Angel's Diner

209 Reid St., Palatka, FL - (904) 325-3927

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Posted By Michael Stern on March 24, 2009 10:39 AM

If you love diners, you owe it to yourself to visit Angel's, which boasts that it is Florida's first, established in 1932. We came for breakfast, so we never got to try the hand-pattied hamburgers and freshly made (not frozen) onion rings, which appear to be the menu's highlights, with burgers that range up to one-pounders ("for real men only," says the menu). Next time, it will be for burgers, o-rings, and skin-on French fries.

Breakfast was OK, but nothing special. The waitress assured us that the biscuits were freshly made, and ours was indeed warm. But from scratch? Not likely. Pancakes were fine, as was the bacon – cooked crisp, as requested. The highlight of our brief encounter was the mysteriously named house drink, a Pusalow, which is chocolate milk, vanilla syrup, and crushed ice.

It's the place itself we found most attractive. Retaining its cramped interior with a few tight booths and counter with a view of the grill, it seems scarcely to have changed in its decades of service. Fellow breakfasters when we stopped by early in the morning included a table full of law officers and several singles – some starting their day, others finishing a long night. (Angel's never closes.)