memes

I went to a bar like this in Brooklyn. It was decorated like the outside of a trailer park, complete with little trailers that were dining booths. There were strings of lights for ambient lighting and the tables had camping lamps.

The rest of the furniture was lawn chairs and folding tables, and they served hot dogs and hamburgers and potato salad, standard picnic fare.

Honestly, that sounds like some refreshing fun. Have the cook with a big grill out front, and putting in the order is just chatting with them.

"Hey, bud, you want a burger, hot dog, steak, or some of this brisket I been smoking since this morning? Want something to drink? There's beer and soda in the cooler, or we got tap water. The little cooler has juice for the little'uns."

And then have a cashier keep track of what they had, conveyor-belt sushi style. The cook chats with whoever is standing around drinking a beer with them (and is drinking beers or soda or whatever all shift), and everything gets served on paper plates. And the tables are all those wooden picnic tables with cheap plastic tablecloths.

And those who are eating there are encouraged to stand around and chat with other people as well (if they want). Just make the whole thing like a backyard barbecue with your neighbor Hank.

And hire nothing but retired men and women working part time as the cooks. Nothing but grill daddies and mommies, working just for some extra cash and the fun of barbecuing. I would take that job when I retired in an instant.

Edit: better yet, make it habachi-style, where there's a grill daddy/mommy for every group or two, set up like a park barbecue. I love this and want to go to one or work at one now.

I tell you hwut.

I think the full experience would be children running around with the dirtiest faces you’ve ever seen.

Your uncle getting in trouble with the park ranger for feeding the seagulls again.

One of your cousins brought their new girlfriend to the event and are for some reason fighting in the parking lot

Your aunt brought her Rottweiler who barks and snaps at all the families passing by

I grew up in Florida

If it was a chain and had free refills at a drink bar, it might have been Johnathon's https://www.skylark.co.jp/en/jonathan/menu/index.html

There are a bunch of other one-off places as well.

Burgers come from Hamburg, Germany, hot dogs come from Frankfurt, Germany, macaroni and cheese come from Rome, Italy.

Honestly, that kinda sounds like the average American diner experience. Not bad, not good, just okay. Granted, a small hole-in-the-wall or independent diner that's been around forever will almost certainly be better; but when it comes to your average American diner (like IHOP, Denny's, etc) that sounds about right.

In Tokyo? Country House? If so, I've been, heh.

Why not both?

An American BBQ without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair

I've got dozens of guns and a heck of a BBQ setup.

We can do both.