The opposite of “too big to fail” is the Liberty Elm Diner, in Providence’s South Side neighborhood. Some big corporations may not be all that they’re cracked up to be. But the Liberty Elm Diner is.

Started last year by Carol DeFeciani and Diane Horstmyer, the diner sells comfort food and coffee with local ingredients. It is open from morning until 3 p.m. every day, with acoustic music on Sunday afternoons. The Liberty Elm Diner donates part of its take to planting elm trees on Elmwood Avenue. It also builds on local tradition. Providence is considered the “birthplace of diners, with the lineage being traced back to Walter Scott’s horse-drawn lunch cart in 1872,” according to quohog.com.

The friendly owners are on our minds because some hoods — locals? — broke in and trashed the place. But the owners brushed off the incident, affirmed their faith in their neighborhood, and are back in business again.

Times being as they are, people must act more locally, and eating food grown locally is an important part of that. The Liberty Elm Diner may not be too big to fail, but it certainly is not too big to please.