Owner Sees Gold in His Chain of Silver Diners Food: Robert Giaimo thinks Americans are hungry for something between fast food and more formal eateries and hopes to expand into the family restaurant chain of the '90s.: [Orange County Edition]

What Pizza Hut did for that Italian favorite, Robert Giaimo hopes to do with the most American of dishes-diner food.

Picking up on a trend of retro diners springing up nationwide, Giaimo has built four Silver Diners he hopes to expand into the family restaurant chain of the '90s.

"I don't see why there can't be as many Silver Diners as there are Denny's or maybe McDonald's," said Giaimo, 41. "Denny's did a great job in their day, so did Bob's Big Boy, but they're tired."

The Silver Diner offers a menu of meatloaf, hash, hamburgers and other standard fare served in a frenetic '50s atmosphere where the sounds of the grill bump up against oldies from refurbished 1940s jukeboxes.

The no-nonsense food, friendly service and shiny stainless steel have been brought back, while the greasy atmosphere and tractor trailers in the parking lot have been left out. Meal prices average $4 for breakfast, $6 for lunch and $8 for dinner.

"We're revolutionizing, reinventing what a family restaurant is, in that we're calling it a family restaurant only in the sense that it has reasonable prices," said Giaimo, who lives with wife, Kate, and two young children in...