An All-American diner has taken a bite out of Little Italy.
Walter Webb, a longtime restaurant operator at Harborplace, spent $160,000 to open the Diner at 413 S. High St. this month. In early December, the restaurant will include a sports bar on the second floor.
Formerly the site of tapas restaurant Tapabar, the eatery seats 81 on the first floor and 100 on the second floor. The second floor addition will double the space, to 5,000 square feet.
Webb closed his barbecue joint Brown Sugar at the Harborplace food court so operators of the downtown mall could make way for department store H&M. He decided to move to Little Italy to capitalize on the new hotels, apartment complexes, and office workers in
Harbor East and Eastern Avenue traffic.
"I love the area," Webb says. "It's an exceptionally great place to work and live. People are right here in walking distance."
The Diner serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, costing between $9 and $13. The restaurant services nine types of pancakes, New York strip steak, stuffed flounder, sweet potato fries, and peach cobbler.
German cooks Christa Seiler and Claudia Phillips are selling pies, cakes and pastries in the shop as well.
"The people are so friendly," Webb says of Little Italy residents. "I just love it over here."
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Walter Webb, the Diner