‘Lost Diners’ found again in new book Writer reminisces about New England, New York eateries’ fine food, poignant past

LOST DINERS AND ROADSIDE RESTAURANTS OF NEW ENGLAND AND NEW YORK, by Will Anderson, Anderson & Sons’ Publishing Co., 34 Park St., Bath 04530, telephone 442-7459, 2001, 184 pages, $24.95.

Oh, what foods these morsels be! Piping-hot diner food, that is. Nothing pleases the palate quite like a steaming plate of glorious grease.

Accompanied by family and friends, I must have sampled every eatery within 100 miles of Bangor. We’ve journeyed to Eastport for lobster rolls and onion rings, and north to Greenville for a cheeseburger deluxe. Relaxing weekend jaunts enrich the soul, and allow for guilt-free chef’s salads made at home during the week.

My dad, a frequent traveling companion, dined for 75 cents at some of Bangor’s downtown eateries. During the Depression he frequented the Adams House, the Brass Rail, Brountas, the Atlantic Sea Grill, the Pine Tree and Astoria cafeteria. Every visit has a story attached, such as the day two fishing cronies stumbled into Oscar’s Restaurant on Washington Street with an odd breakfast request. The cook leapt from the kitchen and bellowed, “Which one of you clowns ordered fried clams at 5:30 in the morning?”

Most classic diners and drive-ins have vanished from the landscape. Happily, though, a kindred spirit is preserving memories of 10-cent coffee and roller-skating carhops. Will Anderson’s latest book bulges with vintage postcard views and other ephemera, proving the Bath author’s penchant for the diner mystique and his knack for publishing books (this is his 17th title, the seventh devoted solely to roadside Americana) without recycling previous material.

I love Anderson’s breezy anecdotes about the more than 100 diners and drive-ins he visits. In most cases, such as Wright’s Grill in Brattleboro, Vt., once renowned for its sinful 39-cent “Elephant’s Delight” ice cream sundae, he unearths only memories. Where Wright’s once served “flash-cooked doughnuts” (partially cooked, set aside, then finished cooking just before serving), today sits a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Where Antonio Donati’s Times Square Diner dished out corned beef and ham in Pawtucket, R.I., there is now a vacant lot, a victim of downtown demolition. The Pawtucket Times, the diner’s namesake and chief patron, still publishes in the block next door.

Some hearty souls still sling the beef at funky restaurants. Brunswick’s Fat Boy and Stick to Your Ribs Bar-B-Q drive-ins still do a brisk business; so does the restored Lakeview Diner in Geneva, N.Y., where owner Patti Guererri says she treasures people, food and old diners.

Most of the old advertisements and postcards are culled from Anderson’s own collection; others were lent by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, historical societies and private collectors. Highlighted is the former Bon Ton Restaurant in Lincoln, where John Goode (“five feet wide and six feet tall”) served food and drink; and the U-Wanta Lunch, a Route 1 favorite in Monticello. Also included are Carmel’s Auto Rest Park – my father, Ward Shaw, interviewed by Anderson, played lead trumpet there with Perley Reynolds’ orchestra in the ’30s – and Dowe’s Diner in South China. Moody’s, located in Waldoboro, is absent, probably because Anderson covered the Route 1 diner in past books.

Interstates, hamburger chains and a postwar automobile glut, luring hungry consumers beyond hometown eateries, drove a stake through the heart of roadside diners. They live in our memories, though, and in the glossy pages of Anderson’s books. As with his other works, the latest is cleverly written and simply designed. Maps help orient the reader to unfamiliar towns such as Stafford Springs, Conn., and Chocurua, N.H., once home to roadside snack spots. And he slips in just enough history to entice readers, such as the fact that the diner concept was invented in Providence, R.I., in 1872, after a local man named Walter Scott converted a horse-drawn freight wagon into a lunch wagon and began serving boiled eggs, homemade sandwiches, pies and coffee to late-night visitors.

Readers may want to avoid perusing the book on an empty stomach. Visions of hand-cut french fries and chocolate cream pie are likely to inspire them to drive their families far from home in search of good old diner cooking.