BACK BEFORE FAST food, fern bars and taco stands, there were neighborhood diners. Blue plate specials, macaroni and cheese and liver and onions were standard fare in the retired rail car or the steel-and-neon eatery built to resemble the one that started life on the tracks.

With the advent of calorie counting, cholesterol checking and carb loading, the home of fried pork chops and towering slices of chocolate cream pie all but disappeared in many parts of the country. Including Hampton Roads.

Now, with some bows to the health-conscious among us, they're making a comeback.

The most recent is the Silver Diner, which really is silver and opened June 13 at 4401 Virginia Beach Blvd., across from Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach. So far, it's been packing the customers in. With ample portions, no dinner item over $12.99 (side salad included) and a menu that ranges from old favorites to mesquite and lime marinated salmon and spicy Thai shrimp pasta, it's a place with something that appeals to just about everyone.

Genial executive chef Ype Von Hengst, one the founders of the 13 year-old Maryland-based Silver Diner organization, was in town the other day to check on how the 12th member of the chain was doing. He left satisfied, and so, apparently, did those polishing off lunch offerings and gargantuan desserts. `Look at this,'' he said, waving his arm at the roomful of diners, ``three o'clock in the afternoon and the diner's full.''

Although dinner is the diner's mainstay, manager Greg Holson, wants to make sure customers know it's an all-day eatery.

Standard breakfasts range from the $2.99 seniors' special to $5.29 for creamed chipped beef. Combos go from $4.59 for pancakes, eggs and bacon to $10.99 for T-bone steak and eggs. Beer, wine and mixed drinks are available; so are old-fashioned shakes and malts. The Silver Diner is open from 7 a.m. to midnight, Sundays through Thursdays; 7 a.m. to 3 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays.