Adam & Eats: Boom-a-rang Diner

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

I haven’t eaten at a diner in a while and I started jonesin’ for diner fare pretty bad last week, so I headed over to a little joint a friend of mine told me about called the Boom-a-rang Diner.

I realized the cleverness of the name after I ate there. It is you who is the boom-a-rang, because you keep coming back for more. Or, so they think.

Located on Garrison Avenue, next to the Popped Popcorn Company, is the Boom-a-rang Diner. I have to say, they have the whole retro diner appearance down to an art. The walls are lined with one long vinyl cushion, pop stars from three decades make appearances as posters and cardboard cut-outs, and menu is littered with diner kitsch. For example, on the back of the menu is a very abridged diner dictionary explaining what the slang for many a dish is. Not that anyone uses diner slang anymore, but it is an interesting read while you are waiting for your food.

Probably the best thing about Boom-a-rang is their hours. They are open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., which, considering they do not serve alcohol, is pretty amazing for downtown. That said, it is pretty sad for a restaurant if the best thing about them is that are open for business for 14 hours a day, six days a week.

The food is okay. The burger was juicy and handmade. It was a little sloppier than I would have liked, but the flavors were good. I changed my mind about deep fried pickles after eating Rick’s, but now that I have eaten them at Boom-a-rang, I’m going back to my original stand on fried pickles: They are not delicious.

The rest of the food is good, but not great. The fries are not mushy. The B.L.T. was crunchy and fresh. And, don’t forget, it’s relatively cheap. I’m really reaching to find something good to say about them, because I have no ill will towards them, but I’m coming up empty handed. I just wasn’t blown away.

Overall, Boom-a-rang Diner is decent food. It would probably be spectacular had I just brought the lights up at Arlie Muck’s, but since I didn’t, I have to say it is decent.

Would I come back for more? Probably. If I was hungry for diner food and was Downtown, then yes. If I was elsewhere, probably not. I would not go out of my way to go there. There are lots of diners making similar food better than they do.

Wow, reading back over this, it is kind of a downer. I can’t go out on such a bummer of a note. Maybe I’ll tell a really terrible joke to lighten things back up. Do you know what you call a boom-a-rang that doesn’t come back? A stick.

Sorry, I had to do it.

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