By Larry Bly | The Roanoke Times | June 7, 2006

Imagine an entire breakfast menu in this day and age with nothing more than $5! In fact, most of the menu items run in the $1.50- $2.50 range. No wonder people line up early (5 a.m.) to eat at the Hillsville Diner, which has been in business as long as I've been on this earth (1946).

Actually built by the Jerry O. Mahoney Company of Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1936, the "Diner" was thought originally to be an old street car. It wasn't. The Mahoney Company specialized in pre-fabricated restaurants. And this one, though operating continuously in Hillsville since 1946, still has most of its original equipment, still used daily for breakfast. The grills have deep pockets, carved out by decades of scraping pancakes and eggs off them with a spatula.

On one end you'll even see an original stained glass window -- back when even "temporary" buildings sported such elegant touches. One notices the tiny bar stools. Butts have gotten a whole lot bigger through the years.

A real dining room has been added (twice) in the back, as has a side kitchen for preparing baked, cooked and assembled luncheon specials. And they turn out some pretty specials. Order the daily special and it's on your table before you have time to reconsider (even if you wanted to). These people are used to serving workers strapped for time.

I'm told by the second generation owner/operator of the Hillsville Diner that he gets up at 1:30 a.m. to prep for the big breakfast crowd. He apparently makes the biscuits from scratch, mixes up huge batches of their famous "hotcake" mix, whips up a ton of thick gravy, and gets the place ready to meet the hungry. They have regulars who drive up from North Carolina on Saturdays to enjoy these hearty, meaty, mighty breakfasts just like old Maw used to make.

A biscuit and gravy with bacon, sausage or ham will run you all of $2.50! Of course, coffee's extra at a whopping 80 cents. I've been paying upwards of $1.50 for years at the Waffle House! You'd have to order the "3 hotcakes with 2 eggs and bacon, sausage or ham" to get the bill up to $4. Isn't it nice to know that you can get a decent meal for a decent price in this day and age? Bully for them!

I recently had lunch there. The daily special was "beef in stew" with mashed potatoes and one side (freshly prepared potato salad----the old timey stuff with the sweet pickle relish in it). The beef was fork-tender and brimming with flavor. The mashed potatoes were homemade; and, yes I realize that I had two kinds of potatoes in one setting. I've been on a diet and cannot think straight anymore. I loved every starchy morsel.

My dining partner had another listed daily special (which sounded strange but was quite delicious) of chicken tenders in a nice white gravy with two sides. The tenders were crunchy on the outside and the gravy and potatoes made it all better. All of this is served with freshly made bread or cornbread (slightly sweet as well) for about $4.30 plus tax.

The only possible disappointment came when I inquired about the kind of homemade desserts they offered.The wait-person informed me: "None. We are so busy with breakfast and lunch that we do not have time to make homemade desserts." It's the only thing you can order that doesn't come out of their kitchen.

The lunch menu is a two-sided affair...everything from burgers, chuck wagon sandwiches to veal and turkey sandwiches, all in the $3.00-$4.60 arena. "Deli" items include turkey, bacon and turkey, tuna, and chicken salad, all around $2.50. Oh and "carry out plates" will cost an extra 10 cents, so be prepared to ante-up, buddy!

Daily specials never change---they're printed right on the menu: Monday- 4 oz chuck wagon steak Tuesday-4 oz country style steak and gravy; Wednesday- Chicken tenders with gravy Thursday- Meatloaf or 5.3 oz hamburger steak and onions; Friday- 4-5 oz flounder. The price is always (no matter what the special) $4.30 and all special come with choice of 2 veggies. I'd suggest you take my lead and go with everything made out of potatoes. Ha!

There are veggie plates and cold plates -- but it didn't much look like anyone around me had bothered much with them. I counted 18 veggies or "sides" you may choose from.

The owner, who recognized me from my old "Cookin' Cheap" days (when will public TV ever figure out what they lost when they took that off?), says that they close the diner at 3 p.m. and don't come back until the next morning when it's time to start all over again. They're closed on the "Lord's Day", unless yours is Saturday.

The walls of the Hillsville Diner are filled with its own history of articles written, promises made and kept, famous people who ate there---Opey, Andy, and Barney among them---and other assorted things. One of the Richmond articles written some time back talked of a possible National Register of Historic Places designation. Never happened. And it's interesting as to why. Apparently when discussions first began about putting the Diner onto the historical registers, the place leaked like a sieve.

So shortly after Mr. Historical Register left with the paperwork, the owners decided to build a regular roof over the diner to stop the leaking. And it also stopped the historical designation. So after many years of hard thinking and consideration over this little problem, they've decided to tear off the roof, put a rubberized roof system over the old original roof that fits its rounded contours. Thus, problem solved and historical designation (hopefully) just around the corner. Plus the owners are getting ready to add the third back dining room, due to its continued success, on an empty lot they own behind the restaurant.

The old outdated pine-paneled and awfully tiny bathrooms will be replaced by more spacious and modern ones in the new area. The old one is so small that the door hits the commode when you open it. That's rough on the knees if you've forgotten to lock.

But all of this is charming in the total context of the Diner. The well-worn tables and bench seats, the walls full of memorabilia, the old signs -- all of it summons up simpler times that some of us (the same age as the Hillsville Diner) can still remember. And it's the real deal.

Originally published online here: http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/food/wb/wb/xp-68380