 |
| 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.
