Best Desserts

Try the Coconut Cream Pie at the Agawam Diner or the Peanut Butter Pie at Moody's.

Just Desserts (Most Pretentious Diner)

The setting was perfect. A 1950 Mountain View diner that had obviously seen better days, tucked in next to a car dealer- ship on a somewhat seedy stretch of Route 1 in Danvers, MA. Gravel parking lot. An ancient neon sign next to the road: "DINER", with the D and the I burnt out. A neon Budweiser sign glowing faintly in the window. Barely able to contain our excitement, we bounded up the rickety wooden steps - And crossed over into a different universe.

Tuxedos???
"Do you have a reservation, sir?"
"uuhhhhh... This IS a diner, isn't it?"
"Maybe you'd better take a look at our menu."
We were handed a short typewritten menu. Entrees started at $20. Duck with cranberry relish. No breakfast food. Our obvious shock, coupled with the fact that we were obviously not properly dressed for such an exalted shrine of Dinerness, prompted our greeter to then remark:

"Maybe you would be happier at the Agawam Diner up the road."

So we went to the Agawam Diner. Again. And again.

We recently drove down that stretch of Route 1 for the first time in awhile. The "NER" sign was still there, but the diner was gone. Carted off by someone to be restored and operated as its manufacturers in Newark, NJ intended: as a clean comfortable place where anyone, regardless of income level, can enjoy simple hearty fare and just be themselves. This is the reason why the Agawam has been around for over 50 years, and the Flash in the Pan proved to be exactly that.

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