By Alaine Griffin | Hartford Courant | Feb. 11, 2008

Biting wind gusts and single-digit temperatures didn't stop customers from lining up outside for the re-opening early Monday morning of O'Rourke's Diner, the Middletown icon destroyed in a fire nearly 18 months ago.

"It's been a year and a half since I've had his corned beef hash. That's way too long," Ethan Platt of Portland said as he waited first in line next to his buddy Matt Schickling, of Sturbridge, Mass.

"Setting my alarm at 3 a.m. was a little crazy but I knew it would be worth it," Schickling said minutes before the door opened to the Main Street diner that's been a popular restaurant and gathering place in Middletown since 1941.

Inside before opening, the mood was much different than the morning of Aug. 31, 2006, when startled waitresses and cooks ready to work arrived at the gutted and smoldering diner. Investigators determined a hamburger steamer that was left on overnight when the diner was closed triggered the fire.

On Monday, longtime waitresses Janine Janaki and Barbara Feegel hugged in between prepping the counter and tables and memorizing the diner's daily specials.

"I'm shaking I'm so nervous," Janaki said to Feegel, who has worked at O'Rourke's for 18 years.

Feegel, who admitted having a sleepless night, calmed Janaki's nerves.

"It's like riding a bike," Feegel said. "You'll be OK. But just yell to me and I'll be right there with you."

Feegel's supportive words were reminiscent of the words owner Brian O'Rourke and his colleagues have heard since the fire that threatened to put an end to an important part of Middletown's history.

O'Rourke, who grilled his first order at the family diner in 1962 and along with his cousin, purchased it from his Uncle John in 1977, did not have fire insurance. When loyal customers and O'Rourke's friends heard this, they quickly formed a rebuilding committee that conducted numerous fundraisers and sought donations of building materials and contracting work.

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