diner

When it tested swapping in cornbread skillets for its original muffins in a handful of locations in early 2024, some diners balked.

The road is lined with stone walls and cottages adorned with flags, painted rocks, wind chimes and gnomes — a mini Topanga Canyon anchored by Mary’s Market, a 103-year-old eclectic diner and country store.

And then there’s the on-site diner, the Horseless Carriage, where the vinyl-covered booths have hosted generations of Valley power brokers and men who have shaped the policies of the Los Angeles Police Department for decades.

Servers are told to coach the young diners on body language, professional attire, which fork to use and when to salt their food.

Placards on the table provide instructions on how to eat Din Tai Fung’s xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, and diners mark their orders on long slips of paper that are then collected by servers.