Hamburger Mary's

It's a rainy Saturday night in Vancouver and I've just been out for what my granny would call a cheap and cheerful dinner with a friend.

There aren't many diners left in this city, but one of the best is Hamburger Mary's. Lots of neon, real milkshakes, great burgers and even more-than-acceptable perogies. The walls are lined with diner memorabilia - you know what I mean. Photos of Marilyn and Elvis and James, the jukebox is filled with songs from the fifties and the sixties.

The service is entertaining, as are the customers. If you go in late at night, you're likely to run into drag queens, young hip clubbers, maybe even some bikers. If you go in for lunch or breakfast, there are families and business people and neighborhood regulars.

It's a fun place to go. Tonight we ordered as if we were Jack Nicholson ordering a BLT without the L or the T, or Meg Ryan ordering anything in When Harry Met Sally. Hot turkey sandwich, hold the bread, put the gravy on the side, add an order of vegetables, white meat only (not me, my companion), and substitute mashed potatoes for the fries. And the waitress just laughed and asked, "That's it?" And then we got exactly what we ordered.

Can't do much better than that.

Kate