The Winchester Diner—someone please make this happen!

I had mixed feel­ings when our local Frisch’s Big Boy restau­rant closed last month. While I’ve nev­er been a great fan of Frisch’s, it was one of the few places in town fea­tur­ing a sal­ad bar and a week­day break­fast bar. And I’m always sad­dened when any local busi­ness is shut­tered, leav­ing staff to scram­ble to find new work.

In the ensu­ing weeks, I’ve been think­ing about what I’d like to see occu­py the space next. It’s a prime loca­tion on the bypass, much clos­er to Lexington Avenue and I‑64 exit 94 than most busi­ness­es along that corridor.

The build­ing has anoth­er thing going for it. It’s already suit­ed to become some­thing I’ve dreamed of for years—a din­er. Not a chain din­er, but some­thing more local, more unique. Something that harkens back to the days before fast food and chain casu­al din­ing joints dom­i­nat­ed our city.

We keep get­ting new eater­ies that too often dupli­cate what we already have. In my opin­ion, we don’t need any more Mexican restau­rants, cof­fee shops, or burg­er joints. But there is a spe­cif­ic niche that has been vacat­ed here that needs to be brought back: the coun­try diner.

Here’s my dream sce­nario for the next occu­pant of this loca­tion. It’s called the Winchester Diner.

It would retain some of Frisch’s best ele­ments, includ­ing the sal­ad bar and seat­ing arrange­ment. It would also include much of the typ­i­cal din­er fare: sand­wich­es, French fries, soups, all-day break­fast, and fish, fried chick­en, and pasta.

In addi­tion, there would be home­style spe­cials each day. Think pork chops, soup beans, salmon cro­quets, roast beef, coun­try veg­eta­bles, corn­bread, and the like. Perhaps a Sunday lunch buf­fet and a Saturday night seafood buffet.

Naturally, Ale-8-One would be the fea­tured soft drink, and beer cheese would be incor­po­rat­ed into the menu in var­i­ous ways. Kentucky favorites like the hot brown and Derby Pie would also be on the menu.

The inte­ri­or décor would fea­ture nos­tal­gic images and relics with a local flair—think Cracker Barrel, Kentucky Style. 

What would replace the for­mer “Big Boy” stat­ue out­side the entrance? Perhaps a sim­i­lar car­toon­ish ver­sion of Daniel Boone? 

I could see the Winchester Diner becom­ing a favorite gath­er­ing spot for locals and a unique des­ti­na­tion for trav­el­ers tired of the “same old, same old.” I know my fam­i­ly would vis­it often.

What do you think? Is this a real­is­tic vision for our town? I’m call­ing on area restau­ran­teurs to explore this and oth­er options for the for­mer Frisch’s Big Boy site. Please make some­thing like this happen!