This New Spot From The Folks Behind Maple & Motor And Good2Go Taco Has Food That Tastes Just Like Your Mama’s — But This Ain’t Her Diner, Not By A Longshot.
The way I see it, we’re long past the surge of the over-the-top, butter-stuffed, Southern-style comfort food. These days, we’ve marched on, as a people, toward the dressed-up diner — a place where greasy spoons, grumpy servers, barking chefs and bitter coffee are a thing of the past.
In North Dallas, there’s Crossroads Diner. Downtown at The Statler, there’s Overeasy. And now there’s The Mockingbird Diner, a stunning specimen on Mockingbird Lane near Love Field, which quietly opened after Thanksgiving.
Under vaulted ceilings — its architecture might be better described as “churchitecture” — this new collaboration from Jack Perkins (who launched Maple & Motor and The Slow Bone) and Jeana Johnson (who opened Mot Hai Ba and Good2Go Taco) this diner’s got panache. Its menu features elevated takes on classic diner favorites like meatloaf and Salisbury steak, not to mention a chicken-fried steak, a B.L.T. and all the sides a home cooking fan might desire.
There are also some truly killer burger and fried chicken options here — those are say-grace-beforehand great.
It’s really not an accident that this diner’s crisp white walls and rich, chocolate-brown steeple-like ceiling resemble a church. Eating within The Mockingbird’s booths, which look and feel more like church pews, feels like a rather righteous experience. And, hand to God, you might be praising the Powers That Be after you take your first bite of The Mockingburger.
Later, greasy spoons. Let there be The Mockingbird Diner.