Diner Gives Reviewers Just Deserts

Nothing beats an afternoon of irresponsibility. It's even better with a friend. The cherry on top, so to speak, is when that friend is also named Jenny and doesn't mind blowing off obligations on a whim once in a while.

That, my friends, is how we, Jennys Lockhart and Rackl, ended up spending a ‘free' afternoon together at the Phillips Avenue Diner.

The Diner's menu offers a wide variety of traditional diner foods and more avant-garde culinary dishes. But no matter how familiar the dish, it's guaranteed to have a witty name.

Although they do have staples such as Old School Mac & Cheese ($8) and a Philly Cheese Steak ($9), the menu also includes unexpected choices. The Hot Mashed Potato & Fried Chicken Wrap ($8) puts a KFC bowl in a tortilla, with a dash of ranch.

Chicken & Waffles ($9) is exactly what it sounds like: chicken tenders atop a Belgian waffle, with whipped pecan butter and vanilla infused maple syrup. This sounds like the perfect thing for those who can't decide between breakfast and dinner.

But, being the calorie-conscious women that we are, we bypassed all of the Diner's full-sized meals and headed straight to the dessert.

The extensive dessert menu challenged our indecisive tendencies. Shakes, malts, floats and baked items all tested our will power. Especially when every dessert is $5 or less — how could we pick just one?

We didn't.

The Jennys tag-teamed Kim's Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding ($4) and our server Tony's recommendation, the Fried Twinkie ($3.50).

Wow. This Diner does dessert right.

The bread pudding caused some apprehension from one Jenny, who had flashbacks of terrible bread pudding filled with disgusting raisins at church socials.

But Kim's bread pudding nixes the raisins and instead uses sweet cinnamon dough. With each order baked fresh, the crust stays crusty while the inside is soft and hot. (That's what she said.)

Gooey goodness surrounds the bread pudding, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and a pool of frosting on the plate. Sprinkle that with cinnamon and voila! magic in the form of an indeterminate amount of calories.

Dragging our attention from the bread pudding was nearly impossible, but after we'd all but licked the plate clean, we remembered other delights awaited us and moved on to the Fried Twinkie.

Deceptive, the Fried Twinkie looks like a run of the mill, garden variety Hostess snack. The chocolate and strawberry syrup artfully swirled amongst the whipped cream dollops did little to convince us that this confection would taste like anything other than a convenience store snack cake.