When I worked as a welder in a shipyard, very often I would get a pre-chosen lunch set from one of the multitude of taco trucks that showed up. It ranged from regular, professional trucks where you could order from a menu, on down to the wives of the workers selling tamales or the like out of the trunk of their cars to make a little extra on the side.

Nine times out of ten I'd usually just get the meal of the day from one of the ladies. It was always good, and it was actually kind of fun to wonder what you were going to get! I definitely see the appeal of not having to think about it.

We had a place sort of like this in my hometown. They were only open for lunch on weekdays and you could show up and get a takeout box of whatever they chose to cook that day for a fixed price.

That reminds me one aspect of approximately every vaguely-popular diner I've ever been to:

The Special.

Just show up, sit down, turn the coffee-cup right-side up, and order exactly like this before anyone has a chance to put a menu in front of you: "I'll have the special."

If they're doing it right, there will be no questions about your order.

Coffee will show up. Soon after, food will show up.

It will be fast, hot, inexpensive, and of a general quality that is par or better compared to anything else they might be have on the menu at that particular diner.

I've heard of such things but being a Brit it's alien to me. I have never even seen such a place.

But reading this and the comments here, it occurs to me we sort of have something comparable: the legendary Full English Breakfast.

(Insert Full Scottish, Full Irish, and Full Ulster as appropriate. I can't remember what it was called but I've had a few Full Welsh as well.)

You go in, and you order a Full English, and that is the extent of your choice. It's generally wonderful.

There's a similarity in the simplicity of ordering, yes.

But that's where the similarity ends.

As an American, even I know that a Full English has a defined set of things included. Sausages, mushrooms, etc: It can't be a Full English without the things that constitute a Full English Breakfast.

But otherwise, the special (or maybe more properly, "the daily special" but nobody ever says it like that) isn't like ordering a Full English at all. The special isn't even a little bit predefined.

The Special could be a club sandwich and potato chips, or meatloaf and mashed potatos, or a burger and fries, or some tacos, or regional fish like Walleye or something. Or whatever.

And the main distinction is that The Special changes daily, and oftentimes there will be different Specials for lunch, breakfast, and dinner.

In American diners, the special is usually written on a sign on the wall and/or maybe outside by the door.

Whatever it is, at whatever time, it's just a reasonably-complete meal that they're selling at a special low price right now that requires minimum effort on everyone's part and that they're prepared to serve a ton of today.

And tomorrow, the special will be something completely different.

A person may or may not be able to order whatever items that comprised yesterday's special, but if they can then the price will be higher today than it was yesterday.

But that doesn't matter, see? Just walk in, order "The Special," and food will show up.

Ah, I see what you mean.

This is still strange to me.

Perhaps the context matters: I am not a fussy eater, and I love street good and cheap eats. I much prefer it to fine dining. But there's a reason for the latter: I'm a lifelong vegetarian. So long as I can get something without flesh in it, I'll eat anything, preferably deep-fried.

But whereas across the British Isles I can ask for a veggie Full English and get something good, I can't imagine walking into a food place and ordering sight-unseen, unless it was a veggie place, and they are typically upmarket and expensive, not the sort of basic joint I happen to prefer.

This thread has been an education. :-)

I worked in the Buffalo area, and went with friends once or twice a week to lunch. It was the same place. First few times I went, I got a menu, the two of them did not. I thought it was strange, but figured that since they went a lot they had the menu memorized. About the 12th time there, I didn’t get a menu. I thought it was weird, but then I kind knew the menu. Then lunch came and I hadn’t ordered it, but we were talking, so I ate it and it was fine.

But the second time I was WTF?!? I asked and got told by the server that they had remembered what I ate and went from there. The process was: if I wanted to order, when we sat, ask for a menu. They sometimes had specials that were different (not just a marked down chicken dish) then we got menus to see them. Otherwise lunch appeared. It was really kind of nice that they knew what we liked and brought it. We seldom had the same plates which was also interesting.

And here it is almost 35 years later and I still remember lunch there. Miss you Jenny and Dave.

On the SE side of El Camino/Lawrence Expy in the mid '90s in suburban strip mall hell was an Indian restaurant run by a superlative cook who would get very grumpy if you tried to direct her away from her fixed price "meal". So we would gather up 6 or so eaters and just have her serve us. It was always a surprise and insanely good. Couldn't tell you what it cost. Anyway, we were there to eat her food, and she let you know it.

We always brought our toddler and at the beginning the lady says assertively something like "I'll take her" and hauls our daughter around the corner. So after about 20 minutes of no sign of daughter I decide to go take a peek at the situation. Well it turns out she has a daughter of her own, Down's Syndrome, it appears to be, and our daughter and the cook's daughter were having a fine time hanging out at the end of the corridor around the corner. I went back to the table and finished our excellent meal.

We are always interested in these sorts of things and now we find them more commonly off the beaten track in Mexico.

I'm not sure how a business in the US can possibly survive like this these days, with so many Americans having dietary restrictions and food allergies. It's so bad that, here in Japan, some restaurants are now posting signs (in English) outside warning foreign tourists that they can't serve them if they have any dietary restrictions or allergies.

Are Japanese people less likely to have food allergies?

Apparently yes. They only started posting these signs because of foreigners. As far as I can tell, Japanese people are more like American people in the 1980s when I grew up. Back then, food allergies were extremely rare. Even among my age group, they seem to be very rare, but I saw it a lot among younger people while I was still in the states. Airplanes used to give out honey roasted peanuts, if you're not old enough to remember, and they were fantastic. But then sometime in the 2000s I think, they stopped because so many people suddenly had deathly peanut allergies. And it's only gotten worse.

I'm not sure why Americans have so many food allergies these days, but I can only guess it something to do with either food quality, or parents that don't make their kids eat various foods. Japan has long had a culture of eating whatever food your parents gave you, and absolutely never wasting food.

As for dietary restrictions, yes, that's absolutely a thing unique to foreigners here. Japanese people don't have silly religious restrictions about food like other cultures, and vegetarianism and veganism are not terribly popular, though they are slowly growing.

> I'm not sure why Americans have so many food allergies these days,

It is not only Americans, it is also Europe. My theory it is because of pesticides. I never had Strawberry allergies, except when i bought some from a big producer.

yes, there's been a significant rise in prevalence of food allergies especially in the western world and nobody's really sure why. japanese people are about half as likely to have food allergies compared to americans, for example. it's weird. like, asian people in australia are the most likely demographic to have food allergies, but only if their parents grew up in australia. first-gen asian immigrants have way lower rates of food allergies

I’m European, but living in the US now. Imo seems like Americans are almost the only ones with lots of food allergies, while rest of the world seems fine. Before moving to the US I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of peanut allergies.

I've kicked around this idea for a restaurant for a while. Any idea what it's called (if it's still open)?