Our Urban Odyssey » Greek diners

Paying Respect

Nova — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:49:44 +0000

Let’s pay respect to Broadway Restaurant at 101st street and Broadway, a diner that keeps it old school in the good ways (hot, hot coffee in a nice ceramic coffee cup, good company, familiar staff) and for the prize here: still having a cottage cheese omelette on the menu. Had to search far and beyond for that.

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Architectural Abominations of Gentrification

Nova — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:43:22 +0000

Grab your bag of popcorn and take a look at how the Upper West Side continues to gentrify and loose some of its character. Gone is the beloved Greek diner that stood here (which took in some previously displaced diner workers and patrons that were usurped by the Whole Foods construction a few blocks over) and up went this white plastic…. what the heck is it? “Hip apartments” of course, that fit oh so nicely with the rest of the neighborhood’s architecture.

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Checking in or Taking Out?

Nova — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:36:10 +0000

You tell me if this sign looks like the entrance to an Emergency Room (which it is) or an old 50’s Diner?

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The crack in your coffee

Nova — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:01:13 +0000

Part of Urban Confessions Week

Alright, this confession comes from a barista/cook/waiter/owner all in one type of worker behind the counter of a Greek diner. It’s SCANDALOUS, I say, for a Greek or Greek diner coffee lover. Now I truly believe the magic behind the Greek diner coffee is the temperature. See my Cecil-ware conversations about this. But on two separate occasions at two different diners, I heard a fellow addict ask the Greek magician if he used “the Greek coffee”, as she sipped her black elixir with a smile. He nodded, and then mumbled, “Venizelos…” Venizelos, is it you in there?! How is that possible, you are the dark demi-tasse kind. Perhaps the diners are using this as a “secret sauce”, a variant of a potion I am convinced a certain donut chain uses to make their coffee taste so darn good. Or is the coffee in some of these places exclusively brewed from Venizelos beans? If any of you try to make a cup of joe with Venizelos from a drip machine and not a briki, let us know how it tastes. We’re close to unraveling the code of the king of urban coffee.

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Fanciest so far

Nova — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:16:28 +0000

My love for diner coffee has reached an all-time-high. I am pathetically in love with diner coffee. I now find myself critiquing the cups they are served in, and am forever spoiled by this cup here, served to me in a diner in Murray Hill, Manhattan. Look at that saucer!

I know, I know, the heroin in this love affair is the temperature… Nobody else gets it anymore. Diners are the last bastion of hot, unrushed coffee. But it’s also the ceramic cup, the dainty spoon, the cream, the cozy atmosphere… I’m in love!

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More diner talk

Nova — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:15:27 +0000

I’ve been enjoying more of our classic NYC Greek diners. What pleasure to know that even though there may be an abundance of Starbucks, I can still roll the die in passing them in faith that the NYC Greek diner is still a steady part of our urban landscape and I will find one to enjoy a good cup of coffee.

We already talked about part of the secret to their great cup of joes, Cecilwares Fe 100’s. But here are more reasons I’ll take my coffee there over other places:

sitting at the counter top is like being in someone’s living room. There is a feeling of hospitality. The people behind the counter are like mother hens to your needs.
the cups are a heavy ceramic that retains the heat of the coffee. The feel of the china in your hands is real, not a flimsy disposable cup, a plastic nothingness that separates you from the world and implicates you as an eco-sinner. That ceramic cup is endless. It’s always hot, and when it is not, you’ll get a refill.
the experience seems tailored just for you. You don’t have to speak a stupid branding language, you don’t have to order like a robot.
they can make the cheapest bean taste good.

So ode again to the Greek diner and its coffee.

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Café con leche

Nova — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:01:32 +0000

Diner in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico 2004

The name escapes me but it had a good café con leche and a cozy atmosphere. What would be a Greek diner for NYers.

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Ode to… Cecilware Fe-100

Nova — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:36:44 +0000

I was sipping my coffee in Reme diner in Washington Heights, and I was struck by a wave of taste bud goodness. The coffee was the perfect temperature. Hot. Even when you put cream in it. I was in heaven. I was sitting at the bar, so I looked up to see where the magic came from- again a Cecilware Fe-100. Ode to Cecilware Fe-100! It turns any cheap coffee bean into cafe heaven. Reme has a good relationship with its Cecilware Fe-100. Because when the waiter saw my cup half empty, he said, “Here, let me give you a fresh, hot cup…” and whoosh! took it away and replaced it with more black liquid goodness. They didn’t pour more into my stale coffee, probably knowing it would make it luke warm. I adored them immediately. Hail Cecilware Fe-100 in Greek diners.

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Seinfeld had one thing right

Nova — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:53:52 +0000

I figured out why Seinfeld kept going to that diner. I never understood why in all the years of watching it and living around town—I tried it once, found out they were Greeks from an island that starts with an S whose name I can’t remember (better that way- so I don’t condemn an entire island) and allowed a regional stereotype, one-day-trip-experience to the island and the cold reception by the wait staff to dismiss the diner as a celebrity-hyped place. I love diners. And I now love this one. I like to give food places more than one chance, except if they approach health violations grotesquery. This diner knows how to make coffee, and it turns out the staff is quite nice. Their coffee is served piping-freakin-hot, and with all the fancy-pants coffee out there (which I like too), one thing people are forgetting is that when you order hot coffee it should be HOT. Not them. The reason, the waiter in a grease-stained apron told me over the counter, is the machine. It’s an old-school type, a Cecilware Fe-100 and they can regulate the temperature. You don’t need a latte if people serve your coffee hot enough. Your coffee will forget you ever poured milk into it. So cheers to a good-old cup of joe at the Seinfeld diner! Have a favorite coffee spot?

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