'Finer diner' serves chef-inspired comfort food

At 24 Diner, Executive Chef and partner Andrew Curren said the customer comes second.

Instead, employees comes first because they are responsible for what goes on inside the "finer diner," he said.

"If you have happy employees, they are going to give better service to the customers that come in," he said.

The diner has been doing things a little differently since opening in 2009. Instead of serving greasy diner dishes, the restaurant, which is open 24 hours most days and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, uses local and seasonal ingredients and embraces sustainability.

The menu features chef-driven comfort food with entrees such as roasted chicken and meatloaf. The restaurant does not use freezers, and most ingredients are delivered fresh every day.

"It's food people can recognize but see a big difference in when you use local, seasonal products," Curren said.

The diner was an immediate hit when it opened and had to temporarily close after its first four days because it ran out of ingredients, Curren said. He added that the community's initial embrace of the restaurant using local, seasonal ingredients inspired 24 Diner to start a comprehensive recycling and composting program.

"It's the unknown and the unseen to the guest that makes their experience so fantastic," he said.

The restaurant has seen a double-digit growth in sales every year since opening, Curren said. Customers range from hipsters and college students to professionals in suits, and the restaurant caters to as many people as possible by offering vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free menu options, Curren said.

Curren credited the restaurant's sustained growth with consistently serving good food and offering good service.

"We want to be an institution that Austin embraces," he said. "We are always trying to give people an opportunity to come in and enjoy the atmosphere we have created. We want people to be able to walk into our place and feel like they are home."

The people behind 24 Diner

Elm Restaurant Group, the ownership group of Andrew Curren, Robert Gillett, Vince Ashwill and Scott Hentschel, teamed together to open 24 Diner in 2008.

The partners opened Easy Tiger, the beer garden and bakery at 709 E. Sixth St., in 2012 and plan to open Arro, a casual French restaurant, in June at 601 W. Sixth St.

"I much prefer to do different concepts with the same underlying goals and ideals in Austin to doing the same thing," Curren said.

Curren said he and his partners all bring different skill sets to the table. Hentschel specializes in real estate, investor relations and the overall management of the restaurants, Gillett is responsible for overall operations, Ashwill is in charge of management development and Curren is the chef in charge of the menu

"We are a group of people with strengths and weaknesses that are transparent, so we can help each other," Curren said.

Popular dishes

• Chicken and waffles: The dish combines a yeast-risen waffle topped with brown sugar butter, a chicken thigh and breast marinated in buttermilk and Frank's RedHot sauce and fried to order, served with maple syrup. $9.95 small, $13.95 large
• 24 Hash: The onions and jalapeos are cooked with the potatoes; bacon, sausage and cheese are added, and two eggs are dropped on top. The diner also has a vegetarian hash and seasonal sweet potato hash. $11.95
• Cheddar burger: The burger has a premium Gold Angus Beef patty that is ground in-house the morning it is served along with house-made aioli sauce, red onions, cheddar cheese, roasted tomatoes and comes on a freshly baked bun from Easy Tiger, a sister restaurant of 24 Diner. $12.95

Milkshakes

For frequent customer Kevin Crook, 24 Diner's milkshakes are the best thing on the menu.

"They give me pure joy," he said.

The restaurant has nine types of milkshakes on a given day, all of which use fresh and natural ingredients, Executive Chef Andrew Curren said.

All milkshakes start with a vanilla ice cream base. Popular milkshakes include:

• Roasted banana and brown sugar milkshake: A case of bananas is peeled, roasted with brown sugar and butter, pureed, cooled down and blended with vanilla ice cream. $6.45
• Vanilla milkshake: Vanilla ice cream is blended with an expensive, pure Tahitian vanilla paste and whole milk. $4.95
• Strawberry milkshake: Strawberries are bought from a local farmer and blended with the vanilla ice cream and whole milk. $5.95

600 N. Lamar Blvd., 512-472-5400, www.24diner.com

• Open 24 hours daily except Wed. 1–6:00am