Bill Oakley — former Simpsons writer, fast-food enthusiast, snack food critic, patriarch of the Steamed Hams Society — knows his way around a drive-thru. But when it comes to Portland diners, he is hesitant to speak with too much authority. “What even constitutes a diner in Portland, you know?” he says. “The definition of diner has to be expanded.”
This theme has come up again and again as Eater Portland has prepared for Diner Land USA, a multi-city project in which Eater sites investigate and celebrate the dishes and phenomena encountered at their city’s diners. The quintessential Midwestern or East Coast diner, a chrome-and-tile-lined, midcentury greasy spoon modeled after
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