Behind the counter of the Miss Cranston Diner, manager Rosa Diarbian is all smiles.
It has been 10 months since the old diner went up in a conflagration that was devastating to its neighborhood …
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Behind the counter of the Miss Cranston Diner, manager Rosa Diarbian is all smiles.
It has been 10 months since the old diner went up in a conflagration that was devastating to its neighborhood and patrons alike.
But like the phoenix rising, the eatery, owned for the past eight years by Diarbian’s father, Levon Tovmasian, is back and determined to outdo itself in every way. It takes more than a fire to rip out the heart of a community.
The diner has deep roots and has changed hands, and locations, a number of times. Its essence is to offer the purest comfort food – breakfast until closing, along with burgers, Philly cheese steaks, pasta, gyros, meatloaf and fried chicken. Friday is always fish and chips day, with salmon and scallops thrown in for good measure.
“The menu doesn’t change much,” Diarbian said. “All the regulars are happy.”
Chief among the cheerleaders is Joe Rogers, who has a history of following wherever the Miss Cranston moves.
On a recent frigid Saturday, he has followed along to its grand new space at 1150 Oaklawn Ave. in Cranston, not far north of its old location, which still boarded up from the fire in March 2014.
He has brought his brother Mike and their friend Bill Ryan, and they are having eggs, hash, coffee, fruit cup and mountains of toast. They are smiling.
“I was super-excited,” said Joe Rogers, speaking of diner’s former location. He had just settled into his new place, a block away. “I was so close, and then a week to the day it burned down.”
What’s a true fan of the Miss Cranston flavor and 70-year-old mystique to do?
Rogers moved within a stone’s throw of the reborn diner, more beautifully appointed and far roomier inside that it appears from the roadway. Unlike the old place, it does not lack for parking space.
Despite a wind that cuts like a table saw, the place is packed with families, couples and seniors. Besides the main room there’s a room to the side and another behind that, outfitted with tables and booths.
The Crudales are longtime regulars who are delighted to be back. Marion, her husband, Alfred, and their son Jean make it a practice of meeting for lunch, as they are today.
“Everyone was waiting and waiting for it to reopen,” Marion said. “Now it has, and it’s so beautiful.”
As a waitress stops by to offer a refill on coffee, she adds, “Good service and good food.”
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung took part in a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the new location on Wednesday.
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