Port Henry Diner
Offers Variety
Port Henry
The Port Henry Diner has been around, in one form or another, since 1933.
By Lohr McKinstry Company, it was purchased by Wilford and Grace Tario of Port Henry and moved to its present location off Main Street in 1933. A dining room with 28 seats was built in 1995 by Linda Mullin, when she and Hank D’Arcy owned the restaurant. After Mullin, the diner passed through several hands until Foote acquired it. SUNDAY MORNING MEAL Port Henry Diner owner/chef Donald Foote prepares to remove food from an oven at the downtown cafe.
He offers a diverse menu that includes traditional American choices along with Mexican food. “I took it in 2012 – there’s a plaque on the wall that says that,” he said. “Things are going well. It keeps getting busier and busier as time goes on. We don’t have too much room for many more patrons.” Some Sunday mornings, it’s standing room only at the Port Henry Diner, as various church services let out and worshipers head for the popular dining car. ‘WHAT PEOPLE WANT’
Waitstaff member Aleysha delivers breakfasts at the Port Henry Diner.
Walking into Foote’s Port Henry Diner feels like home to a lot of the historic downtown eatery’s customers. Owner and chef Donald Foote often greets customers by name and servers are quick to pour coffee and find out what the news of the day might be. MISS PORT HENRY DINER The restaurant got its start in 1933 as the Miss Port Henry Diner, a name intended to make women feel as comfortable in the place as the men who overwhelmingly patronized diners back then. Donald Foote bought it in June 2012, and the Ward Dining Car it’s in is one of the last of its kind in the country. Built in 1927 by the Ward & Dickinson Dining Car 18
“We let people design their own omelets,” Foote said. “It’s what people want to do. We had quesadillas. It makes it slower, because they take up a lot of space on the grill.” Some patrons don’t like onions, he said, and want to make sure none are in their meals. “My uncle used to say every recipe should start with an onion. That’s not always true for some of our customers.” VOLUNTEER OWNER The diner just reopened January 2nd after being closed for most of December, while Foote volunteered in a rescue mission on Abaco Island in the Bahamas. “I was working on (rebuilding) two schools, and also for the World Central Kitchen,” he said. “I’d go back again, definitely. I hope to go next year. I want to do something to help.” World Central Kitchen is a not-for-profit nongovernmental organization devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters, like the hurricane that struck the Bahamas in September 2019.
