Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned diner? Bring on the breakfast all day, the smell of hash browns, and the slice of blueberry pie in the middle of the night. Diners are as much about the community as they are about the food, so we’re celebrating diners and diner culture on this episode of Seasoned. We talk with Mike Urban, Yankee contributor and author of The New England Diner Cookbook. Plus, we talk with Brian O’Rourke about his diner’s long history in Middletown, as well as a Hartford poet who spent years writing poems in diners across the state.

Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski produced this show.

Guests:

Mike Urban – Yankee Magazine contributor and author of The New England Seafood Markets Cookbook and The New England Diner Cookbook. His latest book is Unique Eats & Eateries Of Connecticut

Brian O’Rourke – Chef/owner of O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown, Conn.

Brett Maddux – Hartford poet. His poetry collection, Regent, was published in 2016. His Instagram @dinersofconnecticut includes hundreds of beautiful black-and-white photos of local diners and the people with whom he’s shared meals. His most recent collection, algorithm hymns, is available now.

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