This article comes from the Charlton Villager by way of Brian Goslow
Andy Pinto is looking to curry favor with potential customers at his new Indian-flavored restaurant. The 30-year-old Pinto, of Charlton, plans to serve, among other dishes, Indian food, when he reopens the old Yankee Diner on Route 20 in town soon.
The diner, under previous ownership, went out of business about two years ago. While an opening day has not yet been scheduled, Pinto said he hopes to have the dilapidated building, which he is now renovating, open by September. While it was previously known as the Yankee Diner, Pinto plans to call it “Andy’s Yankee Diner.”
The diner will be open Tuesday-Sunday from 5:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. It will be closed Mondays.
Pinto, who hails from India, plans to serve a standard breakfast and lunch menu, but also special Indian dishes, including rice pancakes with curry. “They go really well with curry,” he said. “I want to keep the staple food because that is what I know people will be looking for.”
The menu will also include standard American fare such as bacon and eggs, Pinto said. Pinto’s mission is to revive the diner’s previously rich history, while mixing in the Indian culture he grew up with.
“I am really attached to history. This place has a lot of history,” Pinto said. The diner first opened in 1947, the year India gained its independence from the British Rule, according to Pinto. Carpenter Hill Road resident Robert Brogna had owned the business since the early sixties until he sold it to Christopher and Deborah Downey several years ago, he said.
The building, which resembles a train car, was built in Worcester in 1934, before it was moved to North Attleboro for several years, according to a 2003 newspaper article about the diner. It eventually was moved to Oxford. Brogna bought it and moved the business and building from there to the Route 20 site in Charlton and ran it with his wife, Phyllis,who has since passed away. “We started a diner on a shoestring. We didn’t have much money,” Brogna said by telephone Monday. “It was down to earth old fashion Yankee. Somebody [was] always looking for a second cup of coffee. We had 32 good years there.”
The diner even received national attention when photographs of it were featured at the Smithsonian Institution museum in Washington D.C., according to Brogna.
Pinto said he wants to customers to enjoy new history through a welcoming environment, much like he experienced growing up in India. In that country, he said, visitors are always offered water, coffee or tea when they walk in the door. “Food is never taken for granted,” he said.
Pinto also said he wants the new diner to benefit the town in other ways. He plans to hire four or five employees from the area. “I want to keep it all local,” he said. Toward that goal, Pinto said he is also looking to buy food from local growers. “It is better off you support your own town than big companies,” he said.
Pinto is confident his idea will work, based on the many times people have asked him whether he would serve Indian food. Part of the coziness Pinto aims to create comes from his personality. “I’m a people person,” he said. “I want to be able to communicate with people who come in here.”
Behind Pinto’s goal is his culinary background, for which he received a degree in India. Pinto has opened several restaurants during his career, including one called “Udupibhavan” in Framingham five years ago. The building, which had fallen into disrepair, still needs to be rehabilitated before it can open for business. Pinto, who has also worked as a carpenter, is currently renovating the building. New vestibules were just installed as well as a new grill. Much work remains to be done, including renovating the floor.
A new retail store development had been planned for the site, but property owner Steven Greene put his plans on hold when the economic turned south, according to Town Planner Alan I. Gordon. “He is just sitting on it right now,” Gordon said. The new diner falls in line with what the Town’s Master Plan calls for. It envisions Charlton having a range of business that employ people and are convenient. “…Route 20 has been identified as well-suited to increased commercial growth,” it reads. “As more cars flow through Charlton on Route 20, this area will be well-suited for additional retail development.”
If all goes well, as Pinto is counting on, he will have no trouble attracting business. “If the food is good, the people will be here,” he said.
Ryan Grannan-Doll can be reached by phone at (508) 909-4050, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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