O’Rourke’s Redux
Despite what they tell you on the tours at Wesleyan, Middletown, Connecticut is not what I would call a restaurant town. You can count the worthy restaurants on one hand, and you might not need your thumb or pinky. Considering that, it may seem strange that I was itching to skip out on a free catered meal at a conference on food I was attending at Wesleyan over the weekend. But anyone who’s spent a day or two in Middletown can tell you that there’s nothing better than breakfast at O’Rourke’s Diner.
Open daily from 4 am until 3 pm, O’Rourke’s is a tiny, old-fashioned silver diner on the south end of Middletown’s Main Street. It has been open for years, but according to some older alumni I spoke with, it used to be little more than a greasy spoon. That changed when Brian O’Rourke took over from the previous generation and turned the diner gourmet. Now O’Rourke bakes almost all his own breads, including wheat bread, Irish brown and soda breads and a host of breakfast breads like banana, lemon and zucchini. Patrons waiting in line outside the restaurant (inevitable on the weekends) are often treated to slices of Brian’s bread, still warm from the oven. And when you are seated, a small sampler of the sweeter breads keep you sated until the food arrives. The restaurant’s interior used to have a considerable coating of grease and a number of tiny little booths that seated only two people. The four-person booths had mini coin-operated jukeboxes. This all changed in August, 2006 when a fire during the night destroyed the entire interior. This, combined with a lack of fire insurance, forced the diner to close until just a few months ago.
I went this time with my friend Honey Roasted Peanut, who was also attending the conference, her boyfriend Pecan Pie, my cousin Leftover Girl and her friend from college. As we waited in line outside, we witnessed Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl departing from the restaurant with her son (Wesleyan class of 2011). She was in Middletown to speak at our food conference, so we weren’t surprised to see her there. Still, it was nice to feel vindicated in my love of O’Rourke’s by one of America’s foremost food authorities. The interior of the restaurant has changed. It’s cleaner, and the booths are a little bigger. The tabletops are covered in a retro-looking Formica instead of the old, authentic vintage stuff. Gone are the mini jukeboxes and the old counter stools. The menu also looks more professional, but, thankfully, it still contains the same favorite dishes. HR Peanut and I didn’t feel confident that we could finish anything on the menu. We decided to share the Irish Embassy (pictured here). It comes with two over-easy eggs, crispy bacon, smoky Irish ham, corned-beef hash, Irish brown bread and well-seasoned potatoes. One stab of the fork sends the egg yolks running over the coarse, hearty bread and dousing all of the succulent meats. Would you like a little cholesterol with your cholesterol? My favorite meat is the corned-beef hash, which comes in delightfully uneven chunks and has enough spicing to give it great savory depth. Needless to say, we were glad we’d shared.
The other three members of our party ordered omelets. These are all huge and fluffy and come filled with all the freshest ingredients available. Pecan Pie went way gourmet with smoked salmon and asparagus, while Leftover Girl settled on this beautiful, vegetable-laden version. I don’t usually order omelets in restaurants, but O’Rourke’s incorporates complex, innovative elements that make theirs worth trying. Other popular menu items include such decadent concepts as banana bread French toast (on Brian’s own bread) and an entire lunch menu, which boasts great turkey and Reuben sandwiches. It’s also fun to put your fate in Brian’s hands and order “Brian’s Breakfast” or “Brian’s Lunch,” both of which are made of whatever Brian feels like putting on the plate. It may take you a while to work up to this level of trust, but if there’s one thing you learn from eating at O’Rourke’s it’s that the diner and its owner won’t let you down.
O’Rourke’s Diner
728 Main St.
Middletown, CT 06457
860.346.6101
When I was in college at Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut it was always a challenge to find a nice restaurant for dinner. There were the ubiquitous Thai joints, the beer and burger stops, the fajita and margarita vendors and the pizza and pasta places. There was also sushi, which was great, but not always affordable on a college student budget. When I needed a place for my parents to host a group for my 21st birthday, I did some asking around and learned about 
We wanted to share, but Leftover Girl’s friends were vegetarians. We decided to get two vegetable dishes and two meat along with a side of chewy naan. LG ordered the classic, rich chicken tikka masala. Tender boneless skinless chicken is cooked in ginger, garlic, yogurt and various spices, baked in the tandoor and sautéed with tomatoes. And don’t forget the special ingredients that make this dish so rich and filling: butter and cream. I ordered the lamb vindaloo (pictured above), extra spicy. It consists of earthy lamb cooked with every spice from coriander to cinnamon, potatoes and some vinegar for bite. I always ordered this dish as a student, so I decided to do it again for old time’s sake. It was as good as I remembered it, but not quite as spicy. Maybe my palate has toughened up in the past two years.
Leftover Girl’s friends ordered the saag paneer (sauteed spinach with large squares of soft Indian cheese) and the mattar paneer (the same cheese with a tomato-based sauce similar to the tikka masala). These were almost better that the meat dishes. It’s amazing to me how Indian cooking styles from both the Northern and Southern parts of the country manage to produce vegetarian food that is as appealing, if not more so, than meat-filled dishes. The spices, the richness and the depth of flavor in the sauces makes these dishes like these filling as well as inspiring, things I can rarely say about vegetarian menu items.
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