In his debut book “Dining Out,” journalist Erik Piepenburg tells America’s LGBTQ+ history through the beloved restaurants of the past and present.
Inspired by a story he wrote for the New York Times in 2021 about the closure of gay restaurants, Piepenburg traveled to nine states and Washington, D.C., to learn “everything [he] could” about the restaurants the LGBTQ+ community called home.
“These were places where gay people could go and experience everything under the sun,” Piepenburg told Georgia Voice. “You could go there to laugh with your friends, you could have a really good meal, you could cry over a breakup. During some of the worst years of the AIDS crisis, they were safe spaces for people who are sick or taking care of people who are sick.”
From Hamburger Mary’s in San Francisco to Laziz Kitchen in Salt Lake City, “Dining Out” explores the role of the gay restaurant – whether LGBTQ+-owned or queered by the locals – in the cultivation of LGBTQ+ culture and the fight for gay rights using archival material, original reporting and interviews, and first-person accounts.
While Piepenburg found that gay restaurants were far from dead, like he believed it to be in 2021, he told Georgia Voice that it looks far different today than it did in its “hey day” from the ‘70s to ‘90s. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital age fostering more online ordering and food delivery, the restaurant in general, he says, has become more service than third place. For the LGBTQ+ community specifically, the safe spaces sorely needed in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s are not entirely necessary in major cities anymore.
“We don’t feel the need to go to a restaurant that is just for gay people or just for lesbians anymore because at so many restaurants, it’s okay to hold your partner’s hand,” Piepenburg said. “But go to smaller cities, and that’s a very different story.”
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Still, Piepenburg says the gay restaurant is “timeless,” both in major cities and small towns.
“What is timeless about gay restaurants is that they serve purposes that gay bars really can’t or don’t. What I love about gay restaurants is that generally they are for people of all ages. You could be a teenager and too young to get into a gay bar, or you could be an elder and you don’t want to go to a gay bar because it’s too expensive, it’s too loud.”
Included in Piepenburg’s culinary journey are four Atlanta establishments: the now shuttered Gallus and Silver Grill and the still operational Colonnade and Su’s Chinese Cuisine.
Piepenburg will bring his book tour to Woof’s – another beloved gay bar and restaurant – on Sept. 4. He will discuss “Dining Out” but also get insights into the lived experience of eating and working at Gallus with locals Ashley Nicole Dawson and Christina D’Angelo. The event is free and starts at 6 p.m. Learn more here.
“Dining Out” is available to purchase at Charis Books and More.
