The neon "OPEN" sign said it all: After months of headaches and delays and budget crunches (much of which Y&H will detail in tomorrow's column), Capital City Diner finally opened for business yesterday in Trinidad. It was packed with neighbors, well-wishers, reporters, and even a surprise out-of-town guest. After the jump is my brief snapshot [...]

Tom and Lynn Dougherty step back in time The last time Lynn Dougherty laid eyes on Capital City Diner, it was called the Avoca Diner, and it was run by a woman named Brenda Remchuk, a former Corning Glass employee who decided to get into the grease-slinging business. That was in Avoca, N.Y., in 1991. [...]

We here at Y&H Central have two suggestions on how to celebrate this important day: 1. Go to the nearest IHOP. (Location finder here.) Order a short stack of buttermilk pancakes. They're free today until 10 p.m. Well, they're free if you're a total assmunch and don't make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network, which supports children's [...]

The Avoca Family Diner, circa 1993 Y&H received an e-mail earlier this week from Randy Garbin, publisher of Roadside magazine and its electronic version Roadside Online. Garbin's magazine is a love letter to diners and their role in American grease-tronomy. Garbin sent me a PDF version of a piece he wrote in 1993 about the Avoca Family Diner, which was [...]

After all the bureaucratic hassles, Capital City Diner breezed through its final health inspection today, obtained its business license, and plans to open for business on Tuesday. So how does it feel to finally start slinging hash, Matt Ashburn? "Scary as hell," he says. "Actually, I think it's a relief, and I couldn't be happier." [...]

Matt Ashburn gets a head start on sippin' mud at Capital City Diner. It's taken a long, long, long, long time to reach its grand opening, but Capital City Diner is close. How close? It's a question that co-owner Matt Ashburn has answered so many times, he's hesitant to give a specific date anymore. Let's [...]

A view of Cap City Diner from across the street If the tone of Matt Ashburn's e-mails indicates anything, the Capital City Diner owner sounds a lot calmer than he was back in August when he and business partner, Patrick Carl, were battling with Washington Gas over the installation of a new line. Ashburn has [...]

When Y&H last chatted with Capital City Diner co-owner Matt Ashburn, he was trying to convince Washington Gas to waive the $5,600 "contribution" fee that the utility was requesting to lay a new pipe from the gas main to the forthcoming restaurant at 1050 Bladensburg Rd NE in Trinidad. Ashburn's argument for waiving the fee [...]

On Monday, Y&H reported that Capital City Diner couldn't even get Washington Gas to return a phone call. Today, e-mails co-owner Matt Ashburn, the gas company told Cap City that it will cost more than $5,600 to install an underground pipe from the main line to the diner in Trinidad. That's cash that Ashburn and [...]

If the owners of Capital City Diner had to endure several painful crash-course lessons back in May as they moved their diner to D.C., the partners are now just playing the standard waiting game as the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs reviews their restaurant plans. Most of the DCRA comments are in, says co-owner [...]