St. Louis has always been a brunch-y town. Lately, though, it seems the number of places offering it have expanded geometrically. And in a move that is more than logical, we’re starting to see it on Saturday as well as Sunday. In this ongoing series, Ann Lemons Pollack investigates brunch options in St. Louis—and an occasional breakfast joint for good measure.
Courtesy Diner is such a low-key fixture on the St. Louis scene that no one seems to write about it. The restaurant makes those lists like Where To Go At 3 A.M, but for most of us, it’s the “Oh, yeah, I remember them” sort of spot.
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Who visits them? Are they really greasy spoons? And, most importantly, what’s to eat?
It began as Courtesy Sandwich Shops in 1935. At one point, there were a dozen locations across the country. Eventually, it dwindled to a single spot, the one on South Kingshighway. In 1997, it changed hands and began to evolve. A second location on Hampton, just south of Forest Park, was built, and, in 2013, a third, this one on South Laclede Station Road, barely south of Watson.
Diners have never been as big in the Midwest as they are through much of the Northeast, but the feeling at each location feels more like the real thing and less like someone trying nostalgia as a gimmick. The brief menu with its very reasonable prices proves that.
If anything, the rebirth of Courtesy Diner has elevated one of its perpetual pleasures. The people-watching has gotten even better. Retirees, obviously regulars, discuss North Korea at the counter. Two women sporting tattoos, cowboy boots, and a streak of blue hair sit on either side of a very recognizable attorney wearing the mufti of running clothes. Tired-looking moms with baby carriers meet up. Talk about the Face of America, it’s here.
This is not, of course, a cilantro-and-quail-egg sort of place. It’s back to the basics, and perhaps the first among equals is the slinger. For newcomers, the slinger is our town’s traditional hangover remedy, hash browns topped with a hamburger (or sausage) patty, which in turn is topped with eggs and chili. Cheese, chopped onions, and jalapeños are frequent flyers, but not inevitable. Courtesy Diner considers it the signature dish, and it’s an absolute winner. The diner uses a hamburger patty; the cheese/onion/jalapeño option brings the dish to peak performance. Crisp hash browns are a great contrast to the creamy texture of eggs and chewiness of the meat. Per the website, it’s Edmond’s chili, another old local brand. Chili can make or break a slinger, and this, as Baby Bear said, is just right.
An interesting variation, the love child of a slinger and biscuits and gravy, is the Hoosier: eggs, hash browns, and a sausage patty, all covered with sausage gravy, which doesn’t have the glossy consistency that makes one think of cornstarch. It’s aggressively seasoned, none of this wallpaper-paste stuff. (The sausage gravy is only available from 11 p.m.–11 a.m.) There’s also another variation calling for the talents of chicken fried steak.
The basics do quite well here, considering the cost of items. Corner-cutting can often show up on the plate, but sausage patties are relatively low in grease and tasty, given the generous amount of black pepper. At a diner, eggs ought to be professionally handled, and at all three locations my eggs were properly cooked just as ordered. Bacon, too, was three large strips that weren’t paper-thin and neither burnt nor raw. Pancakes turned out to be surprisingly good, large and tender, just right for soaking up syrup and mopping up the run-off with a little of the sausage. And for those who just don’t go for any sort of morning food, there’s a very respectable hamburger; order the double for a satisfying nosh.
Coffee is better than most diner coffee but follows the tradition of being a tad weak. Creamer, however, is the faux stuff, and it’s a butter/margarine mixture in the individual peel-back tubs. Precise service is amazingly fast. Pay at the counter—and in cash. (The diner doesn’t take credit cards.)
But if it’s quiet, you can stay as long as you like, people-watching and reading a newspaper. No, there’s no wi-fi.
Courtesy Diner is located at 3155 S. Kingshighway, 314-776-9059; 1121 Hampton, 314-644-2600, and 8000 S. Laclede Station, 314-553-9900. All locations are open around the clock, including Memorial Day.
