A good diner isn't just the perfect place to practice close-up magic on unsuspecting patrons—it's also a great spot to meet friends and share Burton Gilliam gossip. Start your tongue wagging with today's Groupon: for $5, you get $10 worth of American fare at Avalon Diner in Stafford.

Since its humble origins in 1938, Avalon Diner has wooed hungry patrons with breakfast combinations served dawn 'til dusk, decadent ice-cream desserts, and a full menu of classic diner cuisine. Morning meal admirers can nosh on the chicken fried steak and eggs, a savory beef cutlet mingling on a platter with two eggs, hash browns, fruit or grits, and toast or a biscuit ($8.95). Lunch munchers and night owls swoon for the hot meatloaf sandwich, a hearty helping of old-fashioned meatloaf blanketed in gravy and sprawled atop an edible bed of texas toast ($7.75), while the blue cheese bacon burger is a 1/3-pound patty cloaked in crumbled blue cheese and hickory smoked bacon that plunders tummies of their hunger troves ($7.25).

Avalon Diner's dessert menu bursts with ice cream-laden desserts such as creamy malts ($4.25), peppermint patty shakes flavored with mint syrup and oreo cookies ($4.45), and slices of apple pie ala mode dusted with cinnamon sugar and anchored to the plate with vanilla ice cream and spork shackles ($4.90). The kids' menu diverts wee ones from biting fellow diners' ankles with pintsize portions and entertaining mazes, hang man, and tic-tac-toe.