The Home Plate Diner, Brunch Spot in Atlantic Beach.

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Remember that guy who ran that place (and his mouth) on Third Street? He’s baaack — in Atlantic Beach

It used to be called Col. Mustards, or The Home Plate Diner, and it was neon-lit-up in old-school diner style, with the must-have black-and-white checkerboard floor (laid in a diagonal pattern for a more authentic blast-from-the-past ambiance), black vinyl upholstered booths and hash house wall décor.

Dano’s maintains the familiar diner atmosphere: the more humble the surroundings, the better the food, right? You betcha. There’s the de rigueur chalkboard, scrawled with a long list of rules to which customers and staff alike must adhere or forfeit the right to be in the joint at all. Yeah, the Colonel’s back. Chef/owner/head waiter/dishwasher, aka James Reemsnyder, Sr., discourses on any topic — more than likely one he favors — for all within earshot.

But never mind the politics he spouts, or whether you or anyone else having breakfast or lunch here agrees or disagrees with him. It’s his ball field and your input is neither heeded nor welcomed. But we digress: We’re here to tell all y’all about the food, often cooked by The Man himself! The breakfast menu has just what you’d expect — pancakes and waffles, omelets, French toast, breakfast subs, biscuits, shrimp & grits (you’re in the South, remember?) and eggs benedict — in hearty helpings, all fairly priced, most featuring a baseball theme. The coffee’s good, too. Lunch means burgers, salads, cheeseburgers, wings, chicken tenders, cheesesteaks, chicken cheesesteaks (huh?) and sides like onion rings, fries, mozzarella sticks and the like. There’s a word seen throughout the menu that may be unfamiliar to some of you: phat. It’s just their way of telling us that it’s all Phabulous: Pretty, Hot, And Tempting.

Slide on in Dano’s for breakfast and/or lunch. You won’t regret it!

Writer Marlene Dryden