With a flick of the wrist and a smile on her face, the blonde-haired waitress drops two plates full of steaming yellow eggs and a stack of golden toast onto the silver counter.

Seconds later, another waitress swoops out of a swinging door behind the counter and streaks past, balancing a plate on her forearm while holding another in each of her hands.

A third appears before the counter of the Doc’s Little Gem Diner, slightly out of breath, and faces two customers.

‘You ladies ready to order?’ asks Sharri Neuman, wiping her palms on her white apron.

Along the windowed wall, about 50 patrons sit crammed in booths lining the wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor silver paneled diner, chatting with their company between bites of ketchuped home fries and pancakes swamped with syrup. More casually dressed customers line the counter, some glancing through a strategically placed newspaper. Still others line up near the door, with those in back leaning against the windows of the glass vestibule.

‘Everyone in here is so much cooler than we are,’ said Miriam Langsam, a junior advertising and communications design major at Syracuse University sitting in the diner. ‘Look at these people.’

The drive to Doc’s Little Gem Diner from Syracuse University seems like a practical joke of the MapQuest gurus, as it lies far from the familiarity of campus and Erie Boulevard and off a random exit of Interstate 81. But, just as the barrenness of old warehouses and few trees seems a bit too creepy, the sterling sign with the curly-cued ‘Doc’s Little Gem Diner’ comes into view, and then the tiny, tin-paneled diner behind it.

‘It’s an oasis,’ said Dominic Francese, a first-year law student, sitting before an empty plate. ‘And you don’t smell when you get out of here.’

Most SU students don’t know of Doc’s Little Gem, but those who do say it earns its name. With a menu stuffed with all the breakfast standards – omelets, pancakes, Belgian waffles, eggs of every form, hash browns – and lunch regulars – sandwiches, burgers, fries and tuna, chicken and egg salads – every craving can easily be satisfied.

‘We’ve been coming here for over 20 years,’ said Martin Fried of Syracuse. ‘It has good food.’

‘And friendly service with it,’ said Daisy Fried, also of Syracuse.

Because Doc’s is open 24 hours a day, every day, guests can get their fix post-sleep, post-midnight movie or post-beer pong.

‘It’s the best place to go at like four in the morning,’ Langsam said.

The diner even accommodates the college student budget – nearly every item is under $5. A meal of oatmeal, two pancakes, hash browns, toast, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate comes to just $11.64.

‘And they give you enough food,’ said Erin Thompson, a junior television, radio and film major who gave rave reviews to her Greek omelet. ‘It’s tucked away over here. It’s kind of a local thing, away from the university.’

The employees at Doc’s, who always greet customers with a smile and get to know the regulars, love the students as much as the students love Doc’s.

Business always increases during the academic year, Neuman said, who has worked there for eight years.

‘I think it’s great,’ Thompson said. ‘It’s cheap fun.’

Published on October 20, 2004 at 12:00 pm