- [Ricardo] I think there's a beauty in the diner.
A diner is something that's classic.
- [Waitress] And you have the side of home fries?
- We wanna make sure that when they come in,
they leave happy knowing that they had the diner experience,
from the music, from the food, from the servers.
We wanna make sure that they'll come back another day.
- [Waitress] There you go, dear, enjoy.
(energetic music)
- How are you? - Good morning.
- Great.
(energetic music)
- So this is our typical morning, you know,
seven A.M., we get our deliveries.
Pretty much every day, we get this.
And then there's some other deliveries
that we get a couple of times a week.
Food goes pretty quick, especially on the weekends.
Like Saturday and Sunday, we're packed all day.
We're pretty busy, we're open since seven a.m. until 10.
I think one of the most important things for us
is being able to get our products
from the market every day in the morning.
So we have someone that comes in,
and just goes to the market,
and picks out the freshest fish that we can get.
(Victor speaks Spanish)
(Martha speaks Spanish)
(Victor speaks Spanish)
This fish is more of a different style.
More easy, you cook three pieces, piece by piece.
Right now I do the tempura.
Teaspoon salt, black pepper, paprika, Old Bay.
That ingredient is for flavor and color.
Mix it up, flour with the ingredients.
For this one I use a seltzer.
More crispy, more frothy.
In other recipes I use a beer.
The kids like fish and chips, that's why I don't use beer.
- We know that we're a diner.
So we have to have those diner items that people love.
We gotta have your eggs.
We gotta have your sandwiches, BLTs, your waffles.
But we do get a lot of people
from the neighborhood that wanna have something else.
So that's why we incorporated some of
the new dishes, like the short ribs.
So we add a lot of things
that are not a classic diner food,
knowing that we have a demand for it.
The short ribs is something that is super popular.
And it's our own recipe,
and it's one of those great sellers.
(Victor speaks Spanish)
Put it in the pan.
When the pan is hot, I put the color on both sides.
(Victor speaks Spanish)
Okay, (speaks Spanish).
- Chef Victor has been with us for a couple years.
He basically is in charge of the dinner service.
He makes sure that everything was set up for the day.
Deliveries came in, all the prep is done.
And then he spends his time on the line.
- After four hours in the oven, take it out.
And let's see.
(energetic music)
It's two big for one person, so we're gonna half.
You see, soft.
Okay, now (speaks Spanish).
Okay, (speaks Spanish).
(energetic music)
(Luis speaks Spanish)
- Luis, he's the owner.
He basically comes in every day,
just checks up on the restaurant itself and everyone,
make sure we got what we need for the day.
Originally, Luis used to work at this diner back in the day.
And then he eventually was able to buy it for himself,
and bring it back to life, since it was kinda closed.
Last night was good night.
- Yeah, it was good, it was busy.
I think we got 150 covers.
- Yeah.
- So pretty good. - Pretty good.
Pretty good night.
- It took us a little while to renovate.
And we've been open a year and a half.
Initially, the place was on 66 and Broadway, down the block.
So when I came to New York, 1984,
that was my first and only job.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity
to bring it back to life,
because it was closed during the pandemic.
And it's a personal project for me.
I think just when you walk in,
just the the feel and look of the place,
just brings back familiarity, nostalgic of your home.
- Okay, (speaks Spanish).
Relish, chopped celery, giadiniera, cornichons,
cebolla, red peppers bell, parley, dill, tarragon.
(Victor speaks Spanish)
- The great thing about having a diner,
is your chefs, they have to be well versed
on like how to cook eggs in the morning,
and how to do a sandwich, or how to do the pasta or steak.
So that's one of the things that
we're appreciative of our chefs, you know?
Like we have Raul, which has been here for 25 years.
He knows everything inside and out of the restaurant.
He has his own recipe for pancakes.
- We wanna make a fresh pancake mix, homemade.
It's my creation.
So this is the pancakes that most people like.
I started working in bakery like 20 years ago.
Then I kept my recipe, and then when we opened here,
we started to make it here too.
And the people love it.
That's very famous, my pancakes.
Okay, it's ready.
So now we go upstairs to make the pancakes, okay?
- He's a great asset, you know?
He's like the kind of worker
that everybody will wanna have.
He doesn't miss a day.
He's basically there when you need him.
(energetic music)
There's a couple things that you have to have
if you're a diner.
I think one of those things is an egg cream.
So if you don't have an egg cream,
you're not really a diner.
Which is why we have them.
- Hello, how are you? - Hi.
- [Waitress] Yeah, did the fruit salad go out already?
(energetic music)
- Diner is such an American thing that,
you know, people from other countries don't have it.
(energetic music)
But we wanna make sure that you have a great experience,
you have a great service, you have great food.
So ours goes beyond just the diner.
You know, we're gonna match your diner experience,
but a little bit more upgraded.
(energetic music)