AUBURN - Everything is well done at the Auburn Diner.

That includes burgers, cooked the way you want them; and eggs soft and puffy, partnered with a spatula of home fries on the plate, and those are home-made home fries: cut, boiled and grilled fresh every day.

But for some, those things are secondary.

They go there for just coffee and toast. To satisfy another sort of appetite.

“Everyone knows everyone there,” said owner Toni Bianco. “One conversation can start and then go throughout the whole diner.”

Which, while it seats 40, is not that big, but there is a magic to its compactness. Everything is put in just the right place, as though once on board you are ready to take a comfortable journey through the neighborhood, picking friends up along the way.

And while the staff might be driving, they are also along for the ride.

“I love the clientele we have,” said server Kate Pinckney of Auburn who started as a bus girl in January 2003. “How everyone's nice to one another. It can get pretty crazy on the weekends. But you can actually have a conversation with them while you're working.”

It is close to closing time on a Thursday, and the neon trim along the outside of the diner is just beginning to settle into the beginning of night. Inside, the stainless steel posts holding the ends of each of the booth tops are bouncing back the inside lights with a warm shine.

In one of those booths, Tim and Paula O'Brien, of Auburn, are relaxing, turning in for the day. Cups of coffee are at arms reach on the red tabletop in front of them. Just one other patron, sitting in a booth at the end facing the length of the dining room, is still there.

Each booth has its own coat hooks. The O'Briens' sit facing each other on the black vinyl cushions in such a manner to suggest they're at home.

“Usually we come in and our neighbor sits in that corner,” Paula said. “It's a community type of thing. The food is great here. I've never had a bad meal. We started coming here for breakfast a year ago and then we started coming Friday nights for dinner. The service is great, and the girls are always friendly and very nice.”

“And we just like diners,” Tim added.

He used to go to original Auburn Diner on State street, before it burned.

“They parked it back on the railroad bed. I remember thinking, what are they going to do with that building?” he said.

Stephen Bianco, Toni's husband, was wondering the same thing.

“There was nothing left of it,” Toni said. “Basically just the floor and the sides. My husband found out they were going to get rid of it. So he called the city, and we bought the land.”

Now located near enough, on Columbus Street, to attract old patrons, the diner looks brand-new. Albeit if you took a time machine back to the '50s. Together with the neon, there are subtle touches: the small American flag on the side window; the sleek long counter with the swivel seats.

“It was two years in the making. My mother-in-law, Joan Wilson and I, basically did all the interior: the floor and the countertops. We picked out the colors,” Toni said. “I'm kind of middle of the road. I don't like things too flashy or too plain.”

Stephen, who has owned a plumbing business in the city for years, constructed the back kitchen addition and put in strategic shelving behind the counter to hold the cups, saucers and other necessary things.

And the menu? Not too flashy, not too plain.

“Probably the 'Auburn Diner Big Breakfast' is everybody's favorite,” Toni said. “You get everything - eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, ham and home fries. They also love the Fritatta (omelet) and the Fretta. They love those.”

For lunch, diners have come to expect homemade soups and specials and homemade pies. They also know they won't have to wait.

“On the weekends, we are very busy. We have a waiting line at each end. It's very rare if you can get right in. But the waiting time is literally five to 10 minutes,” Toni said, adding that ticket times are excellent as well. “That's my most hated thought - if they had to wait. They know (the staff) to keep it fast.”

Many of the staff members are comprised of family members, including Toni's mom, Marjorie Townsend, who's been a waitress there since day one.

“I'm proud of how well its done on every angle - the food, the service, how clean it is. We always get compliments about how clean it is, how friendly our waitresses are,”Toni said.

The Auburn Diner is located at 64 Columbus Street. Hours are daily, 6 a.m. - 2 p.m., Thursday and Friday until 8 p.m.

Auburn Diner

64 Columbus Street

253-7375

Mon-Sun, 6am-2pm

Breakfast, Lunch