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Cheap Eats By Traci Vogel Cozy Kitchen 2089 The Alameda, San Jose 408.244.9085 Open Mon-Sat 6am-9:30pm; Sun 7am-8:30pm SOME DAYS, WHAT you really want is for your grandma to cook you lunch. Maybe a nice bowl of chicken soup, maybe an open-faced turkey sandwich covered with gravy. Forget the veggies--get some meatballs on the side. And a big tall glass of milk. The grandma-craving is what good old-fashioned diners used to be about. It used to be that you could scoot into one of those vinyl-upholstered booths that recalled grandma's plastic-covered sofa, and a gray-haired lady would come and take your order and ask how your day was going, and it seemed like she really cared. These days, grandma's too busy emailing pictures of her grandchildren off to Florida, which is probably a good thing for her, but it means that us comfort lunch junkies lose out big-time. Take heart--there are some hold-out diners. The Cozy Kitchen on The Alameda is one of them. For 23 years, the Cozy's deep-fat fryers have been spooning out french fries, and the griddle is always primed for pancakes (meaning, yes, breakfast is available all day). Menu choices include the ubiquitous BLT ($5.65), the meat of which arrives so crispy that it crackles. French fry portions are generous--or, you can go for the potato salad/coleslaw combination. This is no new California cuisine, and, alas, the service is often lackadaisical, but the Cozy Kitchen does satisfy some of that need for grandma. Send a letter to the editor about this story to letters@metronews.com. [ Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]