New photos: Broad Street Diner, Philadelphia

Published on Sunday, 29 January 2012 17:00

Written by Randy Garbin

My first exploration of Philadelphia occurred well over twenty years ago, and the Broad Street Diner was one of the first diners I personally documented. However, for whatever reason, it became just last week the last one I finally visited. Sadly, I got in there after Michael Petrogiannis completed his renovations to the diner.

Mainstream America might appreciate all the modern touches, but I know from peering inside during the three years it remained shuttered that this mid-​1960s Fodero still had most of its original features. “Could be worse, I suppose” is the new mantra of those such as myself who fully appreciate diners as perfect food service structures. A good cleaning would have been enough, in my estimation, but so be it.

Petrogiannis also owns the Mayfair, Melrose, Country Club, Tiffany, and Warminster West diners in and around the city making him the undisputed diner king of the Delaware Valley. I can fault him for his aethetic sensibilities and his needless changes to iconic diners, but can’t find much fault in the food or service, not for diners of this scale in this region.