By Alaine Griffin | Hartford Courant | Jan. 23, 2008

Middletown, CT
Newly stacked clear glass blocks filter beams of sunlight that hit the bright white walls. Brushed-nickel light fixtures with the manufacturer's stickers still attached are as shiny as the stainless steel molding.

There's a sparkle these days inside O'Rourke's Diner. As promised, the community is helping to restore this regional gem that was destroyed by a fire on Aug. 31, 2006.

By next month, customers could be eating the restaurant's signature steamed cheeseburgers.

"He's still pinching himself," Jora Davis said recently about his boss, Brian O'Rourke, owner of the 67-year-old downtown diner that O'Rourke took over from his uncle. "He just can't wait to get back here and make people happy."

When loyal customers and friends of O'Rourke learned that he did not carry fire insurance, many worried that the historic diner would become part of the city's past. City leaders also worried that the end of O'Rourke's would mean that Middletown would lose an important anchor in its North End, a section of the city that has struggled with crime, poverty and empty storefronts, but has recently experienced a neighborhood revival with the opening of a new 96-unit apartment complex.

Though O'Rourke — a master chef but self-admitted poor businessman — faced some criticism for his lack of insurance for the diner, supporters with stories about his good deeds and generosity in the community rallied around him and the diner he made into a back-road culinary icon that's been profiled in books and publications nationwide.

The remainder of the Courant's story can be found here, along with photos and videos.