The Forest City Diner is the epitome of the mom-and-pop restaurants that used to be scattered all over the Midwest. The young owners, Andrea and Bradley Sisk, have been running the place for only two years, but they have kept it pretty much like it has been for ages, with genuine retro chrome tables and stools, serving unpretentious Midwest comfort food.

It's located near the end of the main street through Forest City, Mo., a river town that used to be bigger than Omaha or Kansas City. The river and town's prosperity has since changed course, leaving not much today but a blink's worth of churches and businesses. But there is still a strong community consisting of mainly farmers, retirees and commuters to St. Joseph (about a half hour's drive), so the diner stays pretty busy.

This is not a place to come for a fancy dinner. It's small, very casual and closed in the evening. But the diner is open seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and serves breakfast until 10:30 a.m.

They also offer daily lunch specials that are more like full dinners. For $6.50, you get a meat, three sides and tea or coffee. And then there's the homemade pies of all kinds, including coconut creme, lemon meringue and banana split (the newest flavor and the most popular).

Besides pies, their specialties are fried chicken, (which they serve on Wednesdays and Sundays), homemade french fries, and the gold standard of diners - pork tenderloin.

You might say Forest City Diner is a taste of what it was like before we became a fast food nation. As Walt and Shelah Erickson of Big Lake, Mo., wrote in a note to us, "From pan-fried chicken to creamy raisin pie, this place reminds you of yesterday, and a visit to your grandma's house for Sunday dinner."

- Sylvia ANderson/STJOELIVE STAFF