Diner fare: Hard work, nostalgia, and a side of really good fries

It's community and atmosphere and regulars. It's historic character and comfortable booths and french fries. And, oh yeah, long hours. Really long, brutal hours.

Ask anyone what makes a diner a diner. You'll hear about the food, the building, and the history. But for all the enthusiasm, for all the nostalgia, diners are disappearing because they are so tough to run.

That's a problem Shrewsbury officials have wrestled with for 20 years. The town acquired the Edgemere Diner, a streamlined classic on Route 20, in 1987 because the owners stopped paying property taxes. After years of renting it out on short-term leases, two years at a time to start, the town decided this summer to offer a better deal. It tried to sell the diner car, made in 1948 by the Fodero Dining Car Co. of New Jersey, with a 20-year lease of the land in order to give a new proprietor incentive to invest in the business and make improvements. But no one wanted to take it on.

So the town restructured the deal. Finally, last week, three bidders put in offers.

The highest bid, from Linda Robinson and Tina Zannino, who both work at a Shrewsbury restaurant, will probably be disqualified because the bidders did not follow instructions, according to Town Manager Dan Morgado. They provided an unsigned personal check as their bid bond, he said, but personal checks are not allowed.

That leaves David Kupstas as the highest bidder. He is offering $5,000 for the diner and just over $1,500 for the monthly lease of the land, said Morgado, who was planning to meet with him this week to talk about his financial backing and business plan. "He indicated he had experience in the food service area," said Morgado. Kupstas could not be reached for comment.

If talks go well with Kupstas, he could be awarded the bid this week, said Morgado.

"We're pleased that we're about to get that property back into productive use," said Morgado.

The other bid came from Richard Bolt, a Marlborough resident who works in telecommunications. Bolt said he didn't want to say much about his plans until he sees whether he wins the bid. Still, why bid on such a risky venture?

"Because I've always wanted a little place like that to open up," Bolt said. "I've been inside it. It's kind of a homey atmosphere. It needs some tender loving care, because it hasn't been kept up." He is offering $5,900 for the diner car and $1,100 for the land lease, said Morgado. Kupstas is considered the high bidder because the monthly lease will be paid for years, whereas the diner car purchase is one time only, said Morgado.

The real work, of course, comes after a bid is awarded.

"The hours are killer," said Daryl Levy, who with her husband, Don, runs the always-bustling Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown. "You're always on call."

The couple work seven days a week. Their daughter and three sons help out. Having family members around to help at the diner is an asset that seems to boost some of the more successful diners around.

The Levys also emphasized the importance of their menu, which reflects the traditional fare that customers crave as well as new trends they may want. There's meatloaf, naturally, and several burger styles, but the diner also offers tofu loaf and a warm goat cheese and spinach salad.

"Food is all-important," said Daryl Levy. "We don't want anything to be boring and tired. And maybe a lot of times that's what happens even to diners - they get sleepy and greasy and uninteresting."

Established in 1947, the diner was reopened by the Levys in 2000.

"We do it because we love it," said Don Levy.

In more practical terms, Levy said you need about $1 million to open a diner and at least 75 to 80 seats to make it as a going concern.

The Edgemere seats about 40.

People who are successful in running a diner tend to have restaurant experience and an appreciation for what a diner is, according to Randy Garbin, who runs roadsideonline.com. His website chronicles the ups and downs of the industry: fires, closures, renovations.

The Edgemere is in a good location on Route 20, but has deteriorated since the town took ownership, said Garbin. The biggest challenge, though, is that it's becoming more difficult to find anyone who wants to take on such a risky business, he said.

"Restaurant codes and regulations governing restaurants are onerous at best," he said. "This is an extremely, extremely difficult business to operate in, and especially with a small diner such as that one."

Robert "Red" Ljunggren has good memories of the Edgemere. A Shrewsbury native, he has spent his whole life either across the street or down the road from the diner.

"As a kid, I was always down there," said Ljunggren, 68. "I used to peel the potatoes with a machine and wash pots and pans."

That was in the late 1940s. A little later, in the '50s, he would bring his girlfriends to the diner on dates. His favorite order was "Beat the House," a plate full of eggs, sausage, and home fries. A few years later, he and his wife would go there with other young couples after a night out.

"Everybody ended up at the Edgemere Diner," he said. "I'd like to see it thrive down there. It's a good place to walk down and have my coffee and eggs."

The Fodero Dining Car Co. was known for its stainless steel exteriors and Art Deco style, according to Linda Davis, curator for the Shrewsbury Historical Society.

She said the leases offered by the town were too short, giving operators only enough time to get the business up and running just as the lease would run out. It's been vacant more than two years, she said, and although the interior is in decent shape, the exterior has been weathered and needs work.

The town asked for a minimum bid of $5,000 to buy the diner car and a minimum of $1,000 monthly to lease the land. Owners would need special permission from the Board of Selectmen to relocate the diner car.

Davis said she hopes the diner stays where it is, because the town has lost too many historically significant buildings.

"I'd hate to see the Edgemere go," she said. "This is one of the last little hopes that we have."

The town is trying to avoid the fate of a beloved Milford diner. Ted's Diner was run by Anthony and Jeanne Trotta for 35 years, then sold in the early 1980s. The town eventually acquired it, but it was vandalized so badly that officials had it demolished in 2002.

The Trottas' daughter, Kathy D'Alessandro, who still lives in Milford, remembers her parents working six days a week. Her father was there at 5:15 a.m. and usually didn't get home until after 8 p.m. She and her sister helped out sometimes, and her brother worked there regularly.

"It is not a business I would recommend to anybody, only because it can break your heart," said D'Alessandro. "My mom and dad were the lucky ones."

D'Alessandro said her father had the personality and a flair for the business that she believes were key to the diner's popularity.

She remembers him behind the counter, sliding plates or bottles down the bar with uncanny precision.

"I know you won't believe me," she said. "If someone was sitting five or six or seven stools down, he would take the bottle of milk and spin it down and it would land right in front of the customer."

He was part artist and part diplomat, she said. He never gossiped, so customers knew they could tell a secret there and it wouldn't leave the diner.

Places like Ted's Diner, where stories and memories are created, are much harder to find these days, said D'Alessandro. "Those are so much more than a place where you go and eat," she said. "They really are part of your life experience."

There's no shortage of advice for whoever takes over the Edgemere.

Patrick Casey, manager of Casey's Diner in Natick, is a member of the fourth generation of his family to work at the diner. He, his aunt, and his father, Fred Casey, the owner, work long hours, but he downplayed his schedule, which is 13 days on, two off.

His family takes the history seriously. The diner was built by the Worcester Lunch Car Co. in 1922, said Casey, and upkeep can be a challenge. Even the coffeemaker dates to 1922, and the family recently found a replacement five-gallon coffee urn with a glass liner just in case something happens to the original one. The spare urn, which is now being restored, was discovered in a New York antiques store; it was used as a prop in the movie "Cider House Rules," said Casey.

The real key to success, he said, is finding a niche and sticking to it. For Casey's, that means hot dogs.

"I think the secret to our success is consistency, keeping it simple," said Casey, 36, who has been working at the diner for 22 years. "Pick something that's fairly narrow and do it as well as you can, and be there all the time."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.