Finally a couple of diner visits

My desire to write about diners has been a real bust: an entire weekend in Pennsylvania without even one visit to a diner, what a bummer.  I started to feel that maybe I should abandon the project and just continue to fill my Blog pages with my current bitches.  I decided to continue my quest this past weekend after having breakfast twice at the “Blue Plate Diner” in Middletown, RI.  Middletown is right outside of Newport where most of our family (seventeen, missing three) was helping Marge and I celebrate our 60^th wedding anniversary.  Seventeen people walking into a restaurant without prior notice would send most places into a tailspin, but not a Greek diner.  Service was prompt, smooth, accurate, and the food wasn’t bad either.  Typical of the way diners handle things.  This diner could not be called classic, not built like a locomotive car but still loaded with chrome everywhere.  The diner appears to have been built on the spot, not transported from the factory or moved from another location.  Helping to make the diner a real diner was the usual 7 to 9 page menu.  Don’t you wonder how they can keep that many menu items on hand and still serve a meal that tastes fresh? I can’t remember ever having anything at a diner that I considered bad, but based on diner reviews I’ve read I guess I’m just lucky to have ordered the right meals.  Then again, it might be that I don’t have a very discriminating pallet.

Speaking of reviews, I read quite a few on the Athenian Diner in Middletown Connecticut where happened upon on our way from Newport.  The Athenian is in area I rarely travel in and was quite surprised to see it.  We decided to finish up our trip by having dinner there…wow, two diners.  This diner is one of three Athenians in the state.  It certainly was typical, large, lots of chrome, very clean and again about nine pages to read.  Quickly I might add because invariably after sitting and just opening the large batch of plastic covered pages, a waitress will appear with the dreaded question, are you ready to order?  I would need about thirty minutes of reading to make a decision that satisfied me since it’s not likely that there would be anything on the nine pages that I wouldn’t eat.  I settled for pastrami Rueben which was quite good.  Too big, but if that’s my only complaint, I guess I shouldn’t.  The rest of our party seemed to also be satisfied, with the only complaint being too large a portion. On a one to ten scale I think the reviews would have placed it at no better than a six.  Hopefully, some day I’ll be able to give it another shot.

Pennsylvania Reunion

My hopes and dreams for exciting new Blog material were dashed like a size thirteen landing on an unsuspecting spider.  The long planned excursion to Pennsylvania which filled me with hopes of visits to old, classic Pennsylvania diners and a side trip to see how my favorite (Yuengling Beer) was brewed never happened.   Road repairs detoured us from the diners I planned for, the Yuengling plant was not operating on Saturday, the only day we could visit and the only diner visit was the Milford on 209 for an impromptu hasty pit stop.

Did the next best thing, had a few frosty glasses of Yuengling at a Pizza get together with a bunch of Marge’s relatives the night before the reunion.  It seems that Marge has some influential cousins in Pottsville who rented or used the entire pavilion and facilities of a Pottsville park.  More Yuengling and a lot of tasty food catered by the same Pizza Restaurant we were at the night before.  Plenty to do, basketball, volley ball, horseshoes, and my favorite, sitting and people watching.  This was a “Shields Reunion” that hadn’t been done for years.  Our Shields contingency looked pretty sharp with everyone wearing dark blue T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of Marge’s deceased mom, dad and brother……very impressive.

One of the highlights of the trip was a guided tour Marge gave us of the small town of New Philadelphia where she was born and lived some of her younger years. I think it gave her great pleasure showing some of our kids and grandchildren the house she was born in and the school she went to.  Amazingly a 96 year old neighbor still lived a couple of houses down and remembered most of her family.

I guess I’ll have to settle on a few local excursions to some of Connecticut’s classics, we do have 125 of them in our state.

Diner Quest Update

After doing my last Blog about the “Lost” Franklin Square Diner, I was quite excited about making some trips to visit some more classic diners.  Unfortunately it seems that so many of my plans, or call them mini bucket lists never seem to happen.  Since that first momentous diner discovery a few weeks ago the closest I’ve come has been multiple visits to the Liberty Diner here in Southington.  Liberty is diner by name only, no chrome, no train car appearance, no grill area to watch food being prepared and not even a nine page menu to confuse the hell out of you (their’s is only about 5 pages).  Can’t say that it doesn’t have other diner attributes, simple meals, good quantity, tasty, inexpensive and served by some very nice staff….been going there for years and have yet to be disappointed.

My plans to visit some of the classics is still on an active to-do list and in the next few days there’s a good chance I’ll be able to resume the quest.  We’re going to a family reunion (Marge’s) in Pennsylvania,  Pottsville area in particular.  Pennsylvania is home to many, many diners that fall into a classic category.  Hopefully I’ll be able visit a couple and bring you back some interesting reports. 

There might even be chance to visit the country’s oldest brewery and sample my favorite beer brewed by D.G. Yuengling & Son that has managed to produce quality beer in Pottsville since 1829.  They should know how to do it by this time.

CLASSIC DINERS AND MORE

Classic Diner on route 209 in Pennsylvania

Classic diners of Connecticut was the subject of a recent presentation at the Southington Library.  Marge and I, along with our very good winery touring friends (subject of prior Blogs) attended this very interesting program.  Later over “coffee and” we began to discuss the many interesting diners we’ve eaten in over the years.  One diner in particular peaked my interest.  When Marge was seven or eight her parents moved to a different area of town.  She didn’t want to change schools mid year, but not changing created a problem that does not exist in this day and age.  In those days, kids had to walk back home for lunch and then back again to school. Because of their new home location it wasn’t possible in her case because of the distance involved.  To solve the problem her mother bought a meal ticket at a diner near her school, Saint Joseph’s which was in walking distance for Marge to have a lunch.  Daily she would go to the Franklin Square Diner on Franklin Square, had her ticket punched and ate her lunch at her special booth in the diner.  The diner is not there anymore and hasn’t been for quite a few years.

I thought it would be interesting to do some research on the diner and learn about its history.  After days of Googling, Asking, and Binging with no results I was about ready to give up.  I made one last inquiry and only inquired about the Franklin Square area of town.  Lo and behold I found a reference to the diner in one tiny little paragraph.  It seems that the diner was moved over fifty years ago to a location in East Berlin, CT.  It’s still there, but from the outside it doesn’t resemble the classic diner that it once was.  A strip mall type structure has been built around it, but inside the old diner still remains with only cosmetic changes and a few additions.  During these years the diner has had many names beginning with Route 72 Diner and finally ending with its current name of Uncle D’s – Diner,  Hometown Grill.

With this discovery, we decided to begin making Connecticut diner visits instead of our usual winery tours.  What better place to start but to revisit the place where Marge enjoyed her solitary lunches so many years ago.  During our lunch Marge even visited the booth she sat in over seventy years ago. 

Lunch turned out to be quite good.  I opted for a late breakfast of poached eggs with their home made hash. Very good by the way.  Other meals included a very nice ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cole slaw and a huge pickle.  One of those old fashion Jewish Deli types.  A nicely cooked large hot dog was accompanied by some very good home made baked beans that had a great tangy flavor. Our waitress had my favorite three “P’S - polite, prompt, pleasant.  Prices were also very reasonable.  We’ll go back again when the opportunity arises.

On to the next Classic Connecticut diner.  I’m going to try to make this a regular feature along with a few food tidbits.