Finch’s Restaurant
Raleigh, North Carolina
You almost pass right by Finch’s the first time you visit. Set back from the road in an oblong plot nestled next to a bridge, Finch’s doesn’t look much like the diners you’re used to in the Northeast—no chrome, no neon, no railcar-style setup. But after you pull a U-ey into Finch’s lot, you realize why: a long line of angled parking stalls under a painted metal canopy indicates that this diner was originally part of a different American eating tradition, the drive-in.
You try to imagine the scene 60 years ago: carhops delivering French fries and burgers to coiffed and pompadoured teenagers in Chevy convertibles, doo-wop music playing in the background, Mr. Finch overseeing the operation with a cigar hanging off his lip. It’s hard not to feel a little nostalgic.
