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After a three-year wait, Lynbrook residents can return to a familiar spot for breakfast, lunch and diner.
The Red Apple Diner has opened this spring at 401 Sunrise Hwy., the site of the former Lynbrook Diner, which closed March 2019 after 90 years in business.
Over the past two months, the diner’s new owner, Vasillios Kefaalas, said residents have enjoyed the familiar restaurant.
“I decided to open the restaurant because the village people, they really loved this place,” Kefaalas said. “They were so sad when it closed down, so I opened this because everyone wanted it open.”
Among many menu options, diners can order up omelets and French toast Belgian waffles for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, there’s an array of burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and chicken and fish entrees to choose from. There are also Greek specialties, such as the garides saganaki, or boiled shrimp in red sauce and feta; spanakopita; and traditional gyros.
The new eatery’s specialty items are its extensive variety of crepes, including the sweet and fruity crepe stuffed with strawberries, bananas, peanut butter, ice cream, whipped cream, salted caramel, Nutella and Oreo cookies, as well as the hearty vegetarian house special with goat cheese, fresh tomato, sautéed mushrooms, basil, spinach, feta cheese and Swiss cheese.
The 90-year-old diner has seen its fair share of owners and renovations. Nick Mavromihalis and his family, who owned the Lynbrook Diner from 1985 until its sale, renovated the eatery after it suffered a fire in 2014, according to the Long Island Herald. The renovations saw a sleek red, white and chrome 1950’s aesthetic imbued into the historical building, a style which remains in tact under the Red Apple Diner name.
“We actually tried to restore and enhance what we had,” Kefaalas said. “We didn’t change it, we didn’t throw away the old stuff, we enhanced them and restored them.”
