RoadsideOnline

Success breeds success, as they say. We think this would make a welcome addition to Newton Centre, while at the same time confession to our concern over any diner's expansion plans to multiple locations. The challenges of maintaining quality at a single location are epic, never mind doing it at two. Don Levy has entertained expansion plans in the past, opening a second restaurant called the Loading Zone after successfully operating the iconic Blue Diner in Boston's leather district. That venture not only failed, it put him completely out of the diner business for another seven years. Hopefully, we won't see that come to pass again.

Watertown diner may be coming to Newton Centre

By Dan Atkinson/Staff Writer

Newton — The Newton Centre MBTA station could see a 90-seat diner in the location formerly occupied by a Starbucks, if a Watertown business’s plan is approved.

The Deluxe Town Diner on Mount Auburn Street is proposing to open a second location at 70 Union St. The 90-seat diner would be open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. and needs the Board of Aldermen’s approval to waive a requirement for 18 parking spaces. The aldermen will hold a public hearing on the plan on March 9.

Darryl Levy, who co-owns the Deluxe Town Diner with her husband, Don, said she was excited about coming to Newton Centre. She said the restaurant has reached out to residents and businesses in the area, and that they supported the diner’s expansion.

The full story can be found here...

With any luck, this one will stick. At least Jae Chung is no longer part of this.

Miss Adams Diner reopens

By Ryan Hutton, North Adams Transcript

ADAMS -- Four months after Park Street's Miss Adams Diner was sold at auction to Steepleview Realty, the doors are open again and the kitchen is busy at the iconic eatery.

Business partners Ric Belair and Philomene Rivard have rented the space from Steepleview and opened for business on Monday. While there was little fanfare for the re-opening of the eatery, Belair said they were busy with customers almost all day.

"It started out slow, but as soon as people got out of bed -- it being a holiday -- and realized we were open, it started to pick up, and it was busy from then to closing." he said.

The pair originally tried to rent space for a restaurant on Ashland Street in North Adams, but the deal fell through not long before they were set to start operation. They found out the Miss Adams Diner was available the same day their original deal fell through.

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At one time, we considered the Highland Park Diner to be if not the best, certainly one of the best diners in the entire world. During its heyday under the stewardship of Bob Malley, you could count on one of the best meals in one of the most stunningly preserved diners on the landscape. Bob sold the diner several years ago after a storied twenty-odd year run, and we certainly miss him. The diner may still be as great as ever, but apparently, it's financial situation needs some serious help. We hope that Mr. Zissis can get the diner back on its feet and soon.

After a previous bid to reorganize under Bankruptcy Court supervision was dismissed less than a year ago, the Highland Park Diner again is asking for the court's protection from creditors.

The new filing comes as the prominent local eatery faces a foreclosure action filed by its previous owner and as it struggles with state and federal tax woes.

Its previous owner, Robert Malley, who in the early 1980s revived it as a restaurant, retired and sold the business to its current owner, Evangelos Zissis, several years ago.

Zisco Restaurant LLC, which does business as the Highland Park Diner, filed its most recent Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rochester on Dec. 28. The filing states that Zissis is the corporation's sole member. The petition lists Zisco's current assets at $145,800 and liabilities at $446,923.

In 2006, Zissis inked a $127,500 mortgage on the restaurant property at 960 S. Clinton Ave. with Malley's real estate company, Malcro Corp.

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A once-forlorn diner is finally getting its moment in the spotlight thanks to a new series to appear on the learning channel that does not involve octuplets, little people, the morbidly obese, or some other modern version of the circus sideshow. (Thanks for the tip to Barry Henley.)

Diner's fame going national

Learning Channel films episode at landmark

By Priyanka Dayal TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The camera leaned in on the salty, slippery American classic — Spam.

Kim A. Kniskern, cook and owner of the Miss Worcester Diner on Southbridge Street, demonstrated how to properly fry the pink stuff, then set it on a platter garnished with eggs, toast and home fries.

The camera zoomed in.

Watch The Learning Channel in a few months and you might see this very dish. The Miss Worcester Diner is scheduled to have its very own episode in a TLC series about exclusive dining destinations. The historic diner was picked from hundreds across the country, according to Ms. Kniskern.

A camera crew, led by a producer from New York, filmed for hours at the diner yesterday, starting well before dawn. They shot the outside of the dining car and the inside, the bacon sizzling, the silverware clanking, the people shouting, the barstools, the coffee mugs and the Red Sox paraphernalia covering the walls.

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The Milford Diner has sat empty and idle in the heart of Milford, Connecticut for almost a decade now. A rather plain-jane Silk City diner, the otherwise original structure almost sold to new owners who hoped to move it out of harms way. After that fell though, the developer who originally wanted to oust the diner from its location decided to adopt it into his plans for a nightclub across the parking lot. And now, this...

By This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Register Correspondent

MILFORD — Fundraising to support the restoration of the Milford Diner on New Haven Avenue will kick off Sunday with a showing of the classic movie “A Christmas Story.”

The event will include a raffle of several items, including a full-size “leg lamp.”

The 1983 comedy is based on the writings of Jean Shepherd and a boy’s quest for a Red Rider BB gun. It includes a scene with a leg lamp, displayed in a front window that the mother “accidentally” breaks.

Susan Shaw, executive director of organization spearheading the restoration, said its goal is to raise $7,000.

“This will get us part way there,” she said. “It’s kind of like a celebration that we’re up and running.”

Read more about it here...

This tip comes to us thank to David Manning and the Boston Globe. The long-shuttered and rotting Bel Aire Diner closed in 2003, and since then we've heard of various plans to either sell and/or move the diner to another location. The Kallas family, in our opinion, let a true roadside gem and golden business opportunity slip away thanks to years of deferred mainenance and sub-par fare. Perhaps this news points to a new direction.

Hoping for a revival

Vacant Route 1 business sites trouble municipal officials

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff | December 6, 2009

PEABODY - Closed for three years, Bel-Aire Diner could become the star of a $2 million project to make an old truck stop once again a must-stop on Route 1.

The vintage diner, built in 1952, would be refurbished and moved on the 3.6-acre site, where a new building will house a gas station and a 24-hour convenience store. The project is the first proposed since industrial zoning was changed to allow for retail stores and restaurants to open on the two-lane roadway.

“A truck stop needs to be able to take advantage of a highway,’’ said John Kallas, 51, a second-generation owner who runs a Best gas station on the site. “The diner will be our centerpiece.’’

The new Bel-Aire would be a welcome change for the northern corridor of Route 1 in Peabody and Danvers. With a few exceptions, such as the new Sonic burger joint and Latitude sports club in Peabody, and DiLuigi’s Sausage Co. in Danvers, most major developments have stalled in the stubborn economy. “Very few people out there now are taking risks,’’ noted David Ankeles, a Peabody lawyer whose clients include the Kallas family.

A lack of financing scuttled plans for an 80,000-square-foot family entertainment center proposed for the closed Country Side Motel site in Peabody. Farther south, a Starbucks and a small retail strip was never built at a former Burger King site. Foreclosure claimed a 36,000-square-foot office building that once housed East West Mortgage, which moved to Worcester. The property, including old cubicles, desks, and chairs, is for sale for $3.5 million by Wainwright Bank of Boston.

The story continues here...