Welcome Diner celebrated its reopening Friday night during February’s First Friday event.
Originally, Welcome Diner was a trailer made by Valentine Manufacturing in the 1950s. Old Dixie’s food truck operators Michael Babcock and Jenn Robinson reopened the restaurant, which offers Southern-style cooking including fried chicken sandwiches and peanut butter burgers.
Babcock explained that he and Robinson were looking for their next move from Old Dixie’s food truck; they loved the trailer that is now a permanent fixture on the northwest corner of 10th and Roosevelt streets.
“The inspiration was just to do what we love, to open up a space in the community that we love,” he said.
Valentine Manufacturing was founded during the Great Depression. They built trailers and drove them out to the owners, collecting the rent owners deposited weekly from a small metal box in the trailer, Babcock said.
Babcock said that the Welcome Diner trailer was brought to its location in downtown Phoenix from the Lake Havasu area around the early 1990s. Due to its vintage quirkiness, Babcock and Robinson did very little in the way of remodeling or repainting.
“We really love how unique and old-school the diner is, so we really tried to leave as much as possible,” Babcock said.
Welcome Diner is a small red and white building with a variety of chairs and tables scattered around the front lawn, plus some seating at the narrow counter inside.
Tempe attorney Bridget Humphrey, 60, said she loves the high energy packed into the intimate space.
“I like the counter. It’s like a party at the counter,” Humphrey said.
The small counter and kitchen area was just one of the challenges the owners had to face upon reopening the diner, Babcock said. They also had to open the diner within 30 days of their liquor license being issued, which required a hasty setup. Babcock said the opening was “almost overnight.”
Welcome Diner’s current hours include dinner Thursday-Saturday and brunch on weekends. Babcock and Robinson hope to eventually be open five or six days of the week for lunch and dinner. They also want to be involved with the community, Babcock said.
“Our part is keeping the community stoked in what we do,” Babcock said.
The food at Welcome Diner was a highlight for many of the customers at the opening Friday night. ASU psychology and English literature junior Emma Lauer was happy with her dining experience.
“It was very good. It was very filling. It was a little messy, but it tastes good,” Lauer said.
Jenny Russell, 30, expressed her own excitement for Welcome Diner’s presence in the community, as well as the food.
“The food is awesome,” Russell said. “We’re fried chicken snobs, so it’s great.”
Alyssa Clark contributed to the reporting of this story.
Contact the reporter at molly.bilker@asu.edu
