PEORIA MAGAZINE December 2022

“I’m the only cook who cooks here,” he said. The café survives in part because of cheap eats. For example, a cheese omelet with toast runs just $4.50. But the low-doughmenu isn’t the only reason the diner maintains a legion of regulars. Many appreciate that every time they walk in the door, they know what to expect. “They treat you decent,” said Arricka Triplett, 55, who often walks from her nearby home to have breakfast. “It’s old school. Other places change. Here, nothing ever changes.” Waitress Brittney Sargent, one of a handful of employees, enjoys the morning chatter among familiar faces and newcomers alike. Brittney Sargent paused between taking orders at the Garden Street Café. In her sixth year there, Sargent says she enjoys playful interactions between customers, many of whom are regulars

“Everybody who comes in here, even if they come in separately, they see somebody they know and they start talking to ‘em,” said Sargent, 30, who has worked there six years. “Somebody’ll pay for somebody’s breakfast, and they don’t even know ‘em.” Burr is proud of what the diner means to neighborhood residents. “There’s not hardly any places around here for them to go,” Burr said. “It keeps me busy. I’m not gonna get rich, with the economy right now. But we survive, you know, and do a good business.” But he’d like to be less busy, which is why the café is for sale. That’s not to say Burr would vanish from the neighborhood. He owns the Garden Gate Tap, two doors down, and he plans Inside the order window at the Garden Street Café, owner Richard Burr cooks through another breakfast shift. Burr, whose family has owned the business for 40 years, is the diner’s lone cook, six days a week

to keep running the joint. But he’d like to hang up his diner apron. “Just slow down, enjoy a little bit of life,” he said, grinning once again. “I’ve worked long hours most of my life. So, you know, it’s to relax and spend time with the grandkids and stuff like that.” Phil Luciano is a senior writer/ columnist for Peoria Magazine and content contributor to public television station WTVP The Garden Street Café might serve the cheapest breakfast in town. A cheese omelet and toast runs $4.50

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L O CAL OWNE R S Alison Hammerton and Lesley Vonachen

DECEMBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 53