Committee’s headquarters becomes site of ‘Dem’s Diner’

There’s a new restaurant in Johnston that just might be the most unique eatery in Rhode Island.

For starters, the place is only open a couple of hours one day a week, and there’s not even a chef or cook in sight. Nor are the tables inside the spacious dining room – which has a wide screen television – covered with linen cloths or even placemats, and there’s not one piece of silverware on the premises.

The clientele, though, is rather influential and ranges from members of the clergy, business and medical community and political leaders, who all enjoy breaking bread every Wednesday inside the Johnston Democratic Town Committee headquarters at 1351 Atwood Ave.

And this eatery, people like Richard DelFino Jr. will tell you, is as unique as how Dem’s Diner came into being.

Back some six weeks or so, DelFino Jr. and Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena had each brought their lunches – in brown bags – to their respective work places. As usual, their day’s schedule was filled with demands and included a private meeting.

Thus, the two decided to meet at headquarters, but their privacy didn’t last long.

“There was just the two of us,” DelFino Jr. remembered. “It was nice and quiet but that didn’t last long. Several people saw our cars and stopped in.”

And ever since that day back in June as word got around about what was happening, the Dem’s lunch bunch – as DelFino Jr. joked – “has grown into 30 or so people breaking bread in an old-fashioned family-like setting while enjoying a different menu every week.”

“It’s really amazing,” DelFino Jr. went on. “This all happened by accident.”

That was back some weeks when the small group included John D’Errico, who suggested a meeting the following week and said “I’ll make sausage and peppers.”

DelFino Jr. countered: “I’ll get some rolls from Buono’s [Bakery in Johnston],” while another person offered to make and bring the salad.

Since that time the menu has ranged from Peter DelPonte’s sautéed chicken tenders with mushrooms and peppers in a smooth and light red sauce to the recent antipasto that included imported salami from Italy, replete with different dressings and yet another person brining a huge tray of cookies.

On any given week, the “Celebrity Chef” could be someone like Arnie Vecchione, Johnston’s director of public works, who has affinity for creative cooking and “great Italian food like mom use to make.”

Perhaps the most unique part of the Wednesday luncheons is there’s no charge.

And, as DelFino Jr. mused, “the only tips allowed during lunch are those people offer about religion, politics, movies – the weather, of course – or even what to get the wife for their anniversary.”

“It’s a fun and unique group for sure,” Frank Caprio, a candidate for state treasurer whose campaign headquarters on Atwood Avenue is just a stone’s throw from Dem’s Diner. “And the food’s great, too.”

But just who pays for enough food to feed upwards of 30 people?

“Lunch is on whoever wants to donate,” DelFino Jr. went on. “There is absolutely no expense for anyone, not even the Democratic Town Committee. It has basically boiled down to Peter [DelPonte], Arnie [Vecchione] ... even my wife [Barbara] made a delicious meatballs and pasta dish one week. We all make up and donate the week’s menu.”

Thus, on any given Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. or so, Dem’s Diner may be filled with around three dozen people.