Deluxe Station Diner to Open in Newton Centre
Good news! I saw signs announcing the Deluxe Station Diner, which is going into the old station building at the Newton Centre T stop. No word on an anticipated opening date but it's great to know the project is underway. The diner is owned by the same folks who run the Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown.
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Prav
Jan 11, 2011 07:05 AM
So, my go-to items at Watertown are the sweet potato pancakes or the johnny cakes, PLUS a side of some of their cod cakes.
Wooo-wee! Never had such delicious cod cakes. Does Deluxe Station have those delightful golden-brown-delicious orbs of codd-y goodness? This ain't your Stop & Shop's fish cake.
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re: Prav
But I can't open it on the iPad. Fwiw, I can find the cod cakes on the Watertown menu either, just crab cakes.
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re: Blumie
Prav
Jan 11, 2011 12:05 PM
Damn, not seeing it either. I hope they brought 'em over - I love 'em. Would someone mind asking, pretty please? :)
Edit: Can't find it on Watertown's either. I know I always have trouble finding them on their eye-numbingly busy menu in person, I hope they didn't get rid o' them!
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I will give them a try in a few weeks. I like the deluxe. Great pancakes. Don't like the omlets, homefries or coffee. For a good omlet i hit either spot cafe in watertown on main street or in a pickle on main street in waltham. At the spot i always say i will order something new but i can't stay away from there tomato and feta. In a pickle is a good pick for breakfast. They have a huge breakfast menu. Good homefries and coffee
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Deluxe is indeed open - we went this morning, and they were pretty busy.
The good parts: the renovations are GORGEOUS - I have fond memories of the building when it housed Coffee Connection (ah, the 80's) and it looks spectacular. My daughter's chocolate chip pancake was delicious, and she loved her side of bacon. My husband got the combo platter, and he said that his sourdough toast was very good, his pancakes were good...
The not-so-good parts: my feta, spinach, mushroom omlette (they were out of goat cheese - on day 4?) was really not good at all - totally overdone, and kind of a patty like you could have used it as a frisbee... I told the waitress, and she suggested that we ask for it to be "less done" next time... And for a 2-egg omlette, kind of pricey at $9. The other major problem was that the restaurant was SO COLD - as in, we ate in our coats, as did most people eating there. They said that they were working on the heat, but it was really freezing.
All in all, I'd give it a B/B+ - we'll probably stick with the Rox Diner.
What do Chowhounders love about the Deluxe? If we were to go again (when they have heat!), what would you order?
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Coffee Connection
Boston MA, Boston, MA 02126›18 Replies-
re: sallyt
First off, not the omelets: Deluxe Town Diner's omelets are terrible. Sorry you had to find that out the hard way, though!
That said, the pancakes and waffles are fantastic (this one does do waffles on weekends like the original does, I hope! The sweet potato waffle with pecans is one of my favorite breakfasts!), the home fries are great, and the toast is indeed excellent. I usually have good luck with over easy or scrambled eggs as well. Oh, and the fruit salad is good too, and for that matter, so is the corned beef hash.
So really, just stay away from the omelets. I usually go to Victor's in Watertown for my omelet fix, personally.
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Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472-
re: Jenny Ondioline
Agreed, the omelettes aren't their strength. I'm also not gung ho on their benedicts of any sort.
We LOVE their traditional pancakes, sweet potato pancakes (or are they pumpkin?), corned beef hash, english muffins, and bacon. There may be other good stuff on the menu, but between my wife, my daughter and I, we never get past some combo off of that short list.
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re: Gabatta
Allstonian
Jan 9, 2011 06:07 PM
Their fried or scrambled eggs are fine; it's just the omelets that are bad.
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re: sallyt
Science Chick
Jan 9, 2011 09:32 AM
That doesn't sound too bad for their second day in operation. I plan on going in a couple of months, once they get all the kinks worked out. Still, how hard is it to make an omelet (unless they are so backed up that the cook lost track of time.....)?
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re: Jenny Ondioline
is there any place that makes decent omelets? Spot in Watertown is as close as I've come, I think. Otherwise, they all overcook them and stuff them too full of things. I pretty much have given up on omelets as a breakfast option out. I do love Deluxe's sour cream flapjacks though. As for poached eggs, I've hardened my heart and I'll send them back if they come back either hard cooked or watery.
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re: teezeetoo
MC Slim JB
Jan 10, 2011 05:08 AM
The food at Laurel wasn't great, but they did a quality omelet at lunch. There's a reason some chefs use egg-cooking as a test of prospective cooks: they're deceptively difficult to prepare with finesse. Some of my hallmarks of a proper omelet: no browning, not cooked to dryness inside. Sadly, that's not something you see very often in our breakfast joints. Part of it may have to do with fears of food-borne illness from eggs that aren't cooked into submission.
Deluxe Town's various griddle cakes are so good that I have a hard time ordering other things at breakfast.
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re: MC Slim JB
I remember rooting for Laurel to survive, and hearing about their lunch being great but never made it over there for the midday meal, as I work far away.
I also think that some of the over-cooking with eggs has been authorized by salmonella-phobic managers who are afraid of someone getting sick. You know, kind of how it's hard to find a rare-cooked burger these days. Not that it's an excuse for poorly prepared omelets or anything.
Thoroughly agree on the pancakes, I have a hard enough time deciding between which of the variety of pancakes I want, much less even CONSIDERING anything else on the menu!
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re: sallyt
Apparently some were displeased with the manner in which I cautioned against jumping to conclusions about a restaurant that has been open for four days. Some on this board were quick to write off other pedigreed spin-offs -- All Star Sandwich Bar and Friendly Toast come to mind -- when they didn't meet our over-the-top expectations from the moment they opened. Virtually every place needs time to mature and work out the kinks, even if opened by experienced operators.
NB: I'm not accusing the Hound to whom I'm responding of acting in this way, but the statement that "we'll probably stick to the Rox Diner" suggests perhaps an unwillingness to give a 4-day-old place a second chance.
And while I'm making friends, for those who argue a breakfast place can't be a breakfast place if it can't make a good omelet, what if one just wants pancakes? Also, if that's the standard, I would argue that we have virtually no breakfast spots, since it's all-too-difficult to get a decent omelet!
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re: Blumie
I admittedly haven't been to the new Deluxe location. My experiences with their uneven food and service comes from the Watertown location. FWIW, I definitely do agree that the pancakes are good there. Hopefully the new location will improve on the foundation from the Watertown location, as we definitely have a shortage of good breakfast places around here.
In my experiences, the Cambridge Friendly Toast location hasn't improved since they opened, so the first impressions were actually accurate on that one. I agree with your point in principle, however that is probably a poor supporting example.
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re: Gabatta
My experience at Friendly Toast is that the service has greatly improved. I don't get the big fuss over their food, but it's ok enough that I do go on occasion.
My go-to place for breakfast is Joseph's Two, in Waltham, which I would describe as great bad breakfast. Sure would be nice to have a place for great good breakfasts! I was (and am) hoping that this would be it!
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The Friendly Toast
1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA
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re: Blumie
Blumie - totally agree that places need to mature and work out the kinks - I wasn't jumping to conclusions at all, but thought that people should know some of the early kinks (e.g., no heat). We'll stick to our local place *for now,* and I will certainly give the Deluxe a second shot, but honestly, I do think that a good breakfast place should be able to make a good omelette. I'm gluten-free, so I stick to the savory side of the menu, and it's disappointing to eat out when only half of us can really enjoy our meals.
Blumie, try the Rox Diner - they make a great breakfast.
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re: sallyt
Since I was a trouble maker in this thread yesterday, I figured I'd actually give the place a try and post my review. My conclusion is that, as expected, the place has some kinks to work out, but there's definitely potential for this to be a solid addition to the neighborhood. I don't see it ever achieving stellar status, but certainly an improvement over Johnny's Luncheonette.
Three of us arrived today at 12:30. The windows are fairly dark, and one easily could mistake it as being closed, but we walked into an about 2/3 full dining room. Our waitress offered us drinks fairly quickly, and took our order promptly, but service suffered a little after that. It took about 20 minutes for our food to arrive -- not terrible, but longer than it should have been, and the type of thing that likely will get ironed out with time. We also had to flag down our waitress anytime we needed anything, such as coffee refills. The waitstaff appeared young; again, I would expect these things to be worked out over time.
I ordered blueberry pancakes, my daughter scrambled eggs, and her grandmother a veggie egg white omelette. The pancakes were good, although not in the OMG Clinton Street Baking Company class. I thought the blueberries were fairly tasteless, but perhaps that's the risk of blueberries ordered mid-winter. My ex-mother-in-law indicated that her omelette was ok, but not great. "I wish they'd put more interesting things in it" was her comment, so I don't know if her complaint was in the preparation or just in the fact that it was your standard veggie omelette. My daughter seemed to enjoy her eggs, and particularly liked the home fries (which I think are prepared in the fryolator, not on the griddle). Oh, and the waitress forgot to sub a salad for the potatoes with the omelette. Again, an amateur mistake that hopefully will get corrected.
After one week of operation, I'd say they're doing ok and likely will get better. I'll give them another try in several weeks. Also, the heat seemed to be working fine, and the sign that illuminates when a Boston-bound train is approaching still is in operation!
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Last time I drove by it appeared that renovations were still underway. Have they opened yet? Is there a more definitive date?
›18 Replies-
re: sushidad
hiddenboston
Dec 15, 2010 05:39 AM
It looks like it may be opening tomorrow--still trying to confirm this....
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re: hiddenboston
"Owner Don Levy plans a ribbon cutting on Thursday, Dec. 16, with the restaurant to open for business on Friday morning."
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re: christineh87
Monday would be nice, but it will probably be later in the week. I stopped by Friday and workers were still doing finishing work. Plus, the diner willl need a city inspector's OK to open the doors, but the owner hopes to open before Xmas. The space will be gorgeous. The building was designed by H.H. Richardson, who did other train stations nearby but may be better known for designing Trinity Church in Copley Square. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ho...
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re: NewtonVillages
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re: hiddenboston
So does that mean it is now open? I've heard the term "soft opening" before though I guess I don't really understand if that means that they simply opened without fanfare or they just did an invitation only friends and family kind of event to work out the kinks and will open for real sometime thereafter.
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re: BJK
hiddenboston
Jan 6, 2011 10:15 AM
They were open as of 11:00 this morning:
http://boston.grubstreet.com/2011/01/...
Not sure about their hours today and tomorrow, but it sounds like they will be open for real this weekend.
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MC Slim JB
Jul 13, 2010 02:34 PM
This is happy news!
I love the Deluxe Town Diner. I had what I called a "New England Griddled Dinner" the other night: jonnycakes with butter and pure-maple syrup, linguiça, baked beans, and a 16-oz can of 'Gansett. That were good.
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Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472 -
I heard about this. Johnny's Luncheonette is okay but overpriced, so I usually drive to the Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown for breakfast anyway. This will just save me the trip.Their pancakes are the best!
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Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472Johnny's Luncheonette
30 Langley Rd, Newton Center, MA 02459
