CONNECTICUT

History
Great diner culture is not confined to the popular 1982 movie, “Diner.” It also is alive and sizzling in authentic diners throughout New England. Various places try to claim themselves as the “home of the diner,” but Providence, Rhode Island, in fact, is. The creator of the diner is Walter Scott, a part time pressman at the Providence Journal newspaper. In 1872, Scott began to sell prepared food from a horse-drawn freight wagon outside the newspaper's building.

As lunch wagons were becoming popular, entrepreneurs began buying horse-drawn streetcars and converting them to diners. By the 1930s, diners began to adopt a more modern, railroad-car appearance. In the 1950s, diners began to lose a share of their market to the new fast food establishments. A revival began in the late 1970s. New England hot spots for diner history lovers also include Worcester, Massachusetts, home of the former Worcester Lunch Car Company.

DAYVILLE

Zip's Dining Car
Corner of Route 12 and 101 at exit 93 off I-395
Dayville, CT
Information: 860-774-6335 or visit www.zipsdiner.com
Zip's is a legendary dining car serving up the area's finest meals since 1954. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served by a very friendly wait staff. A belly-buster three-egg omelette, chicken fried steak, and homemade strawberry shortcake are just few delicious favorites. Zip's is centrally located between Hartford, Providence, and Worcester.

ENFIELD

The Country Diner
111 Hazard Avenue
Enfield, CT
Hours: Monday, 6 a.m.-2 p.m.; Tuesday through Saturday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.
Information: 860-763-5338 or visit www.thecountrydiner.com
Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Comfort foods, barbeque, and more. Breakfast is renowned county wide and served all day. This is an authentic American diner experience with great food as you like it. The wait staff is friendly and the menu is huge, with lots of choices. If you can’t find something to eat on this menu, you’re probably not hungry.

MIDDLETOWN

O'Rourke's Diner
728 Main Street
Middletown, Connecticut
Hours: Daily, 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Diner does not serve dinner.
Information: 860-346-6101 or visit www.orourkesmiddletown.com/
The menu offers quite a variety, featuring dishes with a strong Irish influence, as well as traditional American classics. Daily breakfast and lunch specials show off the creative expertise of the kitchen. Special dishes are the steamed cheeseburger — a Connecticut passion — 3-way chili “Seeley style” (named for the diner’s most devoted patron), and a tuna smelt.

NEWINGTON

Olympia Diner
3413 Berlin Tpk
Newington, CT
Hours: Daily 6 a.m.-midnight
Information: 860-666-9948ov http://olympiadiner.net
Olympia diner is a true American road food classic. Whether you’re cruising across the country or you live just down the road, you’ll find hospitality and quality food in a clean and comfortable atmosphere. Serving local diners and travelers for over 50 years. Guests will find daily lunch and dinner specials, jukeboxes in every booth and free Wi-Fi, counter service, wine, beer, and cocktails. Call ahead for take-out orders.

NEWTOWN

Blue Colony Diner
Exit 10 off I-84 East and West
Newtown, CT
Information: 203-426-0745 or visit www.bluecolonydiner.com/
A classic diner on the outside has been freshened up on the inside with lots of table service in addition to counter service. Serving home-made bakery goods, desserts, steaks, chops, fresh seafood, beer, wine, and cocktails. Take-out service; buses are welcome.

NORTH CANAAN

Collin’s Diner
Routes 44 and 7
North Canaan, CT
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 5:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesday, 5:30 am-1 p.m.; Sunday, 6 a.m.-4 p.m. Call for extended summer hours
Information: www.collinsdiner.com
Established in 1941, this is a classic diner in every best way possible. Named one of New England’s top diners by the New York Times. “Best Blue Plate” – says Connecticut Magazine. Occasional art shows and poetry nights.

NORTH WINDHAM
Aero Diner
361 Boston Post Road
North Windham, CT
Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 6 a.m.-8 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
Information: 860-450-1959 or visit http://aerodiner.com/
Classic ‘50s-style diner in very good condition with friendly and helpful waitresses. Standard goo diner food (the club sandwiches are good and huge; thick shakes; hand-cut French fries) and children’s menu. Customers go back again and again.

VERNON

Vernon Diner
453 Hartford Tpke
Vernon, CT
Hours: Open 24 hours a day; seven days a week.
Information: 860-875-8812 or visit http://vernondiner.com
Daily soups and specials, home-made desserts, outdoor patio dining. Very large portions of hearty diner food. Great breakfast, especially the challah French toast. Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

WEST HAVEN

Georgie's Diner
427 Elm Street
West Haven, CT
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m.
Information: 203-933-1000 or visit www.georgies-diner.com
Georgie’s Diner is classic 1950s in style, with excellent and well-loved dishes like home-style meatloaf and poached eggs. The diner offers a full range of specialty dishes including pork chops, roasted chicken, chicken Parmigana, and chicken Tuscany. Georgie’s also caters to people on a limited diet, in particular offering vegan and gluten-free dishes (a separate fryer is used for these orders). Vegan dishes include tempeh Reuben, falafels, and organic malibu burgers.
Georgie’s Diner was built in 1956 in New York. Its first stop was in Stratford, CT where it was named Duchess Diner until 1967. It was then moved to its current location in West Haven and was renamed Elm Diner. Through the decades, the diner has been a meeting place in the community and a little piece of West Haven history. It fell into disrepair, but in the summer of 2009, the building was completely restored and its doors were reopened on September 24.

Web Sites

American Diner Museum
i Love Diners.com

Diner Reading

Lost Diners and Roadside Restaurants of New England and New York, Will Anderson, 2001
American Diner, Richard Gutman, 1979.

Diners: People and Places, Gerd Kittel, 1990.

Blue Plate Specials and Blue Ribbon Chefs: The Heart and Soul of America's Great Roadside Restaurants, Jane Stern, 2001.

Greasy Spoon. A quarterly periodical.

Diner Slang

Some diner slang –- like cup of Joe for a cup of coffee or Adam and Eve on a raft for two eggs on toast -- has entered mainstream American English, but much of this unique language has be consigned to background chatter in 1940s-style film noir movies. But people who relish diner slang have dredged up a lot of it. You might try it on your soup jockey (waitress) at your next meal at a diner to see if you can strike a linguistic mother lode of diner history.

Take breakfast, for instance. You might open with a java (coffee) and a sun kiss (orange juice) or a baby juice (glass of milk) and then move on to a couple of life preservers (doughnuts) or a stack of blowout patches (pancakes) with Vermon t (maple syrup). How about scrambled eggs? Tell the waitress to wreck ’em . A shingle with a shimmy and a shake is toast with jelly. If you’re feeling international, ask for toasted English muffins, also known a Burn the British. If you are in the mood for risk, tell the waitress to sweep the kitchen or clean up the kitchen and she’ll bring you a plate of hash.

Lunchtime is the right time for Noah’s boy (Ham) on bread – a ham sandwich. For a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion, your waitress may tell the cook to burn one, take it through the garden, and pin a rose on it. Then, there are the details: cow paste for butter; dog soup for a glass of water; an M.D. for a Dr. Pepper; sea dust for salt; Mike and Ike for salt and pepper shakers. If this list doesn’t cover your dining needs, the American Diner Museum can tell you much more.