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Date: 9/17/2021
GRANBY – A local diner has worked hard to continue to serve their customers throughout the pandemic in spite of being short-staffed.
If you're craving for a hearty breakfast, lunch or dinner, then try the Earlee Mug, a small family-owned diner located on 337 East State St. in Granby. With menu options such as omelets, pancakes or French toast, pulled pork sandwiches and clam strips, the diner is popular among residents.
“I love the small-town atmosphere. We have a lot of people from the community come in. We have regulars that come in for breakfast and lunch every day,” Co-Owner and Chef Jennifer Roberts said. “We have great customers that have been good friends of ours. It's a lot of work, especially right now, but I do love it.”
She continued, “Our cuisine is comfort homemade diner food. We do omelets, eggs, toast and home fries. We also do a lunch special every day. Every Monday we do a turkey dinner, every Friday we do fish and chips and then we switch it up during the week. Every Sunday we do a special called the Marieke which is home fries with chopped ham, onions and spinach with two eggs on top and then hollandaise sauce on top of that.”
The dish, she explained, was inspired by a former employee. “Marieke was an old employee of mine that came up with this dish. She moved to Florida so to honor her we do this special on Sundays,” she said. “Then we always have a homemade soup such as corn chowder, beef veggie soup and turkey rice soup.”
Roberts has been a chef at the Earlee Mug for 12 years and a co-owner for three years. She and her mother Earleen used to go there every day for lunch when her aunt owned a farm in town. The diner was originally called Manny’s Place, owned by Manny Anamisis. Roberts’ mother brought the diner from Anamisis when she moved back to Granby 12 years ago and renamed it the Earlee Mug, which is a play off of her name.
Throughout the pandemic, Roberts told Reminder Publishing it has been extremely tough. She said it has been hard for her to find people to help, so both of her sons are helping her run the diner. Currently, she said it's hard to get product because everything has been delayed by shipping. Fortunately, Roberts said during the pandemic they didn't have to close because so many of their regular customers relied on them.
She said due to the large elderly community that comes to the diner, they stayed open two hours a day just for take-out. “I was putting up things every day on Facebook. We would do family meals to keep the diner going especially on the weekends,” she said. “We came up with a family weekend meal with 10 eggs, a couple sides of bacon, a couple of pancakes so they can bring it home and not have to worry about cooking.”
Aside from having a hard time finding product and employees, Roberts said the diner is doing well and they’re very busy. The diner still does takeout and they have added outdoor dining for customers who are not comfortable eating inside. They will also bring out the food to customers if they're not comfortable coming in for curbside pick-up. Though Roberts doesn't have any future plans for the Earlee Mug at the moment, she is thinking about doing car shows for next year.
“I really think the customers that we see come in everyday just appreciate us,” said Roberts. “It's rewarding to have this small community feel. Hopefully, next year things stay the same and it will be a little easier to get product and employees than it is now since things are getting back to normal.”
The Earlee Mug is open Monday through Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/The-Earlee-Mug-383941011812868/ or call at 467-3244.