[Note: The diner in question is a 1947 Kullman that, we believe, has been rehabed... RJD]

By David Peterson | Star Tribune | Nov. 18, 2008

At Edelweiss in downtown Prior Lake, Mark Bowles draws on all his training at L'hotel Sofitel and his many years in Europe to create classic French breakfast pastries. He began the prep for this morning's croissants three days ago.

That's not exactly the sort of place Lyaman McPherson has in mind a few hundred feet down the street, when -- if all goes well -- he ships in and begins restoring a classic New England diner.

"If you ask us for a croissant," he said, "we're going to point you down the block. We're going to be all about blue-plate specials: eggs, greasy hash browns and coffee. What small town doesn't have a greasy spoon? Well, Prior Lake, unfortunately."

What both men share is a desire to create something local and unique and to make downtown Prior Lake a draw.

"This is a dream I've had for a long time," said McPherson, last year's commander of the VFW post in the city. "Prior Lake doesn't have a place to get this sort of breakfast. The best thing is Perkins, but that's in Savage.

Given the current economic climate, here's a way that some lucky, and daring, diner operator might be able to put a few dollars away for a rainy day. It sure beats chasing customers out the door just so you can turn a few more tables!

ABC's reality show, "Wife Swap" is currently casting for its fifth season and is looking for great families, specifically families that own or work at a roadside diner, to be on the show.

Families must consist of two parents and at least one child between 6 and 17. Families who appear on the show receive a financial honorarium after completion of taping. Hint; it's pretty substantial....

If you are unfamiliar with the show, the premise of Wife Swap is to take two different families and have the moms switch places to experience how another family lives. This is meant to be a positive experience for people to not only learn, but teach other ways of life. If you would like more information about the show, go to ABC.com and you will find "Wife Swap" under the primetime listings.

If you are interested, then put down your spatula (talk to your wife or husband first...) and call Rebecca at 646-747-7958 or email your phone number to rebecca.chaikin@castingrdf.com. She promises to get back to you ASAP.

And if you don't mind, we'd love it if you tell her you "heard about it at The American Roadside!"

The smashed stainless steel exterior of Cassidies Diner is still covered with plywood, but workers were busy inside Thursday ripping up the tile floor in preparation for the extensive repairs it will take to reopen the downtown eatery.

A Chevy Impala crashed through the front of the building in May, and the diner has been closed since. Witnesses told the Record-Journal that the car was driven by a woman who was breastfeeding while she drove, but police said afterward that there was not enough evidence to pursue charges against the woman.

Owner Jay Eagle Delaney is fighting with his insurance company over the funds to repair the damage.

He wants to restore the diner, built in 1946, to its original appearance, but his insurance company only wants to pay for modern-looking repairs that would cost less, he said.

"I'm not just going to repair," Delaney said in front the eatery Thursday. "I'm going to restore."

The reason he's been able to start the repairs is because he found a contractor willing to take on the project without payment up front.

Daniel Roberts, owner of K & D Machine Services of Meriden, is handling the fabrication of the stainless steel walls that needs to be replaced.

"This is a unique situation," Daniels said of the diner. "But we're going to wrap it in stainless steel again."

Des Plaines, IL
A beloved suburban diner is in danger of closing. Generations of kids have made the trip to the Choo Choo. Now, though, the city of Des Plaines may have plans to derail its future, CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.

It's the noon whistle at the Choo Choo restaurant, a place where the hamburgers and fries come on wheels.

It's something that the old black-and-white photos show has been happening at this one-of-a-kind restaurant for nearly 60 years. For generations, the Choo Choo has been a favorite for children from the region and beyond. But now the last hamburger train might soon leave the station.

Jean Paxton, the landmark's owner, says she's been informed that the city would like to build a new police station, possibly right where the Choo Choo has stood since 1951.

"I'm disappointed in their decision in their decision, because the Choo Choo brings so much to this town." Paxton said.

Paxton says Des Plaines needs to preserve its history, especially when it continues to draw thousands of visitors to the town each month. That's why she intends to fight the development plan and has put up a sign urging people to help by visiting www.savethechoochoo.com.

By Katie Warchut | TheDay.com | Nov. 6, 2008

Groton, CT
Dan “Dano” Logan, who took over Norm's Diner four years ago, closed the longtime icon at the entrance to the City of Groton this week, blaming the poor economy.

The diner's former owners, Norm (the diner's namesake) and Annie Brochu, however, are in a dispute with Logan over the rent for the building they still own and say the diner will reopen “under new management.”

Annie Brochu declined to say when that would happen or who would run it.

The diner started out as Paula's in 1953, and - since Norm fixed it up more than 40 years ago - it has become a stop for diner enthusiasts from around the country as well as locals.

Serving home-cooked New England food, it survived competition from other local diners and chain restaurants along with the ups and downs of Navy-related business through the years.

Some people leave their hometown at a young age and never look back. Tom Manning, 55, isn't one of them.

"My roots have always stayed here in Portland," Manning said Wednesday amid the post-election breakfast buzz at the newly resurrected Miss Portland Diner on Marginal Way.

His Miss Portland Diner.

To some, it might make no sense whatsoever. Manning, a child of Munjoy Hill who went to Cathedral grammar school and Cheverus High School before going to work for Newsweek in New York City 32 years ago, knows a lot more about running a magazine's business office than he does about owning and operating a restaurant.

But this much he does know: The Worcester Lunch Car diner, in its third location since it opened on Forest Avenue in 1949, is a piece of Portland's past. And Manning, who left for the Big Apple at age 23 and rose to become Newsweek's director of administration, has a thing for local history.

"Look at the Portland Observatory," he said. "When I was a kid, you could never go up there -- with all the broken stairs and stuff. I've always had a good feeling about how (the city) saved that thing and brought it back. And I kind of felt this might be a little similar. I knew the city was looking for someone to step up."

He's got that right. After accepting the diner as a gift from Randall Chasse in 2004, the city tried and failed to find a new owner. Three years ago, the once-bustling diner was removed from its previous site a short distance down Marginal Way and put into mothballs.

The renovated and expanded Miss Portland Diner opened today on Marginal Way after more than four years of planning by city officials and others.

"We did an unannounced opening because I didn't want staff to be overrun, and we were very, very busy," said owner Thomas Manning, a Portland native who bought the diner from the city earlier this year.

Manning said the landmark eatery at 138 Marginal Way will be open for breakfast and lunch for about a month, then expand to dinner hours with a grand opening in December.

The 46-seat Worcester Lunch Car was moved from another location on Marginal Way to make way for a new office building. The diner has a new addition that includes a modern kitchen and a 48-seat dining room.

The City Council agreed in August 2006 to sell the 59-year-old diner and a 6,000-square-foot bus shelter site to Manning for $25,000 and $75,000, respectively.

The diner is located next to a new student housing complex and health care office building. It stands beside Interstate 295, between the Forest Avenue and Franklin Arterial exits.

The diner's former owner, Randall Chasse, gave it to the city in March 2004 after trying to sell it several times, including on the Internet.

Before Manning expressed an interest in the diner, deals with two other prospective buyers fell through.

Northwest Arkansas
Neal's Cafe sits on the north end of Springdale. It's not glitzy. It's not glamorous. But it's packed most of the time.

But it's not the type of business to which most restaurateurs aspire.

"It's a dying breed," said Neal's Cafe owner Don Neal of his diner.

Montine McNulty, executive director of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, said fewer diners and fewer independently-owned restaurants in general exist today compared to the growth in chain restaurants.

"It would be dramatically different," McNulty said, if one compared the number of diner-style restaurants 10 years ago to those surviving today. "The trend is there are not as many as there once were. That's just the reality of it."

Competition from chain restaurants, and higher food and labor costs all figure in to the decline of the diner.

The Coast restaurant at the fork of Route 6A and Route 28 is closed and for sale, owner Robert Jacobus told selectmen this week.

"We weren't able to make ends meet," said Jacobus, who opened the restaurant in early 2006. "I gave it a good shot, and I wish it could have turned out differently."

The restaurant closed without notice in September, and Jacobus didn't respond to the town's Oct. 1 letter of inquiry until selectmen advertised a hearing to pull the restaurant's license. The restaurant's closing ran afoul of licensing requirements that require a year-round restaurant to be open at least three days a week.

Two potential buyers are interested, Jacobus said at this week's hearing. The business is a landmark as the site of the country's first Howard Johnson restaurant franchise.

Jacobus, a former executive chef at Ocean Edge, bought the building from Jane and Ron Adams, who operated the Adam's Rib and Fog Cutter restaurants at the site beginning in 1964.

Selectmen decided against rescinding the restaurant's license to improve chances for a sale.