Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants

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Erik Piepenburg

Dining Out

First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants

Erik Piepenburg

$55

Hardback

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English

Da Capo Press Inc
12 August 2025

Food & society; Gay & Lesbian studies

As gay restaurants evolve and chart new futures, New York Times journalist Erik Piepenburg takes readers on a tour of American gay dining, with stops at 1930s Automats, lesbian bistros, Wisconsin sports bars, pioneering drag brunches, and other restaurant destinations, including his own beloved diners. It's a trip that's full of joy, sex, sorrow, activism, and nostalgia.

Dining Out explores how gay people came of age, came out, and fought for their rights not just in gay bars or the streets, but in restaurants, from cruisy urban cafeterias of the 1920s to mom-and-pop diners that fed the Stonewall generation to the intersectional hotspots of the early 21st century. Using archival material, original reporting and interviews, and first-person accounts, Erik Piepenburg explores how LGBTQ restaurants shaped, and continue to shape, generations of gay Americans.

Through the eyes of a reporter and the stomach of a hungry gay man, Dining Out examines the rise, impact, and legacies of the nation's gay restaurants past, present, and future. Hamburger Mary's, Florent, a suburban Denny's queered by kids: Piepenburg explores how these and many other gay restaurants, coffee shops, diners and unconventional eateries connected meals with memories and changed the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement for the better.

By: Erik Piepenburg
Imprint: Da Capo Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 250mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 596g
ISBN: 9780306832161
ISBN 10: 030683216X
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 12 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Erik Piepenburg has been writing for The New York Times for almost 20 years, covering mostly LGBTQ+ issues, film and television but also food and travel, and writes a monthly column for The Times about one of his guilty pleasures: horror movies. Originally and proudly from Cleveland, he lives with his partner in New York City.

Reviews for Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants

""Piepenburg delivers an insightful and entertaining exploration of history-rich queer restaurants and their progressive impact on visibility and identity within a culture in constant flux. A fond, appreciative, nostalgic nod to queer eateries across the country.""--Kirkus Reviews