Walk into a classic diner anywhere from New Jersey to Chicago and look at the menu. Somewhere between the omelets and the club sandwiches you will find a Greek salad, a gyro, a spinach pie, or a plate of souvlaki. There is a reason for that, and it is not that Americans developed a sudden national craving for feta in 1960.
The short history
Greek immigration to the United States came in a couple of big waves, the first around the turn of the twentieth century and another after the Second World War. A lot of those arrivals went into food service, partly because it was work you could get without much English and partly because family networks could pool money for a small business.
The diner was the perfect small business. It was cheap to buy compared with a full restaurant, it could run on family labor, and it served the kind of plain, high-volume food that a cook could learn fast. By the 1960s and '70s, Greek families owned a striking share of the diners in the Northeast. Sons took over from fathers. Cousins opened one in the next town. The food they cooked at home crept onto the menu, and customers turned out to like it.
So a Greek omelet is not a themed novelty. It is what the owner's family ate on Sunday, translated for the counter.
What souvlaki actually is
Souvlaki is Greek for "little skewer." It is marinated meat, usually pork or chicken in Greece and often chicken or beef in America, threaded on a skewer and grilled hot. The marinade is lemon, olive oil, garlic, and oregano. That is it. The magic is in the char and the acid.
Our Souvlaki Breakfast is chicken or beef souvlaki, two eggs any style, feta, home fries, and toast. It is on the breakfast side of the menu because that is where it makes sense: grilled meat, eggs, potatoes, bread. It is the Greek answer to steak and eggs, and it is a little lighter, a little brighter, and a lot more interesting.
The rest of the Greek side of the menu
- Greek omelet: chicken souvlaki, feta, spinach, tomato, black olives, in three eggs. The breakfast for a person who wants a full Greek salad but also wants eggs.
- Souvlaki wrap: chicken or steak with olives, feta, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Add tzatziki. Always add tzatziki.
- Falafel wrap and falafel salad: house-made falafel, hummus, tzatziki, the works. Not strictly Greek, but it lives in the same neighborhood of flavors and it is very good.
- Grilled pita: a whole wheat pita griddled with feta, tomato, and broccoli. It sounds like a side. It eats like a meal.
- Hummus dip: house-made white bean hummus with vegetables and toasted pita. The starter you order for the table and then do not share.
A Greek omelet isn't a theme. It's what the owner's family ate on Sunday.
So is this a Greek diner?
Not exactly. We are a diner in the strictest sense: a factory-built 1952 dining car with a counter and a griddle that never turns off. The souvlaki is here because it belongs on a diner menu the same way pancakes and a Reuben do. It is part of the inheritance. Any real American diner that leaves it off is missing a chapter.
Come try it with the eggs over easy and a squeeze of lemon on the chicken. Then argue with us about whether the feta should be crumbled or sliced. We enjoy that argument.