‘Gilmore Girls’: Scott Patterson Said the Food at Luke’s Diner Was ‘Old’

Most Gilmore Girls episodes had a scene at Luke’s Diner. That’s because Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) would eat there for breakfast to start their day or eat dinner after a long day. Scott Patterson, who played Luke Danes, explained why the food seen on screen was old. 

Luke’s Diner was an important place on ‘Gilmore Girls’

Lorelai and Rory were always eating at Luke’s Diner. Luke owned it after renovating his late father’s hardware store. He ran the business with his own rules. 

He was against technology and banned phones from his restaurant. The food always looked pretty good, and there was always a pot of coffee ready when Lorelai needed her cup refilled.

The food looks good, but how did it really taste? Patterson gave the hard truth to a fan who asked this question. 

Scott Patterson said the food at Luke’s Diner was ‘old’

Patterson answers fan questions on the I Am All In podcast. A few of them asked if the food at Luke Diner was real.

“Let me tell you something. The food was real, yes. But it was old,” Patterson said. “They would cook it fresh, right? And maybe on that first day that it was coming out, it may have been edible, maybe the first 10 minutes. But after that, it was like next day same food, next day same food.”

The actor said it took eight days to film an episode, so by the fifth day, if background actors tried to eat that food, it wouldn’t taste good. Patterson said that led to some “shocking and humorous moments” on the set.

The cast of ‘Gilmore Girls’ used spit buckets for their scenes

Lorelai and Rory were in a lot of scenes that involved their characters eating. However, they had tricks to get around eating everything.

“We had a lot of spit buckets ’cause we do many many takes and part of the comfort of the show is like ‘We’re having Chinese food night’ or Cheeto night or whatever and Pop-Tarts,” Graham said in an interview with the cast on Today. 

Bledel tried her best to make it realistic. “It really bothers me when actors don’t eat the food that’s in the scene,” she said. “Like they’re supposed to be having a meal but don’t eat it so we would go for it most of the time.” The actors would use the spit buckets to also avoid getting sick. 

So fans have probably imagined what it would be like to eat at Luke’s Diner. But in reality, the food probably wasn’t that great while filming those scenes.