You’ve heard of queer nightlife—but what about queer dinner life? In Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants, longtime New York Times writer Erik Piepenburg dishes up a flavorful, heartfelt and sometimes bittersweet history of LGBTQ+ restaurants and the role they’ve played in our community’s evolution.
This isn’t just about brunch at Hamburger Mary’s (though that’s in there too). Piepenburg takes us on a culinary time machine—from early 20th-century Automats that offered a wink and a nod to queer patrons, to the lesbian-owned cafes that fueled feminist resistance, to modern-day eateries where intersectionality is always on the menu. It’s part memoir, part history and all gorgeously gay.
Piepenburg serves his stories with archival spice, juicy interviews and first-person flavor, connecting meals with memory in ways that’ll hit your nostalgia nerve and make you want to support your local queer café stat. Whether it’s a drag brunch that doubles as a safe space, or that small-town diner where two boys once held hands over hashbrowns, Dining Out reminds us that for many in our community, restaurants were—and are—our sanctuaries.
And yes, Dallas gets a shoutout. Remember Tallywackers? That short-lived but unforgettable “pecstaurant” in Oak Lawn where shirtless hunks served up burgers and sass? Piepenburg includes it as a cheeky example of how we define (and redefine) what makes a restaurant “gay.” It’s a reminder that our spaces can be as playful as they are profound.
So, yes, read it for the history. But also read it to remember the joy, the struggle and the sizzling plate of identity that comes with every course.
Available June 3rd at Amazon, Barnes & Noble & bookstores nationwide.
