and incurring too much debt -- that is largely to blame for the fiscal collapse in Greece. Of course, the Greek crisis has the potential to spread rapidly to the rest of the EU nations and, as we witnessed this past week, to disturb financial markets around the world for an indefinite period of time.
You don't need to be an economist or a student of history to realize that the Obama administration and its progressive minions are steering us directly toward the same kind of socialism, diminished work ethic and entitlement-demanding climate that has failed so miserably in Greece. But it's all Greek, nonetheless, to the Democrats in Congress.
Once upon a time, ambitious, entrepreneurial Greeks migrated to America to take advantage of the opportunity to work hard and live well. At the rate we're going, however, the next wave of Greek immigrants will be coming to the USA to live in the manner to which they had become accustomed before their Styrofoam dish economy melted down in the microwave.
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