The Swan Street Diner is an example of one of the early Sterling Company diner cars made by a Mass. company from 1936 to 1942.  Swan Street is No. 397 from  1937, featuring mahogany trim, barrel vaulted ceiling and walls of porcelain enamel.  This one was originally in Newark, NY as a diner and assembled onsite from pieces.  Since then it has had 3 owners and in 2013 Larkin Development Group purchased it, took it to Akron, Ohio and then to Buffalo for full restoration.  The interior enamel panels, bar stools and wood trim are original and the rest was fabricated onsite, trying to hold to the original design.  The Larkin Soap Company made china among other things and Swan Street was able to purchase some of the last plates and mugs made in Buffalo for the Diner.  They offer breakfast and lunch and have a couple specials.  The food is high quality and it’s a beautifully restored diner with a few original parts.  Great, friendly service.

Diner

 

Food

 

The food looked so good we were into it before I snapped photos so we tried our best to restore the plates.  The portabella and bacon omelette was made with swiss cheese and served with homefries and toast.  It had lots of flavor and had been cooked at a low enough temperature that the eggs stayed moist.  The homefries were potatoes at varying levels of crispiness but all with good potato flavor.  The toast was pre-buttered, thick sliced and had good flavor.

 

The French Toast was made with thick sliced Placzek bread and served with NY maple syrup and topped with butter and powdered sugar.  The Placek bread is a sweet Polish type withsugary crumbs on the top and moist.  The bread had been well drenched before frying to a nice crisp exterior and there was plenty of maple syrup in the little pitcher.  It was fantastic.

 

A side of bacon was a thin sliced variety and came folded to fit on the plate.  It was perfect with the sweet rich French toast.

 

I am a lover of mini-donuts so when I saw them on the menu I knew I had to have some to go.  They came in several flavor varieties and I picked the cinnamon sugar ones.  They came out hot and steaming in the plastic container – a good cake donut with plenty of cinnamon and sugar.  They were terrific.  I wish I had some now!