Why did a video crew visit Coal Miner's Diner in Jennerstown?

JENNERSTOWN ― When you feed as many people each day as Eileen Darr and the staff do at Coal Miner’s Diner , you may not realize where a tasty plate of food and a positive experience might lead.

In their case, it led a customer to nominate the diner for a segment on America’s Best Restaurants Roadshow , an online video series highlighting independently-owned restaurants across the United States.

More good food: Hungry for some comfort food? Here are 10 locally owned restaurants to try

On July 24, show host Theo Williams and videographer Taylor Dick visited Somerset County to film the segment, learn what makes Coal Miner’s Diner special and sample some of its customers’ favorite dishes.

Standing next to the flat-top grill with chef Dylan Berkley, Williams talked viewers through the steps as Berkley made blackened salmon and shrimp pasta, one of the dishes customers recommended to be featured on the show.

“This is a thing of beauty,” Williams said as Berkley plated the pasta, salmon and shrimp and added a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. “I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. I’m diving right into the salmon, I’m not even gonna lie.”

As customers ordered and ate their meals near them in the main dining room, Williams interviewed Darr and her husband, Rod, then sampled a burger and the diner’s meatloaf dinner as Rod told him that the beef is hormone-free and locally raised exclusively for them.

The Coal Miner’s Diner episode will be aired at a later date on America’s Best Restaurants ’ YouTube channel and also posted on its website.

Five years 'behind the scenes'

Eileen Darr said she was surprised by the attention, because she prefers “to be behind the scenes, making good food.”

“I have good employees; without them, I’d never be able to do this,” she said.

Rod Darr praised the former owners, John and Betty Rhoads, for encouraging Eileen to take over the restaurant five years ago, saying “they bent over backward to help us.”

The Darrs are also grateful for the customer support from Jennerstown residents and the surrounding community since they’ve had the restaurant, saying that customers have driven through snowstorms and bad weather for a home-cooked meal, and they ordered lots of takeout meals when the restaurant was closed to indoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duane and Pat Wagner of Jenners Crossroads are regular customers who celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary with breakfast on July 24 at the diner. The Wagners moved to Somerset County in 2013 after living in Maryland for most of their married years.

“This was the first place we came to eat when we moved back,” Pat Wagner said. “It’s very pleasant to come here and eat. Their shrimp salad is out of this world.”

Duane agreed that they always enjoy themselves when they eat at Coal Miner’s Diner.

“She (Eileen) is a wonderful person,” he said. “You don’t need an excuse to come here.”

Things to see and do: Day trips: 12 places to take the family around Somerset County

John Kolonich and Frank Kolonich from Hooversville are also regular customers. Frank said he and his father come to Jennerstown several times a week to eat at the diner.

“This place deserves this kind of recognition,” John Kolonich said after ordering baked haddock for lunch. “We would recommend this place to anyone. We like the owners and the staff is great.”

A new place to try: Ready for some Chipotle? Restaurant chain's Somerset spot opening next week

'Like we did something right'

In addition to their many local customers, the Coal Miner’s Diner gets a good amount of visitor traffic traveling along Route 30, Rod Darr said, including Jennerstown Speedway patrons and bus tours heading to and from the Flight 93 National Memorial that are looking for a place to stop and eat.

“There were three achievements we were after when we started,” Rod Darr said. “First, we wanted the food to taste good. Second, we wanted people to leave here feeling full, and third, we wanted our meals to be reasonably priced. The first two we did, the third has been a struggle with the increase in prices but we’ve made it work.

“But this (the attention from the show) is good, it makes me feel like we did something right. We put God first, and it’s his blessings that got us here today,” he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Why did a video crew visit Coal Miner's Diner in Jennerstown?