In June of 2013 I had lunch with Lynn Dempsey and Daryl Klusendorf at Oscar’s Family Restaurant, a quaint little country-styled diner serving comfort food on Farmington Road. It was a fun and lively lunch and we had some really good food and I made a mental note to go back again sometime down the road. Well, before I had a chance to go mental and get down that road again, Oscar’s closed. I was bummed about that because I hate to see local joints close, especially a diner, because there’s not too many of them left around here. Well a few weeks ago I was driving down Farmington Road and saw that Oscar’s has reopened under the new name of the Farmington Road Diner. I invited Doug Fouts, who’s a previous luncheon guest here at MBIP and veteran luncheon guest star, Steve Tarter so let’s go hit the road and check out the Farmington Road Diner.
We are off and running on a grey winter day with snow covering the off road terrain. Snow? Winter? When did all this happen? And I don't think I made this clear enough last year...I fucking HATE winter! Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's just roll on down the road to...
The Farmington Road Diner. The place looks about the same from the outside as when it was Oscar's.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served here, but you better be a fan of eating dinner early because...
They close at 2PM every day. These hours are the true sign of a genuine country-styled diner, nice to see that for a change! And I think the Sunday-Thursday timeline might just be a typo. I'll try and find out when we get inside.
And to get inside we must go through this door, so let's enter this door of perception in true Aldous Huxley manner.
The place hasn't changed much from from when we were here in the old Oscar days and that's a good thing. Lots of old school charm in here.
There's a front counter up here for the solo eater to dine at, which is where I would normally sit, but we have guests invited today, so we'll be sitting elsewhere in the Farmington Road Diner.
Dining tables are lined up in the middle of the room behind the front counter.
There's more tables up here against the wall and underneath the windows is a sign declaring the place is open seven days a week. I told you that sign in the front outer window had a typo going on. Nyah, nyah nyah nyah, nyah!
Here's some of the Daily Breakfast Specials, lots of good eating here and all for under six bucks a meal, such a deal!
There's padded booths lining the far wall over here...hey, wait a second...I think I spy a familiar face over there...
It's Juan who we met at Sugar on our second week of the MBIP Year of Pizza Tour! he's having lunch with his two sons in here. Great to see him again!
More booths line this outer wall over here...and I think I spy our first luncheon guest sitting down there at the far booth in the corner...
It's Doug Fouts who's the Director of Marketing Strategy for Alpha Media and Doug was the founding creator of the company, Xapsis which is now owned by Alpha Media. It's always good to see Doug and lively conversation is guaranteed with this man. Our other luncheon guest, PJ Star business editor, Steve Tarter had told me that he'd be a little late as he had an interview for a story downtown so...
We decided to order and let Steve eat a slice of lemon when he got here. That's what happens when you're late for an MBIP luncheon! It's just the rules.
And here to take our order is Carrie and Farmington Road Diner owner, Mike. Really nice people and they said the place here has been open for over a half a year and business has been steady which is good to hear. Love to see a local diner stay in business. It beats the hell out of seeing a Starfucks going up in this location!
Before lunch arrives Carrie presented us this quintet of condiments including ketchup, mustard, A1 Sauce, ranch dressing and Thousand Island dressing. Not a Frank's Red Hot Sauce bottle in sight, oh what a glorious day!
And lunch has arrived! Doug got the Philly Cheese Steak which is hard to see as it's partially hidden by the mountain of fries that comes with the lunch.
I got the Patty Melt and an order of the onion rings. It looks and smells fantastic!
The Patty Melt sandwich was so good! Toasty buttered rye bread, melted cheese, grilled onions, savory beef and I topped it off with a dollop of A1 sauce. Really tasty!
And the onion rings were an unexpected delight. They weren't actually rings, but homemade onion pieces deep fried in a light batter to a crispy and golden salted delight.
And in true, "better late than never" fashion, here's Steve Tarter!
And then there were three! Doug and I pose for this shot as Steve stares at his lemon slice and repeats this mantra: "I'll never be late for an MBIP lunch again...when life hands you lemons...life sucks a little!" We had a great lunch and lively conversation with topics including the internet, blogging, social media, porn and masturbation. And yes it was me that brought porn and masturbation into the mix. Hey, it's what I do!
After lunch, Doug took off for a meeting and Steve took a photo of the place for a Dining Out review coming up in the PJ Star, stay tuned for that! Thanks to Carrie and Steve at the Farmington Road Diner for a wonderful lunch and to Steve and Doug for hanging out with me. We'll see you all tomorrow!
Farmington Road Diner
3118 Farmington Rd
Peoria
309-839-1737
Related posts: Lunch With...Erik Reader @ Panaderia Ortiz Bakery, Matt Buedel At El Zarape and Chip Joyce at Apple’s Bakery.
I am sitting,
In the morning,
At the diner,
On the corner...
Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
P.S. Special Holiday Rock Shows at Younger Than Yesterday!
As you all know, I’m not a big fan of the Black Friday madness, but there is one local Black Friday event worth checking out and going to, it’s a weekend worth of live music at Younger Than Yesterday and it’s all free of charge. Check out the details here. I’m going on Saturday to see The Black Roses and there’s a special surprise happening Sunday at 4PM. Be there or be L7, baby!
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Bonus Lemonhead Photo From Jaws the Cabbie!
Jaws the Cabbie sent in this real-life Lemonhead photo to accompany his comment. Ha! Thanks, Jaws!
