Ye Olde College Diner, Home of the Grilled Sticky

I had a work meeting in one of Penn State's downtown buildings that wrapped up just a bit before lunchtime, and I was walking along College Ave., heading back to campus to catch my bus back to our offices. I photographed the exterior of the Diner, one of State College's landmark historical restaurants.

I looked in and spied a whole stack of grilled stickies (stickies = sticky buns, or cinnamon buns) in boxes piled high just inside the door. I decided in just that split second that I was going in and having one! This is a thing I have not done in years and years.

Ye Olde College Diner has a reputation as a late-night hangout for college students. Yes, I admit that I have gone there for a late-night grilled sticky once or twice back in the day with friends. These are happy memories.

In the olden days, you couldn't order the sticky with ice cream on top of it. If you wanted it that way, you had to order the items separately: the grilled sticky arrived on its own plate, and the ice cream arrived on its own plate. It was up to YOU, the consumer, to place the ice cream atop the sticky. I have no idea why, but those were the rules!

I am happy to report that these days, the rules aren't so strict. Now you can order a grilled sticky with the ice cream actually served on top of it. And so I did just that! It was like taking a trip back in time. And hey, I'm an adult now; so if I want a grilled sticky instead of regular lunchtime fare, that's a choice that I can make!

The photo above is the view just as you step inside the front door of the Diner. I've included a photo of the grilled sticky with ice cream in the extras - I sort of had to, didn't I? ;-)  I've also included in the extras another shot of the diner from the back of the room looking toward the front door, all golden, and lit up like Christmas.

The soundtrack has to be a song about a diner. Here is a favorite tune I've been wanting to use here for a long, long time, and now I finally can: Don Williams, with Maggie's Dream. The album that it is from is Cafe Carolina, which I highly recommend.