The new owners of Bayside Diner, like many locals, refer to it as a “community landmark,” though it has served little purpose after being closed down last summer.
Its new owners have said that will soon change.
Antonia Katsihkis, who spoke on behalf of her husband Spiros and his brother, said that the diner will probably open its doors in the next two months.
“The name is even going to stay as ‘Bayside Diner’ because it is a landmark and we wanted to keep it,” said Katsihkis.
The Katsihkis’, who also own the Veranda Restaurant and Café, recently purchased the diner for an undisclosed amount. Though the two establishments are Northern Boulevard neighbors, they will feature very different eatery traits – ending speculation amongst residents that the diner would simply serve as some sort of attachment to the main restaurant.
“Everyone would think that they just bought it to build on what they already have, in terms of what they sell,” said Frankie Gufandi, 68, of Bayside.
Katsihkis dismissed that idea.
“We’re going to keep it as a classic diner with a large, assorted menu. It’s not going to have anything that is similar to Veranda,” she said.
After Bayside Diner’s lease was not renewed, it joined a growing list of closed diners, which included the Fame, Scobee and Future. Instead of serving as an ominous warning sign, the brothers were inspired by seeing the presence of diners diminish in Queens, said Katsihkis.
“It was sad when we had so many area diners closing and the opportunity came so they grabbed it,” she said.
The news of the soon-to-be reopened diner came as a delight to many residents who feared the borough was losing many of its middle-class hangouts.
“The traditional things that make Queens are fading away. Diners are huge here –or at least they were. This is big news for me because I wouldn’t want to eat anywhere else on the planet over a diner,” said 73-year-old Bayside resident Rosemary Britton, who also said she can remember going to diners around the neighborhood every night 50 years ago.
Katsihkis is excited to bring back diner eaters into the neighborhood and bring new ones in as well.
“A diner is part of the community. A lot of people know what they are getting when they go into a diner and bring their families. There’s always something on the menu for everyone,” she said.
