Our recent Curious City diner tour focused on their stories and with arguably 151 years of history behind them, we didn’t have nearly enough time to talk about the food, as least as far as I’m concerned.

And I’m only talking about the specials here. It might take another century and a half to detail full menus. Take the Garbage Plate at Franks Diner in Kenosha, Wisconsin. With five eggs, hash browns, green peppers, onions, optional jalapeños, and a choice of up to five meats (ham, bacon, sausage, SPAM, “scratch-made” corned beef hash, or chorizo), five cheeses (American, Cheddar, Swiss, pepper jack, or mozzarella), plus toast (house baked wheat, white, rye, or cinnamon swirl), any mathmeticians want to calculate the possibilities?

While the origin of Franks Garbage Plate is lost to history, not so for the Jumpball at Moon’s Sandwich Shop on the Near West Side of Chicago. Owner Jim Radek said he created the dish based on a somewhat similar Italian specialty, in preparation and name, but no one could pronounce it so they just called it Jumpball instead. The cooks griddle an Italian sausage patty then chop it on the flat top, before folding into three eggs, potatoes, cheese, and onions. All served with toast.