Talk:Blue-plate special

Allen Funt candid microphone episode
I have to confess that I'm relying on memory for this one. And, no, not a memory of hearing the original show, but hearing it on some recorded compilation that was released decades later. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 01:47, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * You mean "The Last Blue Plate Special"? Yes, it checks out.
 * Press release
 * --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 01:58, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * Duh! You mean the Funt thing. Sorry.  --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 01:59, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * I coulda sworn I had put a heading on this. Oh, well. Now I have. I've also ordered a Candid Microphone CD from the Candid Camera website, no contents listing, and we will see what we will see. Or hear what we will hear, as the case may be. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 02:44, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * By the way, there is another different mystery novel by a different author, Ruth Birmingham, entitled simply "Blue Plate Special." [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 02:44, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I remembered the episode correctly. It aired in 1947. The blue-plate special cost $1.50 and included tomato juice, vegetable soup, roast beef with carrots and peas, and ice cream (choice of chocolate or vanilla). [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 01:57, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

"Blue-plate" vs. "blue plate"
Usage of the term really seems evenly divided between "blue-plate special" and "blue plate special." I prefer the hyphenated form, so I've used that within the text, and moved the article to "Blue-plate special." Within quotations, I have tried to preserve whatever form was used in the source. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 01:55, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

K-Mart?????
I suddenly wondered whether the K-Mart "blue light special" is intended to evoke the phrase "blue plate special." I will be watching for anything to confirm this. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 11:02, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Not limited to diners. How rare in restaurants today?
Another piece of evidence for saying it was not limited to diners, besides the historical references from the New York Times, is that Wentworth and Flexner's slang dictionary includes many of the diner and short-order slang expressions and number codes but does not include "blue-plate special."

I'm saying the usage faded after the 1950s, but this needs a reality check. There are many diners still in operation. I probably don't eat in any establishment called a "diner" oftener than once or twice a year. My vague recollection of recent visits is that they do not offer blue-plate specials. What do others know? I'm sure there are some that deliberately offer them as an intentional piece of retro chic. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 16:11, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * I've seen them, so called, on the menus of some older diners in Southern California. Not any of the chains nor, I think, anywhere trying too hard to be retro chic, but simply some of those frozen-in-time kind of places.  So the term is hanging on, if by its fingernails.  Most places just say 'Specials', though. &mdash;Morven 16:28, Dec 2, 2004 (UTC)


 * So... the plates... the plates... what about the plates? Did those places just serve them on any old plate? A divided plate? A blue-patterned plate? A solid blue plate? Or what? [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 19:44, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * One definitely served them on solid blue plates, not divided. In others I didn't see the plates.


 * I think I need to go out and do some research ... &mdash;Morven 20:27, Dec 2, 2004 (UTC)


 * In response to a query in rec.food.restaurants, I received this reply:


 * > I'm particular interested in pinning down current usage. I _believe_ that it is very rare for restaurants, even diners, to offer blue-plate specials _under that name_ today. Is this right, or do they survive?


 * They do survive. I know of two fairly local places (White River Junction, VT, and Concord, NH) that have "blue plate specials" by that exact name, and have eaten at any number of small family-run restaurants that have them.  Some chains, too, seeing that for most of 1993 my entire office would go out every friday to eat at the Oak Ridge, TN Quincy's Steakhouse[1] and get the Blue Plate Special.  I've been to quite a few cafeterias that have the same special (sometimes just for kids or seniors, however).  In all these cases, a blue plate was used, too.


 * I've even seen a "Blue Plate Special" at the La Jolla, CA Hard Rock Cafe, but nobody ordered it, so I don't know if the plate was blue.


 * > If so is it a true tradition or is it deliberately "retro?"


 * I think the former more than the latter.


 * Richard W Kaszeta
 * rich@kaszeta.org
 * http://www.kaszeta.org/rich

Blue plates
I've been doing some miscellaneous searches on eBay. It appears as if collectors call divided plates "grill plates" or "grille plates," and it appears as if the dishes used in restaurants are called "restaurantware" or "restaurant ware." Various searches on "blue plate restaurant ware" and "grill plate restaurantware" etc. turn up quite a lot of divided plates with a blue transfer pattern, like this one and this one. Blue patterns, particularly variations on blue willow, seem to be very common. I haven't seen a solid blue plate yet.

Of course, blue-pattern plates have been very popular for a long time. The puzzle is why there would be an association between blue plates and inexpensive meals. You'd think that if a restaurant had a supply of blue plates they would use them for everything, not just the daily specials... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 00:28, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Plate lunches, "meat-and-three", blue willow confirmed
Just got another reply to myq uery in rec.food.restaurants. Leaving it here for the moment, will work into the article when I get a Round Tuit.

> Secondly, I'd recommend at least looking at Southern Food by John > Egerton before submitting your article. I don't have it in front of > me right now (I'll check it when I get a chance), but I seem to recall > that there is a section regarding the blue-plate special and > especially how it relates to the "meat-and-three" lunches still found > at many eateries throughout the South (the term "meat-and-three" is > still used regularly at several restaurants in the Nashville area). > > :-Dan

Okay, I found the reference. It's on pages 67 and 68 of Southern Food and pretty much starts out Egerton's section on lunch in the "Eating Out" part of the book (even though this was written in 1983, I find that it is still a great source for eating your way through the South). Anyhow, in case you don't have a copy, I'll go ahead and cite the relevant paragraphs here (without Mr. Egerton's permission and leaving out the first 2, which are mostly biographical about Hap Townes and son who both ran an eatery in Nashville):

"The genesis of plate-lunch dining in America can be traced to such public eateries as Hap's. Back in the days when lunch was dinner and dinner was supper, the midday meal generally was the main repast for people of all classes.  The food was hearty and substantial, and for good reason; the time to eat heavily, most people agreed, was not in the evening before bedtime but early in the day, when energy was needed for the hard work at hand.  As dinner for working people gradually moved from home kitchens to cafes and restaurants of cities and towns, the pattern of heavy dining at noon was continued."

"The plate lunch, a singularly American invention, became firmly fixed in the restaurant trade early in this [last] century. Before long, there was even a custom-made plate for it:  a large, heavy china plate in the popular and familiar blue willow pattern, with compartments to divide the meat or other main dish from the vegetables.  The blue-plate special (or lunch, or supper, or dinner) was a quickly understood term for a generously large and inexpensive meal that commonly consisted of a main dish, three or four vegetables, some kind of bread, and a drink."

"Southern cooking, with its emphasis on meats and gravies, vegetables, hot breads, and desserts, was especially well suited to plate-lunch dining. Restaurants featuring blue-plate specials came early to the region, and many of the best of them have survived to this day, withstanding the fast-food revolution and other modern gastronomic upheavals.  Hap Townes is [was?] such a place.  In history, style, and quality, the little cafe is a good and typical example of the traditions associated with eating out for lunch in the South."

So, there you have it. The concept of the blue-plate special definitely still exists, but I doubt you're going to find too many (if any) that still use the china, and particularly a blue willow pattern. China dishes used in a restaurant setting, especially a casual lunch, are more prone to breakage. Anyhow, I hope you find this useful - best of luck with your article; it looks good.

Not every diner has them...
I'm afraid I don't eat in diners all that often&mdash;I like them, but they're rare and I don't seek them out. Now that I'm sensitized to the issue, though, I'm on the lookout for blue-plate specials. Anyway, I'm sorry to report that the Glenmont Diner, 21 Frontage Rd, Glenmont, NY 12077 (near Albany) which looks absolutely 100% authentic--I don't know when it was built but it certainly looks fifties, NOT fifties-STYLE--does not have them. I had a fantastic breakfast there and I certainly recommend the place, but no blue-plate specials. Dpbsmith (talk) 02:33, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC) P. S. http://www.roadsidefans.com/troy.html identifies it as "a 1961 Silk City diner, serial number 3671." Dpbsmith (talk) 02:35, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Far more common in rural America
Anecdotal, I'll admit, but Blue Plate specials were common in rural Kansas in 1969, and in South Central Tennessee into the early 1990s, much of rural Louisiana into the later 1990s, and even Missouri well into the 2000s, from personal experience. Often, it was the only alternative to hospital food without driving a half hour or more.

Most of the diners with Blue Plate Specials in the 1990s & 2000s were in towns too small to support more than a gas station/convenience store in addition to the local breakfast and lunch diner.

DocKrin (talk) 08:31, 13 July 2021 (UTC)


 * My customers (I am in marketing) include Golf Clubs, and I spotted this today Campaign name "Blue Plate Special - August 2, 2023". This isn't public enough to use a a citation, though Linlithgow (talk) 18:49, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Does show on their Instagram if you scroll (images only) https://www.instagram.com/sarabaycountryclub/?hl=en Linlithgow (talk) 18:53, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

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