O.C. Airport Diner: Home-Style Grub, Good Coffee, Nice People

Don't even think about asking John Kurz what the secret is to the tasty home fries he serves up at the at the Ocean City Municipal Airport.

“We use really good potatoes and onions,” Kurz said, but that's all he would divulge as far as ingredients.

Maybe the key is in method: Kurz cooks like he's at home.

“We make good, simple food. Everybody loves it,” he said.

Kurz and fiancee Colleen Cacciola lease the 60-seat diner from the city – he cooks, she serves up his delicious dishes with a warm smile. Kurz has been working in restaurants since he was 12 and bought the business in 2007 from his sister, Lori Pilgrim, who had operated it since 1996.

Open year-round, Airport Diner is a favorite of locals in the off-season and attracts out-the-door lines in summertime—including, as you might imagine, pilots and golfers using the airport and adjacent golf course.

Dwight and Sally Speaker live right across the street, so they look out their window to see if there's a crowd before they make their daily visit. Sally gets eggs, homefries—and don't forget the blueberry muffin.

“That's the important thing,” she said. “Everything's good.”

Marty Vanderslice stops in for breakfast just about every Sunday, except when she's out of town visiting some of her eight children and 21 grandchildren. If she has grandchildren with her, they always want to sit in the big round booth in the corner that seats seven comfortably.

“They're so sweet here,” Vanderslice said, while dining with daughter and son-in-law Valerie and Jack Davis. “They're like family. They know what we get. When my husband died, they closed down” and made food for his funeral luncheon.

Vanderslice always orders the same: SOS (aka creamed chip beef) well done, on a piece of toast. For Valerie, it's an egg white omelet; Jack eggs Benedict with pork roll. They all douse their dishes with hot sauce.

“We're known everywhere for our creamed chip beef,” Kurz said. “We use good beef, it's creamy and silky. They come from all over to get it.”

At $7.50, the creamed chip beef is served on toast points with home fries; Mondays, it's a special for $6.95. An ala carte cup goes for $3.95.

Other favorites are omelets—huge three-eggers, including the Airport ($7.50), with crumbled bacon, provolone, sauteed mushrooms and onions. Kurz added eggs Benedict ($8.95) to the menu, which comes with spinach for $1 extra.

There are always daily specials—like Sunday's Oreo pancakes, drizzled with chocolate syrup and topped with whipped cream ($3.75 and $6.25). In the fall, young grill cook Will Schlucter dreamed up pumpkin French toast, which was a big hit, Cacciola said, and a favorite summertime special is banana split hotcakes.

Another favorite: scrapple, Kurz said, because he cooks it like it's supposed to be—sliced thin and grilled.

The coffee is 100 percent Colombian and costs $1.75 for a bottomless cup.

For lunch, there are deli sandwiches, including triple-decker clubs for $7.25; fried shrimp, clams or chicken in a basket for $6.50 to $6.95; cheesesteaks and hot subs for $5.95 to $8.25; and salads, including the Airport ($8.25)—a chef salad with tuna, ham, turkey and Swiss on romaine.

Kurz and Cacciola have plans to soon refresh the dining room with new carpet, paint and curtains. But customers say don't change too much—and make sure to put the snapshots of customers back on the walls. They like it just the way it is.

AIRPORT DINER

WHERE: Bay Avenue at 26th Street

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast served all day, every day; lunch starts at 11:30 a.m.

PHONE: 609-399-FOOD

OTHER STUFF TO KNOW: Cash only, ATM on site. Free parking. Take-out. Gift certificates.