Oct 1st, 2008 · For more than 60 years, restaurant diners tacked dollars onto The Homestead's wood paneled walls. Each a signed memento of a special time. The restaurant, in a small town near California's Sierra Mountains, is for sale. And an especially clueless thief tried to spend what turned out to be an $8,000 theft of the marked money. Authorities say the man tried to use some of the cash to pay a court fine.
Sep 9th, 2008 · During a two-week road trip, three NPR staffers traveled from Chicago to Phoenix in search of people who rallied their communities. From a diner owner in Chicago to an Arkansas fiddler, those who emerged as local leaders came from all walks of life.
Aug 25th, 2008 · Izola White runs a soul food diner on Chicago's South Side that's a famous gathering spot for the city's political movers and shakers. But White and her diner have also become a stabilizing force in an otherwise rough neighborhood.
May 19th, 2008 · Poet Lewis MacAdams writes little tales about things he sees in his downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. In this one, he relates the joy he and his fellow diners feel when they all find themselves singing along to a song on the radio at Carmen's Cafe.
May 5th, 2008 · Rising food prices and the sagging economy are a double whammy for restaurants in California's Sonoma County. In a place that sets the pace for fine cuisine, restaurant owners are under pressure to get creative as they face soaring costs and fewer diners.
Apr 9th, 2008 · Complaints have been on the rise in recent years about the volume level in restaurants. Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema took a noise monitor to some of the hottest eateries in the nation's capital.
Apr 6th, 2008 · At the U.S. cafeteria in Antarctica, what's cooking in the kitchen can affect the morale of the 1,100 people who live and work at McMurdo Station during Antarctica's long summer. To keep diners happy, cooks think creatively and offer as much variety as they can.
Apr 5th, 2008 · At a restaurant in Kirkland, Wash., dinners pay what they think the meal was worth. NPR's Susan Stamberg talks with the owner of the Terra Bite Lounge about his "pay what you want" coffee and sandwich shop.