An Attitude Makes The Beeliner Buzz

WALLINGFORD

Customers usually wear a semi-stunned look the first time they visit the Beeliner Diner.

Miniature plastic dinosaurs fight on the counter. Waiters and waitresses dance to "Baby Love" by the Supremes, while they deliver your food. Sometimes you get silverware. Sometimes not.

But always, with every visit, you get a healthy serving of attitude.

"What? You guys want forks?" sneers Mark Luce, a Beeliner waiter. "What do you think this is? A restaurant?"

When most restaurants are bending over backwards to pamper their customers, the Beeliner Diner, on North 45th, teeters on the edges of rudeness.

"We're never rude," said Jeremy Hardy, who owns the restaurant with Peter Levy. "Everything is done in fun."

Sometimes customers come in wearing clothes dug out of last week's laundry. Mark always comments: "Thanks for dressing up, man."

"This is a freewheeling, casual environment," Levy says, adding: "If someone is not having fun, they (staff) have to know when to back off."

But, Hardy noted, "Our ideal customer is someone who participates. If they're really quiet and they want to hide, this is not the place to be."

Hardy said they've only received three letters of complaint. He points to a wall: "We've hung them up, because they're so funny."

The idea for the Beeliner was born in Boston. Levy, visiting his friend, Hardy, was struck by the diners there. After Hardy moved to Seattle, the two decided to start a restaurant business.

In 1988, they opened the Beeliner Diner, investing about $70,000. They remodeled what used to be an espresso/gelato cafe.

The place is small - almost tiny. There are seven booths and four seats at the counter, with a total capacity of 33.

Hence their diner motto: "Eat it & beat it."

Since opening four years ago, "It's doing very well," Hardy said.

Menu items include a Wimpy Wally, a Toad in the Hole and Pig in the Orchard. They serve salads and hamburgers, too. But you couldn't tell by the orders. The waiters here have their own language.

"Burn one cow to cover. Make it squeal!" (Translation: Hamburger with cheese and bacon).

"Rope one and drag it." (Translation: Country Fried Steak).

The diner serves quality food, made from scratch, say the owners. There's real butter, real flour, real everything.

"There's no microwaves here," Hardy said.

Their attention to detail and quality have paid off. Their restaurant is a profitable business, with customers lining up to get in.

"The restaurant could be more profitable than it is now if we cut corners," Levy said. "But we've resisted that for four years, and we'll continue to."

The partners opened a second restaurant, The 5 Spot Cafe on Queen Anne, in 1990, and already have plans for a third.

The owners attribute much of their success to the carefully chosen staff members. "They're the ones who make it happen," Hardy said.

Because of that, Levy and Hardy scrutinize each applicant. "Our criteria goes beyond good service; they have to have personality," Levy said.

In return, the owners try to offer a non-oppressive, non-corporate management style. "We wanted to create a company that we would want to work for," Hardy said.

And, Hardy said, the management style must work. While most restaurants lose staff continually throughout the year. The Beeliner loses less than two people a year.

Waitress Annette Roberts turns around and yells: "Trivia question number eight - What was Ginger's last name on `Gilligan's Island?' " Various answers, some not so nice. "That's why I love it," she says, smiling. "I don't know any other place like this." (By the way, the answer is Grant).

"In most Seattle restaurants, you can't get away with what we get away with here," cook Ken Burton added. "That's why people come here. For the abuse and the atmosphere."