A diner is a friendly place where people gather for a hearty meal, a hot cup of coffee, and Stomp-style cutlery jam sessions. Keep the beat on a plate of home fries with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of diner fare at Raphael's Shutter Cafe in El Cerrito.

Otis at Raphael's Shutter Cafe has been in the breakfast- and burger-slinging business for 30 years, and still proudly serves a menu of casual grilled and griddled cuisine. Among the breakfast dishes served all day, omelets ($7.25–$8.95) embrace fillings such as cheese, veggies, and meat in their fluffy golden folds, and the pancake combination plate hosts a round of The Newlywed Game, testing which couples make the best match between two flapjacks, two bacon strips, and two eggs ($8.50). Taste buds mingle with a burger built from beef, pork, turkey, or chicken ($5.95–$7.95) or a grilled-cheese sandwich made au naturel, with bacon, or with ham ($6.50–$7.50). Jazz musicians serenade guests amid the café's red-topped tables on the weekends to sate hungry eardrums' appetites, and the gallery's current exhibit of artwork by Raymond Saunders makes eyeballs drool with joy.