Featured Diner

O'Rourke's Diner
728 Main Street
Middletown, Connecticut
860-346-6101

Meriden and Middletown form a curious culinary axis as the home of something called the steamed cheeseburger. In nowhere else in the country will you find this culinary curiousity, and O'Rourke's Diner serves one of the best examples. Yet, despite this particular distinction, Brian O'Rourke has managed to make his diner known today for much, much more than this simple but sublime little sandwich. His love of cooking and creative nature has made O'Rourke's one of the finest diners in the country. John Baeder describes it as the best and cites the accolades from articles in Gourmet magazine, the New York Times, and just about every local newspaper and relevant periodical.

O'Rourke practically grew up in the diner, starting at age ten as a gopher for his uncle John O'Rourke, well-loved and remembered as the man who brought this 1946 Mountain View to town. The brand new diner replaced an older model, but continued the location's diner history that had begun in the 1920s if not before. O'Rourke's may likely be the oldest Mountain View still viable, a pedigree easily identified thanks to the rounded, glass-block corners that rest upon the company's trademark “cow-catcher” corners.

Brian eventually grew to fill his Uncle's shoes, and eventually built upon the diner's solid reputation with some amazing culinary feats of his own. Though long known for the good sandwiches and hearty breakfasts, as well as that cheeseburger, Brian's curiousity and drive would take his kitchen into areas rarely seen in any diners anywhere up until that time.

The building remained mostly intact until the 1980s when Brian built a sympathetically designed addition that allowed for a slightly larger dining area and kitchen. Today, the relatively small restaurant features an L-shaped dining area that wraps around a new galley kitchen where customers can watch the master work his magic. While a few purists have lamented about O'Rourke's alterations to the diner's interior, the expanded capabilities have allowed him to introduce many welcome changes to his menu.

As late as 1980, when the authors of Diners of the Northeast paid a visit, O'Rourke served a fairly spartan menu. The book describes a menu without soups or platters, only sandwiches and omelets. Customers today would likely read that passage in complete disbelief, particularly as they eat their blackened yellow fin tuna steak with rice, pesto, and cole slaw or sip on their crock of sweet potato soup with greens. Today's O'Rourke's has established itself as a trendsetter in diner cuisine and has won just about every “Best Of”award in every relevant category.

O'Rourke's no longer keeps a 24-hour operation, but he opens at four-thirty in the morning, earlier than most breakfast-and-lunch diners. By that time, Brian has already spent two hours finishing most of the day's baking and has likely begun to prepare a pot of soup on for the day's lunch special. In the early 1990s, Brian added an array of fresh baked goods to the menu, including muffins of many varieties and several breads, with the lemon poppyseed standing out as a real favorite.

Though the diner may have originally made its mark with the steamed cheeseburger, O'Rourke's today truly shines on the weekends when Brian, in deference to the changing dining habits of his local market, serves an absolutely outstanding brunch menu. Visitors are handed a menu with three typed pages of specials, featuring everything from the classic eggs and homemade hash to a creatively garnished omelet of some type. Thanks to recent trips to New Orleans, Brian has transformed the diner into a spice-lovers haven. His gumbo would satisfy even the most ardent aficionado of Cajun cooking. Brian kicks this place up notches Emeril wouldn't dare try.

This high degree of experimentation and free-association that mixes some of the traditional fare with the latest and greatest in food trends often results in some amazing meals, though it also produces the occasional dud. Every visit means a suprise of some sort, but at the same time there's no guarantee you'll find it on the menu upon future visits. On the other hand, it is perfectly consistent with Brian's nature to make it for you anyway.

Despite all these vaunted culinary aspirations and achievements, O'Rourke's remains a true diner, through and through. This is because, at the end of the day, when the tables get bussed, and the waitresses count their tips, and the floor gets washed O'Rourke's Diner has spent another day cultivating that precious connection to the community. No one knows better than Brian O'Rourke of the importance of this, and thanks to his gregarious nature, this diner has inspired chapters of truly colorful diner lore. Friends and casual customers can usually count on Brian for a good story, much like one might expect from any true Irishman, and eventually hear a heart-felt yarn not likely to ever be heard in a place like Wendy's or Dunkin' Donuts. What truly separates the chain from the diner is the narrative inspired from the thousands of conversations and handshakes that take place over the marble counters of places such as these.

Long after Brian turns out the lights at the end of the day, people repeat the stories as well as their impressions of the excellent meals they recently had, and these tales serve to establish the very identity of the town.

Brian's pace has slowed a little in recent years as he contends with general aging and other health issues. No longer will you likely hear Brian talk of reopening for regular dinners. He no longer entertains ambitious suggestions of building another addition. And he will quickly advise anyone with any notions of following in his footsteps to get their head examined.

Yet a morning spent in one of the country's friendliest diners, observing waves of grateful customers seeking to shake the hand of the guy responsible for the amazing meal can only evoke consideration of the possibility. In such an atmosphere, it's easy to forget all the hard work behind the accolades, the long hours and the toll it often takes on one's mental and physical health.

People like Brian O'Rourke don't come along too often these days. Those who share his abilities typically seek their fortunes in larger, more high-profile restaurants, if they even enter this business at all. Though his abilities and accomplishments are very real and hopefully appreciated, Brian also represents a connection of sorts to the best of our past and a potentially great future if only we manage to keep our priorities straight. His presence behind that counter proves the important roll played by the small, locally-run diner, and what we stand to lose should it close and get trucked away.