These days, Orndorff visits Tootie's two or three times a week. He now favors the corned beef hash for breakfast, and when Chef Alfredo Romero cooks his favorites for lunch, he gets a phone call.

The Brusnahans opened Tootie's in 1980; they also ran the now-closed CooksTown Diner. Lorie Brusnahan, 70, said she has customers today who were children when she met them and are now becoming ...