Behind the scenes: Two local diners seek title of Best Breakfast Place in Central Mass.

Two not-so greasy spoons are duking it out for bragging rights on who’s worthy of being the Best Breakfast Place in Central Massachusetts.

Sharing the inherent philosophy that breakfast isn’t just for morning consumption anymore, Brody’s Diner in Shrewsbury and City Line Diner in Worcester both serve eggs, bacon and other morning favorites all day.

And now it’s do or dine time for these two popular diners — the finalists in the Telegram & Gazette’s search for the top breakfast restaurant in the region.

Like the eggs they serve, the heated competition will not be over easy until 6 a.m. Tuesday, when readers can rise before the sun to be one of the first to find out who will end up scrambled or triumphantly sunny-side up.

Be sure to cast your vote at telegram.com.

The competion is based on reader voting, with the original field of 16 narrowed down in bracket format. Weeklong rounds cut the field to eight, then four, now two.

More than 110,000 votes were cast by readers in the Final Four round that saw Brody's top Tiny Tim's of Auburn and City Line outdo 122 Diner of Holden.

While both are piping hot as the fresh coffee they brew, only one can be the toast of the town.

The restaurants: Brody's

“It feels great,” Suzanne Panarelli of Shrewsbury said about Brody’s Diner making the final two. She's part-owner. “I’m excited. I can’t believe it. It’s awesome.”

Along with fellow owners Christina Gonzalez of Millbury and Frank A. Youkstetter of Shrewsbury, the three took over Brody’s Diner back in November. Prior to that, they all worked for Bob Ricker, Brody’s previous owner for 15 years.

Panarelli and Gonzalez work six days a week, tending tables, while not-so-silent “silent partner” Youkstetter does much of the behind-the-scenes work including manual labor and outside maintenance.

While one of her co-workers carries a buttermilk pancake that’s as big as a hubcap, Panarelli, who says she knows many of her regulars by their first name, insists it’s the atmosphere of the place that makes Brody’s Diner one of the top places for breakfast in Central Massachusetts.

“When people come in here, they know us. They feel comfortable. It’s warm and inviting,” Panarelli said. “The coffee is awesome. The breakfasts are huge. And, we’re fast in delivering your breakfast. People love Brody’s. They love coming back here.”

April 30, 2014, Brody’s Diner became quasi-famous when Jerry Seinfeld and “Parks and Recreation” comedian Aziz Ansari stopped by to tape a season 4 episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

When the breakfast trio took over the business from Ricker, they tweaked the menu a little but generally kept the place as it was when the two standups stopped by to sip java and make jokes.

“We didn’t change anything from Bob (Ricker),” Panarelli said. “Everything he did, we kept. Why would we? People loved him. He would joke around with them. Give them jokes when they went out the door.”

Panarelli explains who (or who isn’t) Brody and how the name came about. “It’s Bob’s daughter’s name (Jody) and her husband’s name (Brad) together.”

Despite starting off as a breakfast truck-stop on a busy tractor-trailer route, the restaurant gets very few truckers (and less men) coming in for breakfast.

“We have more women coming in here now. We have a mix of young kids in here and older people,” Panarelli said. “These are people, local, or they’re traveling or they come a great distance to get breakfast here.”

If you want to celebrate breakfast in a time and place where Tom Brady still plays for New England and the Patriots’ dynasty is alive and well, Brody’s Diner is the place for you.

Despite the Pats’ miserable season, the “Patriots Plate” menu featuring tasty dishes adorned with the ordering numbers 12 (for Brady), 87 (for Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski), 11 (for Julian Edelman) and, finally, 54 (for Don’t’a Hightower or Tedy Bruschi, if you prefer), reminds patrons of a time before Bill Belichick got too big for his britches.

Panarelli reassured me that there would be no Mac Jones breakfast special anytime soon. They don’t want their patrons to lose their appetite.

The restaurants: City Line

“It feels good,” George Gidopoulos, co-owner of City Line Diner, said about his fine-eating establishment making the final two. “I’m glad we’re there. I’m glad that the public’s reception is that we do a decent job. And we sure appreciate our customers.”

Serving up their first breakfast in fall of 2018, Gidopoulos and his business partner Bill Athanasiou opened City Line Diner at the very spot where a Friendly’s restaurant once stood.

“My business partner saw the property for sale over here in Worcester,” Gidopoulos said. “My wife and I have been in Worcester since 2006. My business partner has basically grown up here his entire life. It’s his hometown, raised in Worcester. We saw the property, kind of, close to home. We saw potential for some sort of restaurant over there and purchased the property, renovated it out and just went the direction of a diner and everything’s been well, I guess.”

Both men have families deeply rooted in food service.

Gidopoulos is originally from Sturbridge, where his father, Bobby Gidopoulos, owned Village Pizza Restaurant and Bar in the Fiskdale section. In 2008, the younger Gidopoulos left the corporate world and followed his father’s footsteps with the opening of Village Pizza in Spencer, which he owned and operated for several years prior to City Line Diner.

Athanasiou’s father, Archie Athanasiou, also owned A & P Pizza in Bedford for more than 30 years and his grandfather, Vasilios Athanasiou, co-owned and operated the former Howard Johnson’s in West Boylston in the early '90s.

The concept and inspiration for the name of the business are based on Athanasiou’s fondness for diners. City Line Diner seemed like a good fit, he previously told longtime T&G food columnist Barbara Houle, especially since it’s located near the Leicester line.

“My number one rule in this business is that it doesn’t matter what you did the day before. Every day’s a new day,” Gidopoulos said. “We pride ourselves on consistency in customer service and customer experience. I’m sure glad the public sees that and I hope that we continue to do that.”

While he said his kitchen and serving staff are stellar, Gidopoulos gives high marks to his friendly (but reporter shy) head waitress, Jaime Evans, for keeping the place shipshape and to chief cook, Gianni Brown, whose tasty dishes make patrons want to come back for more.

Gidopoulos said it’s the personality and dedication of his staff that makes the customer experience second to none.

“At the end of the day, I credit our staff a lot for our customer experience and being able to deliver what mine and my business partner’s expectations are,” Gidopoulos said.  “Having been in this industry and having to work in it in every job from dishwasher to busing to catering to working in the kitchen, I know the hardest part of running a restaurant is employee turnover and we try to differentiate ourselves in creating atmosphere for the employees that makes them want to stay, which, in turn trickles over to the customer experience.”

And City Line Diner has its share of regular customers.

“We have customers that come sometimes daily. We have customers that might come twice a week. We have weekend customers who are there on the weekends,” Gidopoulos said. “We have day customers, those who are retired tend to come everyday during the week. And we also have the kid customers when school is a half-day and college kids come in on break.”

As the perfect complement to cinnamon apple crisp or corned beef hash, Gidopoulos recommends a piping hot cup of coffee to wash it down.

“We have outstanding coffee. We get a lot of compliments for it,” Gidopoulos said. “I have a customer who, actually, requested that our coffee brewer make them bags of coffee (for home consumption).”

Not to be outdone by Seinfeld showing up at Brody’s Diner, City Line Diner had British popstar John Waite, whose single “Missing You” topped the Billboard Charts in late 1984, chomp down breakfast at “Table 10” two days in a row.

“Everyone is welcomed. Everyone feels welcome,” Gidopoulos insists. “And, that’s what we try to do on our end — try to make sure that it’s an inviting, warm environment when our customers walk in.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Brody's and City Line seek title of Best Breakfast Place in Central Mass.