Still a 'Rose

REVIEW: The Melrose Diner

by Adam Erace

Bayside High had the Max. The 90210 crew had the Peach Pit. And us kids growing up in South Philly in the '90s and early aughts, we had the Melrose Diner, rendezvous point after Delaware Avenue debauchery and Catholic school socials.

I spent many, many nights and mornings at the Melrose, but before sidling up to the red Formica counter for City Paper, it had been a minute. The last time I ate here — in the midst of Richard Kubach Jr., whose father opened the 24-hour operation in 1935, selling to diner magnate Michael Petrogiannis in 2007 — management had changed the home fries from grated potato matchsticks (best ordered extra-crispy, best damming an ivory flow of creamed chipped beef) to cubes, and I never went back.

Over a cup of hot cocoa piled high with whipped cream, I discovered the old home fries have returned, and the full-bodied creamed chipped beef (above) is as thick, salty and satisfying as ever (and still served only from 9 p.m. to 11 a.m.). It's the shit, on a shingle.

While the diner looks different thanks to recent renovations — the once-vile bathrooms are now sleek, spiffy respites; the old sitting-with-strangers horseshoe booths have been replaced with traditional seating — the food hasn't changed much. Melrose's cooks know how to get bacon so crisp you can feel it shatter between the kaiser roll of the serviceable cheeseburger, and the MP-1 (that's the chicken cutlet platter, hon) was as crunchy as I remembered. Dark and deeply savory, the giblet gravy makes the cutlet, a thick white-meat patty encased in zesty bread crumbs. Comes with a salad or soup (a hearty minestrone) and choice of two sides (fat crinkle-cut fries, limp string beans).

Crouched on the triangle between 15th, Snyder and Passyunk, the majority of Melrose's hulking structure is devoted to the on-site bakery. Though the coconut custard pie was on the scrambled-eggy side, the wedge of classic apple has a buttery brown crust to die for. Get it naked, a la mode or (my favorite) drowned in warm vanilla sauce.

Melrose is still closed only one day a year: Christmas. The golden butter cookies are still sold by the sack at the checkout. The waitresses still keep a secret stash of Equal behind the counter. One of them, soft-spoken Lucille, has worked at Melrose as long as I can remember. She's still there, wrangling crazies and drunks on the graveyard shift. She'll still rap if you ask.

(adam.erace@citypaper.net)

Melrose Diner | 1501 Snyder Ave., 215-467-6644. Open 24 hours. Breakfast, $1.10-$9.50; appetizers, $1.60-$5.10; sandwiches/entrées, $4.35-$12.85; dessert, $1.95-$6.25.