A Visit to Rosie's

It's one thing to name your restaurant after a fictional character, but it's a whole other order of odd to have it named after a fictional character in a series of paper towel commercials that haven't aired in nearly two decades. Which doesn't mean, of course, that you can't see some of the commercials in 2008.

The property's story, told in some detail at the Rosie's web site, is that the Bounty paper-towel commercials were filmed at a diner in New Jersey originally known as the Silver Dollar Diner, vintage 1946. The success of the commercials prompted the name change. In its post-Bounty days, a new owner moved it to its current site in Michigan. Perhaps even now the shade of Nancy Walker keeps a lookout for patrons who spill their coffee, but I don't know what she would have done in life to deserve such a fate.

Rosie's is west of the junction of US 131 and 14 Mile Road north of Grand Rapids. Actually, there are three structures on the site, all of which fit a classic diner profile. One is the active Rosie's, the other says BAR atop it in large letters and maybe is open different hours than the restaurant, while a third looked empty, awaiting refurbishing.

I only took exteriors. This is the main diner, plus the bar annex extending off to the right.

This is the empty-looking structure -- just DINER.

Behind Rosie's is a miniature golf course, deserted at this time of year. Note the hamburger, eggs, hot dog, sundae, lemon meringue pie and other diner fare.

Inside, Rosie's certainly looks like my idea of a diner, maybe because of years of conditioning by commercials, but also because it really is a diner, not a creation of someone's retro-imagination. Authenticity may be an overrated concept, and it's certainly a vague one, but it's easy enough to imagine 1946 sitting at one of the tables taking in the smell of grease, the clink of dishes, the chatter of waitresses, plus the inanimate details -- the curved ceiling, the stainless steel, and the booths and tables with catsup bottles, mustard jars and salt and pepper shakers all standing at attention.

It's all too easy to romanticize these places. I suspect that even during their postwar heyday, they carried the seeds of their own decline. Some would have served good food at a small price. Others were probably flat-out lousy regardless of price. You wouldn't know until you got there, unless you were a regular. Ray Kroc sold consistency more than he sold hamburgers.

Rosie's, I'm happy to say, serves pretty good food these days. That's what you want in a diner, the ability to slap together a hamburger or the like that's a little less according to formula -- but not wildly off base -- than you might find a chain. I had the oliveburger and fresh-fried potato chips. Try to get that with your Happy Meal.