I often wonder how all these small hometown diners dotting the north country landscape survive. It must take a lot of breakfasts for two or three bucks and lunches for four or five to pay for the heat, the light and the help.

In the center of St. Lawrence County, there are two hometown diners, both called Hometown Café, that seem to have the recipe for success. One's in Madrid, the other in Norwood — and both are owned by Sue and John Frego.

We hit the Madrid Hometown for lunch one day and the Norwood Hometown the next. Here's what we found.

HOMETOWN CAFé

MADRID

322-5332

Madrid's not on the way to anywhere. Unless you live there, there's probably no reason you'd go there.

The Hometown Café is on the corner in the heart of downtown opposite the bank. It's an inviting place on the outside, and on the inside it's bright and clean and nicely decorated with an endless cookie jar collection.

We sat at the long Formica butcher-block lunch counter. It must have 20 of those cool stools that are screwed to the floor.

I like eating at the counter. You can get up close and personal with the wait staff. You can also read the names of all the locals who are no longer allowed to pay for their lunch with a check, 'cause they're posted right there on the wall.

There's nothing like a smiling waitress to make for a pleasant lunch hour. Unfortunately, we got the one who wasn't smiling, but she got the job done just fine.

We started with a cup of homemade vegetable beef and macaroni soup right out of the slow cooker behind the counter. It was excellent, loaded with beef and veggies.

One of the "Hometown Specialties" is the Monte Carlo sandwich — turkey, ham and Swiss between two big, fat pieces of toasted homemade bread they call Texas toast. Ordinarily a Monte Cristo is dipped in a french toast-like batter and pan-fried like french toast, but we don't think ours was done this way.

Nonetheless, it was a great sandwich accompanied by an equally great side of mayonnaisey homemade macaroni salad.

Hot meatloaf sandwich was excellent. Two large slabs of savory meatloaf (a little peppery — and was that minced red and green bell pepper in there?) were covered with salty dark brown gravy. We even ordered the fries covered with gravy at no extra charge.

We chose fries rather than mashed potatoes because our waitress told us the mashed were "half and half — half real potatoes and half instant." We appreciated the honesty.

She also told us which pies were made today (eight out of 14), and that someone comes in at 4 a.m. each day to make them.

I got today's banana cream, which had a fantastic crust, complete with whipped topping squeeze from a pastry bag (no extra charge) right before our eyes. My eating associate got yesterday's blueberry pie, which he "could not rustle up a negative thought" about.

Lunch for two at the Madrid Hometown came to $14.50 before tip. Great value, great food, and no greasy smell on our clothes when we got home.

The Fregos also recently purchased and restored the Madrid Hotel, just down the street from their Hometown Café. It offers light snack food with an old-time tavern atmosphere.

Now you've got two reasons to go to Madrid.

HOMETOWN CAFé

NORWOOD

353-2852

The Norwood Hometown on Main Street near the railroad tracks is the Fregos' flagship eatery. It's been around for at least 10 years, while the Madrid diner his been theirs for about half that time.

It's not quite as appealing looking, inside our out, but that doesn't matter. The owners were there, and the locals, young and old, were out in force, conversing back and forth among tables.

They've got their own list of who can't trade checks for food posted at the cash register on the way in.

The place is smaller, the counter shorter, but the menu's identical, including the very reasonable prices — like "Hometown Specialties" for $3.65, desserts for $1.45, dinners for $6.25.

At these prices, it just might cost more to eat at home.

Our waitress was different. Carrie was full of smiles and seemed to be a favorite among the crowd. And she's the owners' daughter.

One of the Hometown Specialties is their Philly steak sandwich. You can get it made with beef or chicken. Ours was loaded with lots of thinly sliced beef, perfectly sautéed onions and green pepper and gooey melted cheese. My eating associate is a Philly sandwich fanatic, and he says this Philly rivals those he's had in the city where they were invented, Philadelphia, Pa.

For the sake of comparison, I ordered the same lunch I had at the Madrid Hometown. The tasty meatloaf was exactly the same, maybe a little better gravy (less salty, for sure). But I got the "half and half" mashed potatoes. Carrie explained that you really can't tell the difference, and they're less labor intensive to make.

And you know what? Add a little butter to the gravy-slathered spuds, and you really can't tell the difference.

Carrie wasn't sure which pies were made that day, but did tell us they're made by her mom and the cook, Jerry. There were the usual dozen-plus choices.

Apple pie was exceptional, with all the right spices and a great crust. And we took Carrie up on her suggestion to add a little soft ice cream to it. Peanut butter pie was light and mousse-like and packed with peanut butter flavor. Carrie topped that one with whipped cream.

Lunch for two in Norwood came to $14.82 before tip.

Hours of operation are identical for both Hometown Cafés: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.