Diner

MANCHESTER, Vt. - A vendor's new trailer has merchants up in arms. Neil Schulman, 29, who owns Hound Dogs, has begun selling his hot dogs and hamburgers from a 16-foot trailer in Manchester Center, which some say gives him an unfair advantage over restaurants. "This eyesore sheds a deplorable representation on the town of Manchester," said Guy Thomas, owner of The Double Hex Restaurant and Zoey's Deli. Thomas called the trailer a "visual assault" in a letter to the Manchester Journal.

Fred Hakim's family owned a hole-in-the-wall hot-dog counter in Times Square that was the last of its kind when New York decided to revitalize the area in the 1990s by condemning dozens of establishments like his. It was a seven-seat, 250-square-foot piece of Edward Hopper streetscape at 229-31 W. 42nd St., which Mr. Hakim's father had opened in 1941 and wryly named the Grand Luncheonette. Mr. Hakim tried to keep the place open as a sort of living museum of the golden age of hawkers and honky-tonks in Times Square.

A regular customer at a Washington state diner that closed, leaving a dozen employees out of work, has led a fundraiser that collected nearly $17,000 to help them out. Glenn Ludwig launched the "Grinch fund" after learning the 12 workers at his favorite restaurant — America's Diner in Aberdeen — were left jobless and without a paycheck since before Thanksgiving. Ludwig's goal was to raise enough money to cover $16,000 in back wages owed to the employees by the owner. KXRO-AM reports Ludwig collected nearly $17,000, and that $13,700 of it was collected Wednesday in...

(Image courtesy Jay Hajj) The interior of Mike's was gutted last week as owner Jay Hajjj renovated the interior of the iconic South End eatery. By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent Loyal customers and South End residents got a shock last week when Mike's City Diner was closed for business. But fear not, the restaurant, which underwent some major renovations last week, is open for business with a new look and the same classic food. "When I took over it was pretty beat up," said Jay Hajj, owner of Mike's, at 1714 Washington St. "Over the years we...

WASHINGTON - Ben Ali, the founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl diner, a landmark in Washington’s black business and entertainment district and a frequent stop for politicians and celebrities, has died. He was 82. Mr. Ali died of congestive heart failure Wednesday night at his home, his daughter-in-law Sonya Ali said yesterday. Mr. Ali was born in 1927 and opened the restaurant with his wife, Virginia, in an old movie house in 1958, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and integrating public schools.

The sale of an Ohio hot dog diner made famous on TV's "M-A-S-H" has fallen through, with the potential buyer saying he will not complete the $5.5 million deal because of bank-required changes. The news surfaced on Tuesday, the same day that two officials with Tony Packo's Inc. pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing from the restaurant chain. Bob Bennett, owner of Bennett Management Corp. and TP Foods LLC, said in a statement that his decision came after Fifth Third Bank required some last-minute changes.

‘Family. " That's how Nick and Maria Koufos describe their customers at the Hidden Kitchen, a hole-in-the-wall diner in the South End. The proprietors seem to know everyone's name and how clients like their food and take their coffee. In exchange, customers banter with the Koufoses and ask about their two grown children. "Whoever comes in here, they're family to us," says Nick Koufos. He's a big man with a wide grin. "I'm here just because I love people and they love us. " The Hidden Kitchen on Albany Street is more like a well-worn kitchen than restaurant.

The idea sounds criminally easy: Pick a random teenager, follow him around with a camera for a few weeks, and, presto, you have an instant essay on coming of age in America. Well, maybe. It depends on the teenager and, to a lesser degree, on the filmmaker. For her debut movie, casting scout-turned-documentarian Jennifer Venditti was lucky to stumble across 15-year-old Billy Price of Brunswick, Maine, when she was working on a friend's short. The result is called "Billy the Kid," and it's genuinely haunting - a portrait of a boy who'd give anything to be average.

Coastal Route One is the great American road of Maine. It begins on the north side of the Piscataqua River in Kittery and runs along the convoluted coast all the way to Calais. Sandy beaches in the south give way to a rocky coast around Portland that continues for hours and hours, crossing through towns and hay fields, over tidal rivers, coastal mountains, blueberry barrens, and wild rivers flowing into the sea. Along the way, and along some scenic detours, there is road food galore.

If you have ever dreamed of opening your own restaurant, have dinner at Journeyman before you sign any papers. A meal here is a practical illustration of the challenges of starting and running an establishment; it shows how much being a great cook both does and does not matter. Opened in September, Journeyman is the joint venture of three former academic types, manager Meg Grady-Troia and chefs Diana Kudajarova and Tse Wei Lim, a couple who chronicled the experience of opening this restaurant for the Globe.

(Johanna Kaiser for boston.com) Diners sit in the late afternoon sun outside of Scoozi on Newbury Street. The restaurant was one of many popular outdoor dining spots on the warm first day of spring. First in a series of stories highlighting the spring awakening taking place around the city. By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent Office workers loosened their ties and slipped of their dress shoes, students carried their books and laptops to benches and outdoor cafe tables, and even dogs trotting with their owners panted happily as people...

If you want to see Boston chefs get hot under the collar, throw their hands up in confusion, or sigh in resignation, just ask them about seafood sustainability. The topic has been under discussion so long it's gone from buzzword to cliché, and consumers might be forgiven for thinking that sustainability has been resolved. Not so, say chefs and seafood market owners. But they do need something to go by. Michael Leviton, of Lumiere in West Newton and Area Four in Cambridge, offers this definition from the United Nations: "The...

BRISTOL, N.H. - Audrey Pellegrino believes that good food can also be good for you, and she should know. "I'm a nutritionist," she says, "and many of my clients have food allergies. I wanted a place for people to come and relax and have healthier foods. " The solution was Cornucopia, her storefront cafe in a downtown building that over the years had served as a restaurant, hotel, and brothel. Now it features big display cases full of baked goods, along with comfortable couches and small tables for eating and chatting.

About 2,000 guests attended the TV Diner Platinum Plate Gala. It was held recently at the Seaport World Trade Center. For more of Bill Brett's party photos, see the full album on Boston.com.

Kiss 108 morning man Matt Siegel looked sharp at the "TV Diner" Platinum Plate Gala at the Seaport World Trade Center on Friday night. He was there to support fellow "Matty in the Morning" personality Billy Costa, who also hosts "Diner," the foodie show on NECN. Joining the guys at the gala - which featured bites from dozens of local restaurants - were "TV Diner" leading lady Jenny Johnson, Siegel's wife, Maryann, Kiss 108 crooner Rich DiMare, and nightclub king Ed Kane. Costa and Johnson were back at the Seaport yesterday with "Ciao Italia" host Mary Ann Esposito, Intermezzo magazine...

‘Family. " That's how Nick and Maria Koufos describe their customers at the Hidden Kitchen, a hole-in-the-wall diner in the South End. The proprietors seem to know everyone's name and how clients like their food and take their coffee. In exchange, customers banter with the Koufoses and ask about their two grown children. "Whoever comes in here, they're family to us," says Nick Koufos. He's a big man with a wide grin. "I'm here just because I love people and they love us. " The Hidden Kitchen on Albany Street is more like a well-worn...

VEGGIE GALAXY 450 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge 617-497-1513 www.veggiegalaxy.net The diner experience is quintessential Americana, scented by bacon and fried eggs. Unless that diner is Veggie Galaxy, a new vegan/vegetarian restaurant and bakery from the same folks behind Harvard Square's long-lived Veggie Planet. Located in Central Square, Veggie Galaxy opened earlier this month. Here, eggs and cheese can be replaced by vegan substitutes, and breakfast "meat" is seitan chorizo or tempeh bacon.

Who needs highfalutin biblical language mucking up the effort to tell a butt-kicking tale of heavenly judgment? That’s apparently the attitude of director and co-writer Scott Stewart when he has one of the characters in "Legion," a desert diner waitress (Adrianne Palicki, “Friday Night Lights’’), rationalize the apocalypse by shrugging that maybe God has grown tired “of all the b.s.’’ (By comparison, this month’s uneven but still unfairly dumped-on “Book of Eli’’ plays like a postgrad theology seminar.)

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Fox News political reporter Carl Cameron is in the middle of a live broadcast from the cramped, 36-seat Red Arrow Diner, a popular photo opportunity stop for political campaigns swinging through New Hampshire before the state's presidential primaries. Between balancing plates of eggs Benedict and pouring cups of coffee, waitress Elaine Boule grabbed a Flip video camera to catch the reporter's spiel. She will tape scenes like that for the cable network C-SPAN, a favorite of political junkies.

The sale of an Ohio hot dog diner made famous on TV's "M-A-S-H" has fallen through, with the potential buyer saying he will not complete the $5.5 million deal because of bank-required changes. The news surfaced on Tuesday, the same day that two officials with Tony Packo's Inc. pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing from the restaurant chain. Bob Bennett, owner of Bennett Management Corp. and TP Foods LLC, said in a statement that his decision came after Fifth Third Bank required some last-minute changes.