The lights are back on at 402 West Market Street…
Later this week, on Friday, January 23, Asian Fusion will open its doors inside the former Garfield Diner in Pottsville. With it comes something this stretch of downtown hasn’t felt in a long time: activity that looks less like a gamble and more like a plan. Not a ribbon-cutting built on hope alone, but a restaurant opening rooted in food, investment, and a building that finally has a reason to be unlocked again.
For more than a decade, the stainless-steel shell of the Garfield Diner sat idle, a mid-century dining car frozen in place and slowly giving way to neglect. Built in the 1950s, it once fed shift workers, families, and local regulars, and famously served as a stop during John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. Over time, it became something else entirely: empty windows, locked doors, and a landmark reduced to a reminder of what downtown Pottsville used to be.
Asian Fusion doesn’t erase that history. It moves it forward.
The restaurant is owned by Jeff Chen, known locally as the owner of Hong Kong Buffet. This project represents a clear shift in approach. Gone is the buffet line; in its place is a broad, à la carte menu designed for flexibility, something that works for lunch crowds, families, and groups with competing cravings. It’s not a concept chasing trends. It’s a concept built to be useful.
The menu makes that clear immediately. Chinese-American standards anchor the offering, General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, orange chicken, peanut butter chicken, pork chop rice, the kind of dishes that don’t need explanation and rarely disappoint. Appetizers are plentiful and built for sharing: dumplings, spring rolls, crab rangoon, wings, shrimp tempura, edamame. Enough to fill a table without turning dinner into a commitment.
From there, the range widens. Sushi covers familiar territory along with a handful of chef’s rolls, including the playful, diner-meets-sushi-bar “Sushi Sandwich.” Ramen and pho bring steaming bowls meant for cold days and unhurried meals. Hibachi and teriyaki dinners arrive with soup, salad, and rice, complete and predictable in the best way. Bento boxes bundle a little of everything into tidy, no-decision-required plates, while bubble milk tea adds a sweet finish and a nod toward younger diners.
It’s not precious food. It’s practical food, built to be ordered, eaten, and enjoyed without ceremony.
That practicality extends to the building itself. Preserving the original stainless-steel diner car, rather than demolishing it, was almost certainly the harder path. Mid-century dining cars weren’t designed for modern kitchens, accessibility requirements, or contemporary mechanical systems. But the choice shows. The building still looks like itself. The diner still reads as a diner. What’s changed is that it works again.
After the City of Pottsville took conservatorship of the long-vacant property in 2023, Chen acquired it through court approval and undertook a full rehabilitation. The work was extensive and largely invisible to diners: a new roof, rebuilt exterior, all-new windows, a concrete ADA-accessible ramp replacing a failing wooden one, and a complete interior overhaul. The kitchen was rebuilt from scratch, outfitted with new equipment and a walk-in cooler. This wasn’t a cosmetic revival. It was a functional one.
Asian Fusion doesn’t treat the Garfield Diner as a museum piece. It treats it as infrastructure, something meant to serve people again.
When the doors open this Friday, the restaurant won’t just add another pin to Pottsville’s dining map. It will return a long-silent corner of Market Street to daily use. A building that once hosted campaign stops and late-night breakfasts now fills with the sound of plates, steam rising from ramen bowls, and conversations that linger a little longer than planned.
Not every revival needs to look backward. Sometimes the most respectful thing you can do for a landmark is to give it a future, and here, that future starts simply: a full menu, an open door, and lights on after dark.
