EXCLUSIVE: New Diner Coming To Upper East Side Corner

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Lenox Hill restaurateur George Kalogerakos is on a roll.

First, he revived the recently shuttered and beloved Greek spot Under the Bridge — a spot he founded and ran for years himself — a few blocks up the street as George Southern Greek in January.

Now he's back at Under the Bridge's old home to give birth to a wholly new diner on the Upper East Side.

For weeks now, signs pasted up at 1079 First Ave. showed clues of Kalogerakos' involvement at his former place of business.

First, the signs promised that a new spot called Lyric Restaurant was coming soon.

For 31 years, Kalogerakos ran a beloved 24-hour diner in Gramercy called the Lyric Diner on Third Avenue and East 22nd Street.

But when asked at the time, Kalogerakos wasn't ready to divulge any details.

Now, he tells Patch exclusively that while the place will no longer carry the Lyric name, it will still share one major attribute: 24/7 operation.

The "restaurant/diner," as Kalogerakos described it, will be called Tramway Restaurant — a name still in rhyme with its Greek predecessor as derived from something overhead at their perch of First Avenue and East 59th Street.

"It will be all American food/comfort and will be open 24/7," he told Patch.

While the operation appears to be similar to his other nearby diner, longtime neighborhood favorite Ritz, Kalogerakos said Tramway will have a smaller menu.

In 1999, Kalogerakos opened the always bustling 24-hour Ritz Diner with his then-partner Dimitri Sarantopoulos across the street. Kalogerakos also owns the popular sandwich shop The Hungry Hero next door to George Southern Greek, which opened in late January.

After the two partnered on Ritz, a name he took by the suggestion of a diner owner in New Jersey who ran one with the same name, the pair opened Under the Bridge in 2015.

He also partnered up with Sarantopoulos to open the beloved Lyric Diner in Gramercy, which closed in 2016. For the most part, Sarantopoulos ran the diner and Kalogerakos ran Under the Bridge — until 2019.

"Then we decided to split up, and I went from Under the Bridge to the diner and he came from the diner to Under the Bridge," Kalogerakos told Patch in January.

After Sarantopoulos passed away in late 2023, his family decided to close after the lease was up on East 59th Street.

Kalogerakos wasn't able to give any more specifics on the forthcoming Tramway Restaurant, but somehow he managed to take back the lovely corner spot, kitty-corner from Trader Joes.

No opening date has been announced yet, but check back here for more updates.