Mahopac’s Olympic Diner Opens Doors Once Again After Fire
Last Saturday, the parking lot for the Olympic Diner in Mahopac was nearly empty, and inside the longtime community fixture, only a few staffers and owner Nick Tsakonitis were stirring around.
It was another day in what seems like far too long where the only thing missing was the most important part of the restaurant: hungry customers.
Since a small fire broke out in the diner’s kitchen on Oct. 11, the Olympic Diner’s doors have been closed to the community, but today (Tuesday) the 24-hour establishment has once again opened its doors to the community after being closed for nearly 2 months.
“The feeling is not the same,” Tsakonitis said on coming to work without patrons to take care of. “It’s a different feeling like empty. An empty feeling.”
Tsakonitis never imagined he would be closed for more than a couple weeks. Since opening the diner on Jan. 7 1983 on a snowy Friday night, the Greek immigrant, who came to America when he was 16, said the longest he has ever been closed was about a week following a small fire behind a broiler. For a man that works 16-hour days and enjoys it, being patient while renovations and adjustments were made have been difficult.
The fire that temporarily shuttered the diner started when a heat source from a stove became too hot and finally ignited inside the restaurant’s walls, according to an investigation done by the Putnam County Fire Investigation Team. It was ruled an accident with the main damage occurring in the kitchen.
“I never thought it was going to be so serious,” he said. “But it was serious.”
Because Tsakonitis had to be closed to fix damage from the fire, he decided to stay closed even longer to make other upgrades around the diner like putting in new carpet, tile, tables, booths, and ceilings.
During that time, Tsakonitis, a former Mahopac resident who now lives in Pawling, said he’s received a countless number of text messages and phone calls asking when the diner would finally be ready to reopen and why the Olympic Diner has been closed this long.
Financially, Tsakonitis seemed to be able to survive being closed for several weeks, having enough savings in a rainy day fund to make the improvements without having the daily influx of customers that would usually give him their business.
As of Saturday, Tsakonitis said the Town of Carmel building inspector has approved the diner and now just the electrical inspector needs to sign off for the Olympic Diner to reopen.
“I love this place, I love to work,” he said. “I love to deal with the customers.”
