Archives: Diner Days

When an eatery is named Ball Park Restaurant, diners might expect to find its menu filled with frankfurters. Yet at the Ball Park Restaurant of Street, Maryland, cream of crab soup hits the home run, and gourmet desserts give new meaning to the term “batter up!” If the Ball Park Restaurant isn’t a culinary shrine to peanuts and Cracker Jack, how did the eatery earn its name?

“There used to be a baseball diamond behind the restaurant,” says waitress Donna Burk.

During the late 1940s, food vendor Kenneth Montgomery opened a small hot dog stand near the ball  eld. He fed hungry players and spectators, and soon expanded his business. Montgomery operated the eatery until 1981. After that, the establishment changed hands a few times before Joyce “Joy” Frederick took over in 1989.

“When my mom bought the place it was called ‘Waddell’s Ball Park Restaurant,’” says Joe Weiman—cook, manager, and owner’s son. “We dropped the ‘Waddell’s ’and have since expanded the restaurant  four times.”

At first glance, Schmucker’s Restaurant of Toledo doesn’t appear to harbor any connection to space. But take a closer look and links become clear: Everything about Schmucker’s is out of this world.

There’s a restaurant sign—a funky red number lit in pink and lime green—somehow resembles an Apollo space capsule plunging to earth. And then there are the silver saucers. So many of the shiny discs have landed in the area that Schmucker’s could be in a scene from special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen’s 1965 film Earth vs. the Flying Saucer. That is, if those little dates weren’t all filled with pies.

“We’re known for our pies,” says Doug Schmucker. “In all, we make upwards of fifty different varieties.”

Yes, Schmucker’s does hail from a galaxy far, far away—and that universe was called the 1940s. The year was 1948 and Doug’s grandparents, Harvey and Nola, decided the moon was made of ice cream:  They built a dairy bar on a rural stretch of road in Adams Township—a lonely little slice of US Highway 20—and set out to serve treats to travelers. Nola baked her pies at home and delivered them to the dairy bar in time for the lunchtime rush. Son Allen traveled through the streets peddling his tricycle and toting a freezer filled with goodies for sale.

The hard work paid off. As business increased, the eatery’s name changed to Schmucker’s Restaurant, and a full menu of made-from-scratch meals joined the popular pies.

Classic, compact, and colorful, the Band Box Diner stands out among the historic brownstone buildings in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Elliot Park. Colorful…not just because the building’s candy-striped exterior catches the eye. The charming business claims a storied past. Its history includes tales of underworld king Isadore “Kid Cann” Blumenfeld—the man FBI agents once called “ The Overlord of Minneapolis.”

The Band Box survives as the last of fourteen identical units that once graced area streets. Harry and Bert Weisman founded the franchise in 1939, hiring the Butler Manufacturing Company to fabricate petite box-like buildings that could serve fast and inexpensive food. The name Band Box was selected because during the 1930s and 1940s men put their collars and cuffs in a small box—a bandbox—when they took their shirts to the cleaners.

“They wanted a name that would say this place was clean and special and small,”says current owner Brad Ptacek.

If you’ve ever caught an episode of Seinfeld, you’ve probably noticed the outside shot of Monk’s Café, the neighborhood eatery where Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer go to nosh. What you probably haven’t noticed is that, each time the shot of the restaurant’s red-neon sign hits the screen for a few seconds, there’s a streetlight conveniently blocking out the name before “Restaurant.”

That’s because the place isn’t Monk’s at all. It’s called Tom’s. And while Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t eat there, you can.

“The real one isn’t cute and isn’t atmospheric. It’s just plain, which is why I liked it.” Guess who said that? Vocalist Suzanne Vega, who in 1990 had a hit with a song called “Tom’s Diner.” She was a regular.

The Roadside Diner in Wall, New Jersey, is one of the most beautiful diners in the state, with distinctive res railroad-car-style roof, yellow awnings and trim, and immaculate Silk City Interior.

The diner can be seen in John Sayles’ 1983 movie Baby It’s You. The booths and counter of the eatery’s classic interior appear on the cover of Bon Jovi’s 1994 album Cross Road: 14 Classic Grooves.

Oh yeah, and there’s a dinosaur outside…

In 1910 confectioner Ammon E. Cramer registered Barbara Fritchie Chocolates with the US Patent Office and began manufacturing candy in downtown Frederick. His sweet shoppe prospered, and in 1960 the Cramer family opened the Barbara Fritchie Restaurant along US Highway 40, staking a claim to roadside fame with a twenty-five-foot candy cane.

While Cramer’s original candy factory is long gone, that tremendous red-and-white-ringed sweet soldiers on at the Barbara Fritchie Restaurant, a beautiful throwback to the days of comfort food and comfortable eateries.