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Diner 24 is getting an encore of sorts, opening new digs in New York City’s Theater District where customers will be serenaded by singing waiters while chowing down on classic eats, Side Dish has learned.
The new two-story space is slated to open late next month at 1674 Broadway, a landmarked building run by the Emmes Group.
Think “Zorba the Greek,” “Mamma Mia,” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” said proprietor Stratis Morfogen.
“That’s not a Broadway show, but it is theatrical and great entertainment. There will be lots of fun stuff,” he said.
Still, customers will be able to get an authentic experience while they eat – five of about 16 singing waiters hired so far have Broadway and off-Broadway experience, according to the restaurateur.
“They don’t have steady work, and that’s why they want to do this now,” Morfogen explained.
The original Diner 24 in Gramercy was famed for its “church ladies” — grandmas known as yia yias in Greek — who came out of retirement to create homemade Greek dessert specialties with their own recipes.
It has grown so fast in the past two years, with sales jumping from $2.5 million to $6 million a year, that the two “yia yias” in their 70s and 80s now work for John Nikolopoulos, or “papou” — which means grandfather in Greek — out of his Brooklyn commissary and bakery.
Nikolopoulos just celebrated his 90th birthday. He has been baking American, French and Greek desserts for the past 75 years.
“I feel very good. I’m strong,” Nikolopoulos told Side Dish, scoffing at the thought of retiring. He is known for making delicious cheesecake and baklava, as well as bagels, breads, red velvet cakes and apple pies.
While the sweet treats will be served in both diners, only Diner 24 in the Theater District comes with singing waiters.
Theater, Morfogen says, is part of his DNA. Actors in the family include his late uncle, stage and screen veteran George Morfogen, who appeared in the series, “Oz.”
“The new Diner 24 comes full circle for me,” Morfogen said.
The Theatre District space will seat 235 people with an additional 16 seats outside. It includes a stage upstairs with a 20-foot runway that divides the booths for the performers to be elevated above the guests, with stage lighting.
“I want it to feel like an off-Broadway play,” Morfogen said. “There will be so much energy upstairs. We have great food and the performances. It’s exciting for the consumer. It’s dinner and a show and the only place on Broadway where the show never closes.”
The menu will follow the success of the first Diner 24, in Gramercy, he added.
“I found a formula with Diner 24,” Morfogen said. “We created a diner that is more focused on the new generation, with fresh produce, no longer dependent on a six-page, plastic-coated menu that’s driven from the freezer,” Morfogen said.
“We found a niche, a ‘diner 2.0’ version that is working — with big burgers, crazy shakes and all-day breakfast.”
The new Theater District opening came about organically, he said.
Another restaurateur had invested millions in the space and walked away during a friends-and-family week — and that’s when the Emmes Group reached out, according to Morfogen.
They worked out a revenue-sharing model for rent and a strategy including pricing, which will be slightly higher at the new spot than in Gramercy.
Burgers, for example, are $10 at the Gramercy location and $12 in the Theater District, with double-decker smash burgers costing $19 in Gramercy and $23 in the Theater District. The new space will also have a shake bar.
“We are confident that sales in the area will be robust,” Morfogen said.
He originally wanted to add performances to Diner 24 in Gramercy, but the space was smaller: 1,500 square feet with 75 seats.
“But we go all out for birthdays, with singing waiters and sparklers,” he said.
The Gramercy location benefits from hospitals, police and other institutions with night workers, as well as 16 bars within a few blocks.
“We cater to them all. Midnight to 5 a.m. is our busiest time,” Morfogen said.
Meanwhile at 1674 Broadway, the building — which once housed Birdland, where Count Bassie and Ella Fitzgerlad performed — recently welcomed The Lambs, the oldest professional theatrical club, founded in 1874.
Diner 24’s expansion comes as Pearl Diner, a stand-alone, one-story structure surrounded by skyscrapers, closed in FiDi earlier this month after 64 years in business.
Morfogen, who grew up running Greek diners with his late father, wants to buy both Pearl Diner and the Ritz Diner, which recently closed after a solid 25 years on the Upper East Side.
“I would love to buy them back. They are nostalgia,” said Morfogen, adding that he would take an approach of, “I’m not in the restaurant business, I’m in the theater business,.”
He’s also taking a modern approach, factoring in social media and noting that with “viral content on TikTok, you can fill a tree house in Antarctica with lines out the door.”
And, he’s eyeing new outposts beyond the Big Apple.
“We are looking to expand the concept not just in New York but across the country,” he said.
