Standard Diner

Standard Diner Review

In the historic Huning Highland district just east of downtown, the Standard opened in 2006 inside a 1930s Texaco station with high ceilings, massive plate-glass windows, and rich tile floors—it's at once elegant yet casual, serving upscale yet affordable takes on traditional diner standbys. The extensive menu dabbles in meal-size salads (try the chicken-fried-lobster Caesar salad), burgers (including a terrific one topped with crab cakes and hollandaise sauce), sandwiches, and traditional diner entrées given nouvelle flourishes (Moroccan-style pot roast, mac and cheese with smoked salmon and green chiles, flat-iron steak with poblano cream sauce and bell pepper-ginger puree). Kick everything up with a side of wasabi-mashed potatoes, and save room for the twisted tiramisu (espresso-soaked lady fingers, dulce de leche mascarpone, agave-poached pears, and candied pine nuts).