Agawam Diner

The joint

A worthy alternative to the great fried clam shacks of Massachusetts’ North Shore, the Agawam diner is a ship-shape, pint-size 1954 restaurant that is all silver sunbursts, pink laminate paneling, and red-upholstered booths. The menu is pure and traditional diner fare. It includes beef stew, hot hamburger plates, luscious grilled cheese sandwiches for less than the cost of a junk-food hamburger, and breakfast that is virtually instantaneous.

Stew and Banana Cake- YUM!

We enjoyed a hearty beef and bean chili in a sweet-hot tomato zest and we have savored a daily special of lamb shank.  This is so tender that it slipped from its bone with ease. A double-layer banana nut cake gobbed with whipped cream was memorable dessert. Although the Agawam Diner is a classic hash house, it is the conversation among staff and regulars that is most delicious.

A conversation overheard

“Where’s your Corvette?” a counter customer asks his waitress.

“Put away for the winter,” she answers, slicing a chunky apple pie into eight wedges and putting one piece on a plate for her interlocutor.

“Loan the ‘Vette to me,” he grins. “I’ll put a plow on it and make money when it snows.”

From the far end of the counter, a lady wearing overalls and a knit cap chimes in: “You don’t need a plow. You need a shovel. You’re always shovelin’ the BS.”

“Oh, look what I found for you!” the waitress calls to her distaff supporter, bringing her the apple pie that had been cut for the wise-acre.