The Mount Rushmore

of

Diners

in

Bangor, Maine

Chase’s: The full name for this great diner is Chase’s Family Restaurant and Hideaway Lounge, but local’s just call it Chase’s. Or great. Because it is. They are open seven days a week 7am to 8pm, only closing one hour earlier on Sundays at 7pm. Even though they start off this Mount Rushmore and were a sure bet on one hand, on the other the almost miss because as they are straddling the Hermon line. They are in Bangor though and they are are a diner and they are great. So they will always have a spot here, on this Mount Rushmore.

Broadway Coffee Shop & Dairy Freeze: This joint makes this Mount Rushmore largely because of its long and confusing name. There is a lot of misdirection going on here, it seems. First, it has a huge sign outside that says Coffee Shop. However, it is not your traditional coffee shop with multiple amounts of coffee selections, hipsters, or even one coffee decent coffee. Whatever they serve might be some off-brand Folgers or Maxwell House. That is not to denigrate them though. This is to congratulate them for the audacity, the guts, the true grit of a diner to call proudly declare themselves a coffee shop in the most confident of manners. I’m not even sure if they have Wi-Fi They are by all means a diner. A diner the likes of Rooster Cockburn would certainly frequent if he were alive today—and also not fictional.

There is also the Dairy Freeze bit, because they have a long history in the ice cream game. But still the name doesn’t really tell you what’s going on there. But it doesn’t need to. They deliver the goods. Good products. A clearer name might only bring the unwanted masses to overcrowd the place.

This is a great place to celebrate if you just got discharged from the nearby hospital.

Dysart’s on Broadway: Is Broadway in Bangor like the Broadway in New York except for Diners instead of theatres? You may be wondering. Well, that’s a good debate to have. Because the Dysart’s on Broadway is certainly not an off-Broadway diner; it is no off-Broadway theatre production. This establishment has all the looks and makings of a gas station in the front, but like the mullet is offers a lot more in the back, including the party. Not only does this place offer a classic diner, if you go further back, behind the diner, it has a bar that has live music on the weekends.

But we are just focused on diners here. Even without the bar, this place is a winner. You can get a variety of omelets including the “Kitchen Sink,” which is everything—everything you want. They have homemade bread. They have art on the walls. Who needs to go to a Manhattan art gallery when you have one right here on Broadway?

Nicky’s: Though the full official name was Nicky’s Cruisin Diner, it was affectionately known as Nicky’s. It had a great throwback-to-the-50s atmosphere and though it has been closed since 2020, its presence remains as one of the top diners in Bangor. It was not only my grandpa’s diner of choice in the area, but his restaurant of choice. It was almost a certainty that he would take me there if picking me up or dropping me off from the nearby airport or bus station. Though my grandpa has long passed, nearly a decade before Nicky’s decided to follow him and provide him a choice eatery in the land up above, he remains very much presence with us, even more than Nicky’s.

Nicky’s has a place in American history. With then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama stopping there during the 2008 campaign as he knew that he could not get his face on Mount Rushmore of South Dakota, but by stopping at this diner he could get mention in one of our Mount Rushmores of sweetlivinproductions.com. He also knew that stopping at NIcky’s would lead him Maine’s northern district’s one electoral vote, the tipping point to landing him eight years in the Oval Office. Now that Nicky’s is gone, people are unsure of how we elect our presidents—or how to become president.

So with the presidential history and with the fact that Nicky’s never dies, but rather is like the presidents of old preserved on the mountainside, Nicky’s rises from the dead to become the staple of this very robust Mount Rushmore.