When I worked in midtown, I would eat at the Red Flame a few times a month. Then the pandemic shuttered offices across the city. I returned with my wife and kid on a cold winter Saturday.

We stopped at Mel’s Diner in Naples, Florida, where we found a classic diner from a southwest institution.

We were in Miami for a night had dinner at Wayan, an Indonesian restaurant from Cédric and Ochi Vongerichten.

We had gas station tacos in south Naples, Florida, and they were great.

The Court Square Diner has been featured in film and television shot in New York City, but it’s also home to classic dishes like disco fries. I took a trip there with my four-year-old in late November.