Weekly Eater: O'Rourke's Diner

Is O’s Middletown’s Best Restaurant? You say diner, I say dinner!

Old-timers, those from before The Fire, from before Brian took over, before steamed-cheeseburger meant anything to anyone, remember a different diner on the corner of Main and Hartford Ave. In some ways I kind of miss it. The vinyl booths, the formica table-tops, the juke box at every table, the fact that it was open all night, every night, the joys of a steamed cheese sandwich with onions and mustard accompanied by chocolate milk – you have to be in the ah ..right frame of mind for that delicacy – and all the very strange Fellini-esque characters that belong to a diner, to a diner in Middletown with its two hills and two institutions. But, as Roseanne Roseannadanna, said, “Don’t get me started!”

Everyone knows or thinks they know about the great breakfasts and lunches at O’Rourkes, and if you really want to get into it just Google “O’Rourkes” and join the fracas. I am going to leave that part of the day to people who have experience with it. I do not eat breakfast, or lunch, so I have an inordinate interest in dinner and was looking forward to it last Saturday. We drove by cautiously to see if there would be a line waiting like we noticed at breakfast time. Realizing that not only was there no line but there was parking immediately in front of the diner, we quickly pulled ourselves together and bought wine and beer at Metro-Spirits. One great attraction of O’Rourkes at dinner is the fact that it is BYO. I can’t tell you how sweet those three letters are to a certifiable cheap wine snob. (You’ll figure out where to put the emphasis by the end of this review.) We waited five minutes while the waitress cleared and cleaned a table. During the wait I perfected my Texas Hold-em techniques with the help of a 700 page tome by Daniel Negreanu I pulled from the bookcase by the door which, I’m sure, will more than pay for another meal.

We had splurged on a 750 ml bottle of Duvel, a superb Belgian golden ale, and it took the waitress a while to track down our glasses. We were pleasantly surprised when she produced chilled beer steins. That was a treat! I wish I could say the same about the cheap, clunky, totally inadequate, miniscule, wine glasses we had later. The menu was simple with three choices (you can also order from the tempting last two pages of the regular diner menu if your heart is set on diner fare): Duck gumbo, Seasonal Alfredo with spiced pumpkin, or roast lamb with a mushroom-guiness gravy. The four course prices were $22, $21, and $25. For $5 less you could get just the main course without the starter chicken and barley soup, the house salad of mixed greens, tomatoes and onions, and the pumpkin custard dessert with fresh clotted cream and dulce de leche. We decided to get the Duck gumbo and the Roast Lamb and have one soup, salad, and dessert between the two of us. This proved a smart move as the main courses were enough for dinner for either of us.

The starter soup was tasty with chicken and chickenbones floating happily alongside celery and barley. My only complaints were that it was too small a portion even for one person and it could have been served a little hotter. By the way, why is it that no restaurant seems to offer you bread unless you ask? Are times that tough? The salad was fresh with flavorful tomatoes – which really surprised us – and slices of sweet onions. The gumbo was tasty but long on Quinoa and short on Duck. The lamb was excellent, medium rare, with strong lamb flavors complimented by a thick black gravy that slightly overwhelmed the simple white mushrooms it contained. The accompaniments of fingerling potatoes and asparagus made enough food for a complete meal in itself. The dessert was excellent with spicy pumpkin flavors topped with thick cream and a butterscotch-y dollop of dulce goodness. The portion was generous, although we had no trouble cleaning the plate.

After this repast I am still considering where I have had better food in Middletown. O’Rourke’s is sort of like eating great home cooking. I quibble with the diner setting and fancy restaurant prices. If you are paying $20 for an entrée shouldn’t you get cloth napkins, indirect lighting, soft music, etc, etc, And, at these prices, shouldn’t O’s be measured against a “serious” restaurant? I guess this dinner/diner split personality is what makes O’Rourke’s uniquely O’Rourke’s, but lacking amenities (being a diner it is not a place you want to sit back and linger), I would have to say that it was a bit over-priced.

However, if you crave a meal cooked with some care and flare, and don’t want any pretension, O’s is the place on a Friday or Saturday night! If the prices were 20% lower they would have a waiting line of weekend regulars in the evenings, too.

The facts:

Dinner for two was $42 with BYO Duvel (9.59) and a South American Carmenere (10.59) bringing the price before tip to about $62.00.

Open for the four course dinner only on Friday and Saturday nights until 9 PM.

Our waitress was exceptionally nice and handled our requests (including bread) promptly and with a smile.