Posted on 10/26/2015 9:37:03 AM PDT by C19fan
There are no Michelin stars on the door, but you will not find a better breakfast in New York City than at the Bel Aire Diner in Astoria, Queens. The coffee, a lighter roast than Starbucks' and brewed three gallons at a time, is always fresh because just about every customer gets a refill or three. The Greek Breakfast entrée is a masterpiece of the line cook's art, a combination of eggs (any style), feta cheese, soft black olives and grilled fresh tomatoes whose juice seasons the toasted pita.
The Bel Aire is run under the glare of Argyris "Archie" Dellaportas, who immigrated to Queens in 1972 at age 18 from the Greek island of Cephalonia. He baked bread at the Westway Diner in Hell's Kitchen and other joints before being hired to run a diner in Maryland, which meant long stretches away from his wife and children.
(Excerpt) Read more at crainsnewyork.com ...
I moved to MD from Michigan a few years ago. There are none of the traditional silver side diners in Michigan. The town I moved to had one that closed about when I moved here. It’s just sitting empty. I heard the food was pretty good. I was only there once to meet a friend for something and only had an iced tea, so I never got to try their food.
It isn’t just New York and other urban / hipster areas. Even in areas outside of the cities with substantial older populations, the diners are disappearing. And the ones that are left are DINO — diners in name only. Pre-processed food at high prices. Simply cashing in on the nostalgia. My grandmother and grandfather used to go to the Limerick Diner in Limerick PA several times a week for years in the late 70s and 80s. I used to go a fair amount too. Then new ownership increased prices substantially and downgraded the quality of the food. Another diner that several generations of my family went to in Phoenixville, PA — the Vale Rio Diner — finally went belly up too. Its a shame.
Stay out of the NYC cesspool, where there is no 2nd amendment for law abiding citizens, while armed thugs roam the city.
Come to Texas sometime.
Anywhere in Texas, I could take you to a Mom and Pop diner/restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner and not hit the same place twice for weeks.
If you are ever near Belvidere,N.J. stop at Uncle Bucks. You will think it is 1955 again.
That is if you dare come to N.J.
I agree with dsc and bigbob.
In some Asian countries they think if you haven't eaten dog you don’t know what you’re missing. Are you going to have dog for dinner?
I have written down the Greek eggs recipe and I can hardly wait to try it. It sounds great.
There is a magazine called Good Old Days, filled with stories of life in the mid-20th Century. This magazine has been around for 60 years. When it was first published, the stories were based on life in the 1890-1914 period. Fifty years from now, it, or an electronic version thereof, will be filled with stories about the early 21st Century.
There seems to be more diners than ever throughout the Hudson Valley, Albany, and beyond.
The diners have gone the way of five and dime stores. Whatever happened to Woolworth’s, Kresge, Grant’s, JJ Newberry, etc??? All of those stores are gone.
We had reason to be in the old-town part of Laurel, Maryland a couple of months ago, and stopped at the Tastee Diner on Route 1 - it’s an old place, one of the last two or three Cormac diner buildings from the 1950’s.
We had an excellent breakfast and WONDERFUL coffee; and the place had a real neighborhood feeling. Hope it lasts a long time.
(What is it about diner coffee?)
-JT
Oooooh, can I come have breakfast at your house?
When I saw the title of this piece, my first reaction was that the consumer wanted to go someplace that would allow them to use a salt shaker, if they so desired.
One of the things I miss from childhood is walking into a drugstore on a hot summer day, and feeling the blast of air-conditioning (still a novelty for many folks then); and smelling the coke syrup from the soda fountain...
-JT
Anywhere near where Wallace was shot?
Aside from an occasional deli sandwich, which I eat at home on a plate, I refuse to eat anywhere I can’t get my meal on a real plate. Have to agree breakfast can be the hardest meal to find on a plate. In my town of about 60,000, there are five places you can get breakfast on a plate and only three of those local mom and pops.
:)
The diner is just a few blocks North of there, just shy of Main Street on the south-bound Rte 1.
I don’t think the big indoor Laurel Mall was built back then, so Wallace would have been at the older, smaller strip mall.
-JT
Where is the recipe?. Did I miss it?
Greek Breakfast entrée is a masterpiece of the line cook’s art, a combination of eggs (any style), feta cheese, soft black olives and grilled fresh tomatoes whose juice seasons the toasted pita.
This was mentioned at the beginning of the article.
It sounds really, really good. I’ll by shopping tomorrow, and I will be purchasing the ingredients to try this out. I’ll let everybody know how it turns out.
Businesses can’t afford the taxes and customers can’t afford the prices needed to pay the taxes. It’s not easy to make money selling food even in a friendly business environment.
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