The Hillsborough Star Diner

We should preclude this by saying that this is was our second time visiting the Hillsborough Star Diner...in a week. It's oh-so-conveniently located less than a mile from our current dance studio which- I have a feeling- will render several future workouts...irrelevant.

I got the sense that this was a notch above the normal diner, larger in size with more seating, a heavier focus on baked desserts, and for some reason an aversion to trucks. There's a large NO TRUCKS sign as you pull in which while I'm sure is for a logistic space issue (the parking lot is not proportionally large enough for its interior) is hilarious out-of-context. Clearly very popular with the locals, the Star Diner boasts a standard menu of all-day breakfast with an extended couple pages of Italian-heavy dinner courses. 
 

For my second time at the diner I once again chose to order the veggie omelet. I know- boring...and a bit expensive for diner prices at $7.99. It's three eggs and seems to comprise of whatever extra veggies are in stock at the time (Wednesday night there was broccoli and Sunday morning it was heavily spinach). Both times it was on the well-done side and comes with the standard hashbrowns/home fries and toast. The omelet itself is nothing to write home about and my only strong memory of it is the fact that my second time included a wayward piece of ham that disguised itself as mushroom. However, my potato on Sunday was extra special as it was well-done on the outside (just as I had asked) but still completely soft and almost mashed-like on the inside. Essentially, it was a potato-omelet to be paired with my main meal which made the sleepy Sunday breakfast feel kind of whimsical and obviously, delicious. For what it's worth, my coffee came out at the perfect very-hot-but-not-enough-to-burn-your-tongue temperature. It's the little things in life.

Our first visit was around 10:30 pm and we were waited on by an apathetic teenager who looked as empty-minded as she ended up being. She immediately forgot my order after I ordered, and she then brought out coffee, dropped some of the creamer, and proceeded to not pick it up. Sunday brunch service was better but not as exceptional as their website claims it is. (By the way- check out the website which claims the diner to "[offer] the elegance and atmosphere of the finest restaurants at a cost that is well within today's family budget").

As Chi's dedicated dance partner and food enthusiast I figured two things when we found our new studio: we're going to be hungry in Hillsborough, a lot, and that since the Star Diner is a hop, skip, and a jump from where we practice, we'd frequent it often. Figuring the latter helped me decide that I needed to break away from my usual diner breakfast. Halfway through the menu I came across the sandwich section which was larger that I suspected it would be. Their options are the standard of most diners until I saw something that is usually reserved for local pizza places, the chicken parmigiana sandwich (served on a torpedo roll). It was two dollars above most other sandwiches at an affordable $7.25. When they brought out the plate I thought I'd be in for something special as the plate (and food) was approximately three times the size of my face. The chicken parmigiana heaping to the point where I couldn't close the roll and had to eat with a fork and knife. It took the convenient nature of the sandwich away; however, I felt I got my money's worth. As for the quality of the chicken, it's breading was crispy and thin, it was slightly overcooked but retained some moisture, proportionally the chicken was much more present than the breading, and it was lightly salted for flavor. Fries were average, some crispy and some on the soggy side. Or zombie-esque waitress that night wasn't too keen on making sure my water glass stayed full.

The second outing took me back to my comfort zone of breakfast. I decided to save eggs for a later date and chose the french toast with sausage ($6.49) and coffee. The diner once again proved its worth with providing the diner with their money's worth of food. The setup for the plate was average (six triangles of french toast and two links of sausage on the side), but the bread they used was the thickest I have ever seen, as were the sausage. Once again I felt as though I was in for a treat. After applying all three packets of syrup (not maple syrup) and using a good portion of my butter I started to eat. A third of the way through the bread I realized it was too thick. The middle was unaffected by the french-toasting process and remained plain bread, which means the star of the show was rather plain. The over-sized sausage left me torn. The texture was some of the best I've ever had (I nice crispiness from the casing), but the taste was much too salty and offered no heat. The food was good enough for me to eat to my content, but not good enough to wait for a second wind to clean the plate. Oh, one last thing, my coffee cup remained happily full through the meal, which was important since it had a nice full, not-watered-down flavor.

Additional info: 

It's open late night and 24hrs on Fridays and Saturdays which make this perfect for an after-partying snack. Although, doesn't that make you wonder where the Hillsborough kids like to party? WIFI is also available if you know, you're the kind of intellectual who likes to work on your blog at a diner. Oh hey- that's not a bad idea! 

Accepts major credit cards; you pay at the front.