> by TONY farina

Ash Wednesday, a mostly Catholic observance where ashes on the forehead are a reminder of our mortality, marks the beginning of Lent and in recognition of the special occasion next Wednesday, Feb. 10, the new owners of the Wehrle Restaurant (now Wehrle Diner) in Amherst are offering up an Ash Wednesday Fish Fry all day that includes homemade coleslaw.

Tiffani Balch with Fish Special at Wehrle Diner

Lucy Rauch and Jaspal Singh, longtime worker and new owner of Wehrle Diner

“We want to invite the regular customers who have come here all these years and folks who have never been here to come by and enjoy our special Ash Wednesday offering,” says new owner Jaspal Singh. “It is our way of letting you know we are happy to be here and serve you on Ash Wednesday and every other day you might be looking for good food in a pleasant atmosphere.”

Jaspal and his wife Amritpal are Canadians who selected the Buffalo area in part to be close to their daughter Jotyi who is a UB Law School student, and also to open up a place of their own after running restaurants in Greece and Connecticut. With the help of Sunbelt Business Brokers and co-owner Lidia Couzo, they found and bought the Wehrle Restaurant last year from Sylvia Kientos who owned it for 30 years with her late husband. The Singh family now calls their place the Wehrle Diner but it remains a Greek restaurant featuring all day breakfast and specials on weekends.

In addition to their daughter attending UB, Jaspal and his wife have two daughters attending college in Toronto and who can be found from time to time with their parents at the warm and friendly family diner that the family now treats as their pride and joy, devoting many hours making sure it is a model of consistency where customers will return for a warm and tasty meal.

“We are truly living our dream, and we are enjoying meeting so many people and serving them the best food we can and the freshest fish fry in town,” says Jaspal. “It has been a great experience and we are so glad to be here serving the Greek food we learned to cook in Greece and on Greek tour ships. We know how to do it and our customers seem to be enjoying it very much.” And the eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise is one of the most popular dishes at the diner, located at 29 Wehrle Drive at the busy intersection with Kensington and Harlem. Parking is available at the diner and across the street in the Walgreens parking lot.

So far, so good for the Singh family who have been warmly received by their customers and looking forward to staying for a long time.

“It is a dream come true, for sure,” says Jaspal. “We were able to find just what we were looking for, and now we have it all and are also near our daughter. I look forward to being a part of this community and meeting folks from all over the area at our Wehrle Diner.”