The new kid finds its legs

At the northern tip of the unfortunately named Piazza at Schmidts (for the former Northern Liberties brewery that once commanded the site), you will find a cylindrical glass edifice, the ground floor of which is occupied by a perhaps overly spotless Darling's Diner.

It is sparklingly brand-new, though sleekly retrofitted, a hint of Los Angeles coffee shop about it, and a color scheme - orange and teal-ish - meant to evoke the Howard Johnson's turnpike chain, which the piazza's developer, Bart Blatstein, recalled fondly from road trips from the city's Northeast to Florida.

It is a comment more about the passage of time than about Blatstein's honest nostalgia that the manager of the diner, Matthew Arnold, hadn't caught the reference (until it was pointed out), and that youthful patrons (one hesitates to anoint them all "hipsters") ask why it's done up in, well, the team colors of the Miami Dolphins.

Darling's has not had an easy, or forgiving, launch. Along with two other eateries on the sprawling piazza - a moody wine bar/pizza cafe, and a pub near the city's largest outdoor digital TV screen - it was required by its landlord to open a few weeks ago, even though its kitchen wasn't yet at full throttle. Co-owner Harry Arnold (who with another brother, John, also runs two cheesecake shops) cooked burgers and Polish sausages on the grill outside to fulfill the lease obligation.

Since then, the learning curve has been steep. As Harry put it, "We felt we'd do a diner . . . but a diner-plus." The first wave of customers weren't into the "plus." (Eggs came unwaveringly in threesomes, even on the towering, apple-wood-smoked bacon sandwiches, but then had a habit of disappearing from the menu around noon, just as the real hipsters were rousing groggily from their beds.)

The corned beef on the touted Reuben could be leathery. The milkshake machine hadn't made landfall yet. (It has now.)

Even the menu's wording was off-putting. What does one make of an appetizer ($9.95) listed as "Seared Ahi tuna, Piadina, Hass avocado, arugula, sprouts and tomato-ginger jam?"

A gripefest ensued on Yelp.com. The unkindest cut? Darling's was called out - Ouch! - as "a fake diner."

But, ladies and jellybeans, that was then. By last week Darling's had made an ostensible break with its two-week-old past. Clueless servers were handed walking papers. The menu was recast. Eggs? You want them at 3 p.m.? No problem. Coffee refills? They're free!