The Triangle Diner on N. Loudoun Street is the kind of place that exists in fewer and fewer American cities: a proper streamlined diner in a stainless-steel and porcelain-enamel building, still serving the food it always served in the space it always occupied. The diner dates to the 1940s and has changed remarkably little in the intervening decades. The menu runs to eggs and pancakes in the morning and burgers, sandwiches, and hot plates through the afternoon.
Prices are low, portions are honest, and the coffee is kept coming without being asked. The Triangle is not fine dining and makes no claim to be. It is the kind of place local people have been eating breakfast their whole lives, and the kind of place that visitors who want to understand a city rather than just consume it will find more instructive than any museum. Worth a stop for breakfast or lunch; cash is appreciated.