If the Milford Oval can support French cuisine served in a railroad caboose, can it support a raw bar, and maybe even valet parking, in a 75-year-old diner?

That question is being pondered here, following news that the Milford Diner, a fixture alongside the Souhegan River since before World War I, is being taken over by the owners of the town’s first “jazz bistro.”

The eatery will hold its final breakfast and lunch as a diner on Sunday, close for renovation, and formally reopen on Oct. 14 as – well, the owners aren’t saying just yet.

“It will be a midpriced, family-friendly restaurant,” said Arthur Martel, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Erin Tripp, and his brother Patrick, who just returned from a stint in Iraq as an Army sergeant. The trio owned the just-closed Verve Jazz Bistro, an upscale eatery on Elm Street that has turned into the center of their catering business.

Martel said the diner and the attached Stonecutter Lounge would include a raw bar, in which a seafood menu is built around uncooked shellfish, and have entertainment of some kind. Otherwise, however, no details are being released.

And although the diner is one block from downtown Milford’s biggest public parking lot, they acknowledged that concern about parking is a perennial Oval concern. As a result, said Arthur Martel, “We’re investigating the possibility of some sort of valet parking on weekends.”

Whether or not that happens, the immediate result is that after Sunday the Milford Diner will lose its standing as a pre-dawn gathering spot for people on the way to work.

“It’s almost business; the contractors all meet here,” said Loy Lamb, an electrician from Temple who lived in Milford for 31 years and has long been a regular at the diner. “There’s two or three I work with, and we meet here regularly.”

Breakfast starts at 5 a.m., and it’s not uncommon to see more than one driver in a full-sized pickup with tools in the back, waiting for the doors to unlock.

As for the future, Lamb said, “I’ll have to contact some of the boys and see where they’ll want to go.”

Andy Martin of Milford, another contractor who has been a regular for years, knows where he is taking his business. “I’ll go wherever Rose goes,” he said.

Rose George has been a waitress at the diner 18 years. She wasn’t sure about her future; like all the staff, she will interview with the new owners about a job.

“My regular (customers) aren’t happy,” she said about the change, which became public Thursday in the local weekly newspaper, The Cabinet.

Early morning regulars have several alternatives, since there are three other breakfast restaurants on the Oval itself plus the nearby Yankee Chef on Nashua Street. But there is a big caveat: None allows smoking, as the diner does.

“I don’t know where some of those guys (smokers) are going to go,” said Kevin Stephens, who owns Union Street Grill.

Furthermore, most of the other eateries don’t open until 6 a.m.

“We’ll pick up a little business,” predicted Brian Fader, a cook at Cafe on the Oval, which opens at 5 a.m.

Around noon, competition in Milford is stiff, since a dozen restaurants serve lunch; but in the evening, the only close competition to the new restaurant will be the long-established Pasta Loft on the Oval, and the close-by French Bistro.

Milford has had a diner since 1903, according to “The Granite Town” by Winifred Wright, the official town history. It moved to the current location, just south of the stone bridge, in 1913; the current car dates back to 1931.

Since 1916, the diner has been attached to the building behind it, which holds the Stonecutter Lounge.

For two years, Martel and Tripp owned Verve, a restaurant in an Elm Street strip mall that featured live jazz, wine and upscale meals. It recently closed – not because it didn’t succeed, they say, but because the 1,500-square-foot space wasn’t big enough – and will become the sales office and production kitchen for their catering business, Metropolitan Caterers.

When they heard that the diner might be available, they jumped at it. They declined to discuss whether they are buying or leasing the property.

Among those who will watch the new restaurant with interest is Thierry Navette, a French native who a year ago opened The French Bistro in a converted caboose less than a block from the Oval.

“Maybe we set the trend, when we opened, to change the diner scene here in Milford to more upscale,” he said of his restaurant and Verve.

“It is good for the town and all of us. Already my crowd is not too local; we are bringing more people into the town – it’s only good,” Navette said.

And his upscale ideas haven’t ended: Navette plans to open a cheese-and-wine shop soon.

On a cautionary note, however, an upscale cookie store closed in July after more than a year in business. K.D. Crumbles operated next door to the diner in Eagle Hall.

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