Brint’s Diner, a Valentine diner, to close Sunday

Brint’s Diner, famous not only for its 2007 inclusion on Guy Fieri’s show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” but also for operating inside a Valentine diner for more than 50 years, is closing Sunday.

Jessie Medina was the diner’s last owner. He bought the business, located inside a metal, mass-produced Valentine diner at 4834 E. Lincoln, in June 2004. About 2,000 of the buildings were made by Wichita’s Valentine Manufacturing between 1938 and 1971, and architecture buffs are still passionate about them.

Other Valentine diners in Wichita include Grinder Man at 510 E. Pawnee, Sport Burger at 134 N. Hillside, and the now-closed Dyne-Quik at 1202 N. Broadway.

Brint’s first opened in 1960 but was called Hunt’s Diner. Its next owners changed the name to Brint’s, which has stuck through three more owners.

In 2007, the diner was featured on Fieri’s Food Network show, which at the time was just about to debut.

Attention from that episode kept the diner alive, Medina said, but recent construction of a Family Dollar store in front of the restaurant has devastated it. His driveway has been blocked by construction crews, he said, and the down economy hasn’t helped.

He hopes to reopen Brint’s somewhere in the area, preferably in a less tucked-away location with better street visibility.

“I have a real strong customer base,” he said.

Brint’s Diner will be open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and will close at the end of business on Sunday. For more information, call 316-684-0290.

This story was originally published October 9, 2012 at 11:54 PM with the headline "Brint’s Diner, a Valentine diner, to close Sunday."