Owner David Kupstas (left) and his brother Chris run the Edge, a vintage diner in Shrewsbury.
(Michele Mcdonald for The Boston Globe)
SHORT ORDERS
Their diner is rooted in the past
Owner David Kupstas (left) and his brother Chris run the Edge, a vintage diner in Shrewsbury.
(Michele Mcdonald for The Boston Globe)
The nostalgia begins even before you walk into the Edge, a 1940s diner complete with chrome trim on Route 20 in Shrewsbury. Inside, worn red leather stools and Formica countertops take you back to another era. But you won’t find sassy waitresses yelling orders in diner talk. Instead, owner David Kupstas is dishing out hot dogs ($1.75 to $3.50) and hamburgers ($3.25 to $5.25); homemade pineapple and jalapeno relish, perhaps chili topping. French fries come plain or smothered in cheese sauce ($3 to $4.75).
To wash it down, Kupstas, 37, and his brother, Chris, 40, have crafted their own root beer served in a frosty mug right from the keg (12 ounces for $2.25) or by the bottle, labeled the Edge Olde No. 43 (12 ounces for $2.50). It took them 43 batches — hence the name — to settle on the root beer formula they produce. “We wanted it to taste like the root beer my grandmother used to make,’’ says David, who bought the business, once called the Edgemere Diner, in 2007. He had been a financial planner at Fidelity and passed it daily. The hours are tough. He works 13-hour days but considers it the best job he’s ever had. “Every Friday night a father and his 3 1/2-year-old son are in sharing a root beer float. It makes me happy.’’ The Edge, 51 Hartford Turnpike, Route 20, Shrewsbury, 508-579-9748, edgedogs@yahoo.com.
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