by Kristen Wile

The American diner has long been a staple in the nation’s dining scene, providing hearty fare at a price that’s manageable for anyone. Chef Sam Diminich, who just opened the doors to his Plaza Shamrock restaurant Grey’s Diner and Community Kitchen, knows that intimately. As a student chef working for little pay in Philadelphia, he would head to a diner for breakfast. Some days, he could afford a breakfast plate; other days, he would just have toast and coffee.

“I didn’t have anything, so I could go to a diner any day of the week, and sit and feel very, very welcome and be provided with like gracious hospitality,” he says. “To me that’s fine dining, because I left there feeling really good.”

With Grey’s Diner, Diminich faces the challenge of keeping the affordability of the diner that was a refuge for him during culinary school while staying true to the Your Farms Your Table ethos of supporting local farmers. However, the growth of the Your Farms Your Table restaurant group — which includes Restaurant Constance, as well as contracts for food service at event space Beau Monde and its Community Supported Meals programs at Hopeway and McLeod Center give Grey’s the chance to buy enough quantity to mitigate the increased costs of purchasing locally.

Diminich will source eggs from Harmony Ridge Farm, for example, and bread will be made by Duke’s. While locally sourcing a diner might not be the best for the bottom line, it’s an important part of the restaurant’s identity.

“I want everybody to come in here,” Diminich says. “We have a $12 egg plate and there’s nothing over $24. We want people in here as many days as they want to come and join us and certainly not trying to price anybody out of breakfast. The community has supported me for so long. I feel committed to a relationship and I want to be able to show up for the community. That’s one of the ways we’re doing it.”

The restaurant will be open seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., serving traditional diner fare with Southern touches on its breakfast and lunch/dinner menus. Both include a selection of vegan items. Breakfast includes eggs and omelets, breakfast sandwiches, bowls, pancakes, and waffles. The combined lunch/dinner menu carries over the bowls, while adding larger plates, a burger, and throwbacks to Diminich’s parents’ restaurant days with lasagne and chicken and eggplant parm. The burger, made with Shipley Farms Beef, is named Grey’s Burger after Diminich’s son Allan Grey, also the namesake of the restaurant. Restaurant Constance, Diminich’s first restaurant, is named in honor of his daughter.

“They’ve always supported me, man,” Diminich says of his kids. “They’ve never ever asked me to slow down, never asked me to do anything other than what I love to do, which is really cool. And so to be able to honor them by naming this restaurant after him — of course RC’s after Constance — is a pretty cool privilege.”

Restaurant Constance pastry chef Ann Marie Stefaney will create the restaurant’s pastries and cakes, with milkshakes and sundaes also available. Grey’s will be the first Your Farms Your Table concept with a full bar and liquor program, offering wine, beer, and cocktail and nonalcoholic beverage lists, with a bar along the back dining room where folks from the neighborhood can grab a stool and stay a while.

“It’s a diner, of course, but it’s less of a restaurant — It’s more of a gathering place,” Diminich says. “People can come and linger or grab food and go, whatever, but we want to be there for them.”

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