Breakfast in the 1930’s.

Long Island Comfort Food with My Secret Valentine

Yes, this year I have a secret Valentine. I was up early as this year it made sense to take the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) to my early morning semi-annual teeth cleaning appointment at my fathers old office. When I was done my secret Valentine picked me up so we could have a breakfast together. She wanted to go to our usual diner by Islip (pronounced ICE SLIP) MacArthur Airport, but it is actually pretty far away. A dear friend had told me about a great breakfast place in Babylon which was only a few minutes away and conveniently close to another LIRR station.

Long Island has a lot of shores. Babylon is on the South Shore of Long Island which is dotted with tiny towns. Each town has many similarities, but also has its own unique character, idioms and dialect. For clarity, we live ON Long Island, not IN Long Island! Each town has history and pride here. We Long Islanders can often tell which town someone is from from their dialect. I once identified a high school classmate in another state, 30 years after we graduated, from the way he pronounced a single word. These towns are steeped in history and date back to the 1600’s. Long Island had the farms and the ports that supported New York City centuries before the establishment of the United States. Long Island played a pivotal part in The War for Independence.

We missed Glen’s Dinette on the first pass through Babylon. It’s on Montauk Highway (27A), one of the original roads that goes all the way back in time. It is a 2 lane almost rural road that continues 60 miles east to Montauk, and 60 miles west to New York City. Not a big deal we missed it, Babylon is only a few blocks long. I was looking for Glen’s on a corner. For some reason I thought it was on the corner. Of course, it was in the middle of the block.

Walk into the diner and it’s 1932.

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On the east side is the counter with authentic last century barstools gleaming in the morning sun like they are brand new.

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On the west side are the booths.

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Sit down and your morning coffee is in front of you in a classic mug within a minute.

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The food and service was fantastic. Excellent food prepared exactly as requested, service was polite prompt and wonderfully colorful. I’m looking forward to going back there and Bringing my friends to share. Lunch and dinner looked great too. a 3 MOO experience!

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Happy Valentines Day