Profile

You can see this chain diner’s retro-shtick coming a mile away—‘50s-style neon signs, shiny chrome-and-formica tables, jukeboxes playing Otis Redding and Buddy Holly tunes for a nickel, and servers in paper hats pouring giant milkshakes and squeezing ketchup smiley-faces on plates of fries. It’s Happy Days hokey, but you have to be pretty grouchy not to grin when, on the half-hour, the whole staff stops mid burger-flip to dance and sing to “Tutti Frutti,” or whatever oldie happens to be playing. And though the oldfangled diner fare—burgers wrapped in wax paper, smothered chili dogs, cheese fries, malts, and hot-fudge sundaes—is pretty standard, it’s all made to order in the open kitchen and served fresh by the preternaturally cheerful waitstaff. Bring the kids then order cherry Cokes and a platter of Rocket Wings. — Sarah Gold

#12 cheeseburger, $9.39; American fries, $4.19; chocolate milkshake, $5.74