New Hartford Diner

New Hartford Diner opened in early May, in Marandino’s Plaza in the area that was once Athena’s.  I have eaten there three times since then, and can say without reservation, that the food is fantastic and the service is great!

Dwinal was surprised to find that he knew our waitress (and one of the owners) from another diner that he used to visit before he retired.  She is very pleasant and we found all of the wait staff eager to please.

The atmosphere is bright an airy, with attractive prints that hang on the wall.  They have tables and booth’s so you can (during the week anyway) choose what you prefer.

One of the things that I really like about them, is that they serve iced tea, unsweetened, with just lemon.  I am not a “sweet tea” fan so I usually pass if that’s my only choice.  New Hartford Diner’s Iced Tea is delicious.

We did get an opportunity to have breakfast there in May with some guests from Maine.  Coffee was poured as soon as we came in, and kept full during our visit.  I had blueberry pancakes with sausage.  I took a picture with my cell phone, but the picture did not do the pancakes justice, and I’ll not post it.  There were two huge pancakes, filled with plump blueberries, and every bite was heaven.  The sausage was perfectly cooked and delicious.  The rest of our party had varying egg dishes, and everyone came away happy, and willing to return.

Yesterday (on the 12th) I had lunch with a long-time (since childhood) friend, Jill Vigue.  We each had their Turkey Club, which I consider my real test of a good real diner.  If diners have anything to live up to, it’s the old stainless steel diners that many of us older folks grew up with.  If the turkey in that club is real, and isn’t the deli lunchmeat variety, I am a fan.  It IS a real diner.   I was NOT disappointed!  It was served with cole slaw and fries.  Not only was the turkey real, but the bacon had a wonderful smoked taste, and the cole slaw was to die for!  I loved the fries as well, but as that is one of those “Oh, my God I can’t eat all of that” (a common Turkey Club meal problem for me),  some of those may have been left.

Today it was the 13th, and hubby and I went to visit his sister, then stopped to pick up a Fathers’ Day present for my Dad.  We were coming home hungry at a little after 1:00 p.m., and decided to stop for lunch.

Hubby is one of those “breakfast all day” fans, so he had a Mexican Omlette, with Home Fries, and toast.  It has meat, peppers, onions, tomatoes, tons of cheese, and is covered with salsa.  Can you say “HUGE?”    There may have been a couple of potatoes left at the end (which I sampled and found to be really tasty home fries, well spiced, and not like those fried up pre-packaged shredded potatoes), but that’s all he left.

Since I had a Turkey Club Yesterday, I ordered one of the daily specials, a Hot Sausage, Mushroom, Tomato and Cheddar Quiche, which came with a salad.  The salad had fresh, perfectly crisp greens, red cabbage, onion and grape tomatoes.  It was delicious.

My main course was the Quiche, which in addition to being very flavorful, was poured into a real homestyle pie crust that was amazing.      Oops – I took a bite first.

The diner is open from 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  The food is great, breakfast is served all day, just like it was in those stainless steel diners, and you’ll always find friendly staff eager to make you happy.

Update:  Get the Eggs Benedict.  Took the Grandkids this morning.   If you haven’t had them, they’re poached eggs, served on a english muffin with a slice of canadian bacon, covered with Hollandaise Sauce.  The eggs were perfectly poached.  The Hollandaise Sauce was really the best I’ve had in a very long time.  The texture was velvety smooth and the flavor was amazing, wonderfully buttery with just a hint of tartness.  This is a real winner.