Diner

The four men stood peering at the judge, one of them, inexplicably, grinning broadly at the others, while a fifth man seated with his attorney gestured and railed at an interpreter in Albanian. "He says he has done nothing wrong. He doesn't know why he has to pay this," explained interpreter Alexander Gregory of Salem, formerly of Kolanje, Albania. The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office and the court say it will not be an easy task to handle the case of five New York men, formerly from Albania, who police say broke into the Five Points Diner, Delsea Drive and Route 41 in Deptford, and tried to murder an employee Monday.

Diner on the Square, a Center City mainstay that kept night owls and early risers alike stoked on hamburgers, blueberry pancakes and other diner delicacies, closed Jan. 4. But die-hard fans and those looking for a deal on restaurant equipment will get their chance at 11 a.m. tomorrow, when the contents of the Rittenhouse Square restaurant go up for auction. The space at 19th and Spruce will eventually hold a Marathon Grill.

Sara Jean Knox Shannon, 66, who with her husband operated the landmark Meri-ney Diner in Rosemont, died July 16 in the Delaware County Memorial Hospital after suffering with cancer the last 10 months. Mrs. Shannon was born in Bryn Mawr. She attended Radnor High School and graduated in 1940. From 1939 to 1942, she was a telephone operator for Bell Telephone Co. in Philadelphia. She worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. from 1942 to 1945 as a teletype operator, a job in which she occasionally directed trains.

It's been a year since headlines in Delaware County trumpeted news of the "Doomsday Cult," a group of followers of the Church of Our First Love in Drexel Hill. Most of the approximately 30 followers of the home-style church have moved on, either to South Carolina or western Pennsylvania, according to relatives and township officials. But a few minor annoyances - at least in Ridley Township's eyes - are still around. One cropped up again this month, when neighbors complained that two men were living in the Cedars Restaurant in Holmes, which is partly owned by a member of the church.

Although it may not look it from the outside, in truth the Valley Forge Restaurant & Bar is essentially an upscale, classy-looking diner. Marking its 30th year, the diner-restaurant has an unusual barn-like roof and greenhouse-like windows that give the appearance of an excursion train. The main dining area is paneled in attractive grooved oak, decorated with watercolors of country scenes. Big, recessed picture windows are filled with giant planters stuffed with prayer plants, lilies, spider plants and other greenery.

To former fans of Diner on the Square: Come back. Your favorite place for homey munching has cleaned up its act - a nifty face lift that allows you to dine like a mensch without being poked between bites by upholstery springs. For those unfamiliar with Diner on the Square, it's off Rittenhouse Square at 19th and Spruce Streets. Along with its new paint job, there are cheerful red booths and those nifty neon decorations that take it back several decades. My favorite wall-hanging is the neon molar with the letters S-W-E-E-T twisted across it. The large sign on the northern wall of the eatery is the gasoline logo with the flying horse.

"Tin Men," a comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey, Jackie Gayle & John Mahoney. Written & directed by Barry Levinson. Running time: 108 minutes. A Touchstone release. At area theaters. Like "American Graffiti," "Stand By Me," "The Flamingo Kid," "The Right Stuff," Barry Levinson's own "Diner" and several other recent movies, "Tin Men," Levinson's latest film, is set in the early 1960s. It's easy to see why filmmakers are drawn to this period. It's a dividing line, a cusp: Before it lies Ike's repressive '50s, and after it lies . . . something else.

At first, the people of the city's 17th arrondissement, or district, didn't think the new place on the Rue Pouchet was a place to eat. Actually, they thought that it looked more like a hair salon. But an American instantly recognizes the Rival Coffee Shop for what it is supposed to be: a diner, with 10 stools around a counter, booths, old Coca- Cola signs, '50s music on the speakers and coffee - American coffee - perking all the time. Claude Benouaich, 25, and Thierry Monnassier, 26, opened up not long ago because they had fallen in love with diners during six months or so in the United States and thought the French were ready for one. A lot of other people have thought lately that the French, those kings of cuisine, are ready for American food, because a small army of vintage, non- fast-food establishments have popped up all over the city, in many cases to standing room only.

The Diner on the Square is history, following a feeding frenzy by buyers so hungry for bargains that they gobbled up all the restaurant's equipment. "It's a shame the auction had to happen, the result of high taxes and high rents that burden a small business," sighed disappointed owner Peter Bruhn. The economic facts of life in the 1990s forced Bruhn earlier this month to close the tile-and-chrome eatery he opened in 1986. But his voice was the only one tinged with disappointment in the shuttered diner yesterday as buyers looking for deals made bids on 118 assorted lots of items in 100 minutes flat.

August Wilson died last year after completing his cycle of 10 plays, each representing a decade in the 20th-century African American experience. Signature Theatre, whose mission is to focus each season on one playwright's work, is celebrating Wilson by presenting three of the less-frequently seen plays in the cycle. This new production of Two Trains Running, already extended twice, is solid and satisfying. It's 1969. In a diner in the same Pittsburgh neighborhood where most of Wilson's plays take place, the same people meet and drink coffee and talk every day. Over the course of 3 1/4 hours we get to know their habits and their preoccupations almost as well as they do; the measured pace of Lou Bellamy's direction establishes a profound level of realism that requires the kind of ensemble acting that this superb cast provides.

"You can't miss me," Carl Thomas says, and he's right: No one else at the diner is wearing a "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" T-shirt from the "XXXChurch. " "I appreciate outside-the-box ministries," explains the Deptford resident, a born-again Christian who helps other men overcome what they experience as a soul-destroying dependence on pornography. An array of bold tattoos, a shaved head, and a high-voltage grin give Thomas, 40, a dude rather than a do-gooder look. But the man, an insurance agent and a married father of two, is on a mission.

Excerpted from Craig LaBan's online chat: Craig LaBan: It's been a busy seven days for me. Got a chance to taste some fantastically complex and interesting Italian beers from Tuscany's Bruton. And I got my first taste this weekend of DiBruno's excellent nitrate-free bresaola (Lombardy-style salted and air-dried beef) from Larchmont Charcuterie in Westchester County, N.Y., that I hope to visit soon. And while it's expensive ($29.99 a pound) a little goes a long way. This entire sheet of thin slices (right)

* A wall of lettuce. Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl cocktails. And Bethenny Frankel herself, too. "Iron Chef America" competitor Edward Lee from Louisville, Ky.'s 610 Magnolia. A Hawaiian-centric restaurant. Experts from Organic Gardening magazine. There's more than just flowers at the 2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show, Sunday through March 12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (12th & Arch streets). The theme is "Hawaii: Islands of Aloha. " 215-988-8899, theflowershow.com . * Atlantic City Restaurant Week, Sunday through March 10, showcases more than 65 Atlantic County restaurants with $15.12 lunches and $33.12 dinners.

OUR CITY sits only about 60 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, even closer to the Delaware Bay, and our river port is one of the busiest on the East Coast. While you wouldn't exactly call Philadelphia "maritime" (as one might call Baltimore), the sea certainly isn't a foreign concept. Yet, when it comes to dining, seafood is so often a struggle in this city. Why aren't there more, and better, seafood places here in Philadelphia, I often wonder? Many others seem to feel the same way, if I judge by how often I'm asked to recommend "a really good seafood place.

HARRISBURG - The owner of a popular diner near the Capitol is suing state Health Secretary Eli Avila, claiming that the secretary tried to block him from receiving a lucrative state contract in retaliation for a dispute over an egg sandwich. Richard Hanna, owner of Roxy's Café, said Avila attempted to block him from being awarded the contract to run the cafeteria - this shortly after he and Avila had an argument one morning over the freshness of the eggs in a sandwich that Hanna had served him. In the suit, Hanna says he believes Avila "abused his power as a public official in a personal vendetta based upon personal animus.

Harold Kistler, 70, of Media, a piano player and singer who entertained diners in local restaurants for more than 30 years, died Friday, Jan. 13, at Riddle Memorial Hospital of complications from diabetes. As Hal McKay, Mr. Kistler played at the Ship Inn in Malvern, the Brownstone Inn in Glen Mills, and Mendenhall Inn in Chadds Ford, among other venues. For many years, he also gave piano lessons to adults. "He did the job he loved for his entire life," his wife, Ann Morrow Kistler, said.

Main Liners are often heard repeating the same sentiment: Why are there no good restaurants where they live? It's not a region that's short on openings. BYOs such as TiraMisu in Berwyn and high-caliber spots like Paramour and Xilantro in Wayne are a few that have opened in recent months. But few seem to make the splash that residents are desperate for. "I personally think the choices out here are horrible," said one Main Line mom, who didn't want to be named. And on every food-loving Main Liner's wish list?

To confirm just how twisted the restaurant scene has become: There's Twisted Tail, a Southern bourbon roadhouse/charcoal grill now across from Head House Square - not to be confused with Twisted Kitchen , a funky-lit diner serving all-American road food at 808 Bethlehem Pike in Colmar, Montgomery County (215-822-7415). How all-American is Twisted Kitchen? It's behind a gun shop. Chef-owner Ernie Pio, who has catered in the region for two decades, offers roast pork and beef sandwiches; soups and chili; seven macaroni and cheese options; and sandwiches ranging from the sublime to the outrageous.

Were it not for an earthquake and a coup d'etat in Greece, Christos, Spiro, Nick, and Harry Kokolis might never have immigrated to the United States. And without a "diner for sale" advertisement in this newspaper, the four brothers might not have settled in South Jersey, where they built new lives, livelihoods, and families on the suburban frontier, starting in 1961. Having spent time with members of this lively and loving clan as they prepared to close their Country Club Diner in Voorhees on Sunday, I'm confident the Kokolis dynasty will continue to flourish.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Corbett's newly minted secretary of health likes his eggs fresh off the grill - very fresh. Diner owner Richard Hanna says he found that out the hard way. Hanna says that just weeks after Corbett tapped Eli N. Avila to serve as the state's top health official, Avila walked into Hanna's restaurant opposite the Capitol, ordered an egg sandwich breakfast, and angrily complained that it wasn't fresh enough. What followed, Hanna says, was a testy exchange that culminated with Avila's shouting, "Do you know who I am?