You by no means know who you would possibly meet within the wee hours of an all-night diner.
Here is a Navy man celebrating his final night time in New York with buddies earlier than being deployed. There is a drunken rock singer doing an ideal rendition of Michael Jackson’s dance strikes to “Thriller.” And alongside comes a 60-year-old ICU nurse and her spouse, who sit all the way down to a romantic dinner after an extended night time of clubbing.
There is a chaotic rhythm to the 24-hour diner, a haven the place clients of all ages, backgrounds and tastes are welcome to bump elbows patty is melting and pancakes. In contrast to a restaurant that maintains conventional hours, the diner adjustments because the night time progresses and various kinds of clients pour in. It may be no matter they want – the menu, temper and playlist typically change from hour to hour.
All-night diners are a New York establishment. However in a metropolis that is alleged to by no means sleep, they’re disappearing as prices rise, meals provides growth and many voters stick with the sooner bedtimes they developed through the pandemic. Based on Yelp information, town has misplaced 13 p.c of its greater than 500 24-hour eating places since February 2020. till January 2024, together with favorites like Neptune Diner in Astoria, Queens and Arch Diner close to the Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn.
Within the midst of all these closings, at the least one place has been reborn: Kellogg’s Diner, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, stalwart since 1928. It returned in September after a half-year hiatus, with a brand new proprietor, a revamped inside, a barely fancier menu from chef Jackie Carnezi — and two months later, 24-hour service.
“It was a distinct segment that wanted to be crammed,” Ms. Carnezi stated. “After the pandemic, the variety of 24-hour eating places that ceased to exist left an enormous gap within the coronary heart of New York.”
To raised admire the magic of a restaurant that by no means closes, I spent a Friday night time at Kellogg’s, eating continuous from 8pm to 8am, seeing the restaurant by way of every of its transformations and assembly a motley combine of consumers. Surprisingly, I did not entice any consideration from the workers for my hours-long keep – a bracing reminder that no different place will welcome you as unconditionally as an all-nighter.
The night crowd
8 to 11 within the night
With its mushy cubicles, strings, glass pie circumstances and glowing neon signal out entrance, Kellogg’s appears to be like each inch the archetypal diner. However for my first few hours there, it felt like another well-liked prime-time restaurant. Crowds waited for tables on the entrance. Teams of buddies shared plates of nachos and bottles of orange wine chilled in buckets. Solo diners lingered over slices of pecan pie on the bar.
On a type of bar stools was Megan Donovan, who works in promoting gross sales and lives on the Higher East Facet. She rushed in round 9 p.m., ravenous after a good friend’s birthday. She had by no means been to Kellogg’s, however she appreciated how basic it seemed from the skin.
“There’s one thing common about it,” stated Ms. Donovan, 27, sandwich in hand. “Anyplace, I can get a BLT and I do know it will be good.”
She complained that the one late-night choices nowadays appear to be fast-food chains. “I like Taco Bell properly sufficient,” she stated, however “it is good to have the ability to come and revel in a restaurant.”
A number of chairs down, Coy Vin, who works in luxurious gross sales and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, had come searching for some rings he’d misplaced whereas consuming at Kellogg’s per week earlier.
“I do not wish to eat meals with my fingers,” he stated, “so I put them on the desk and left them there.” He was apprehensive they have been gone perpetually, however no sooner had he ordered his rooster fried steak than a bartender appeared with the rings – all of them.
“It is only a particular place,” stated Mr. Wynn, 40, slipping them on most of his toes. “I really feel in a neighborhood with these individuals.”
The merry merrymakers
11pm to 2am
Martinis and stills gave option to tequila pictures and vodka sodas round 11. A brand new group of visitors arrived both to prepare for the night or to maintain the celebration going.
They included Brandon Reyes, who would deploy to Italy on Monday for his subsequent tour of responsibility within the Navy. 4 buddies had come to New York from throughout the nation to see him off, and he had taken them to his childhood favourite: Kellogg’s.
“It is embedded in my tradition,” stated Mr. Reyes, 23, who grew up close by. “It is a part of my household. My grandmother has been coming right here for years.”
He did not thoughts that the menu now included a $95 ribeye steak, or that the furnishings had been upgraded. Simply relieved the place remains to be open late. With out that, he stated, “it loses compatibility with the individuals who stay right here.”
His buddies requested the bartender to pour them a shot of their selection. “I do not know what I simply drank,” Mr. Reyes stated. “But it surely was scrumptious.”
At 1 a.m., Kellogg’s switches to a night menu that features fewer gadgets however some additions, resembling a Cuban sandwich and cornmeal pancakes. About this time I noticed a supervisor consuming from a flat flask of olive oil.
Joshua Ackley, the lead singer of Dead Bettisrock band from Brooklyn, walks round after celebrating their forty fourth birthday on the Decrease East Facet. “I used to be enjoying gigs in golf equipment in New York,” he stated, “and we would be like, ‘If we lose contact, let’s all have proof of life at Kellogg’s between 5 and seven within the morning.’
He missed the previous model of the diner. “It was extra accommodating to individuals who did not have some huge cash,” he stated. “That is about $37,” he added, pointing to his rooster fried steak (which was truly $24). “I would not take it again within the day.”
Out of the blue the tune “Thriller” got here on and Mr. Ackley proceeded to carry out many of the well-known dance, solo, on the entrance of the eating room. Few clients appeared to note. It solely crashed right into a server as soon as.
The wild grape
2 to five within the morning
At 2 a.m., the playlist all of the sudden modified from High 40 pop hits from the Nineteen Seventies — Abba, the Go-Go’s, Boney M. The room grew louder and louder as individuals poured in from bars and golf equipment. A girl threw up at her desk, then coated her head with scarves and was escorted out of the restaurant by a good friend, trying like a celeb attempting to keep away from the paparazzi. Our server shrugged, wiped up the mess, and stated he wished her properly.
A gaggle of current Stanford grads contemporary from dancing at a close-by Afrobeats membership confirmed up at Kellogg’s round 3 a.m. searching for strong meals to absorb all of the drinks they’d had.
“I like pancakes,” stated Gabby Barratt, 22, a well being researcher. “The flats are too small. Everybody must be someplace else.”
However the crowd wasn’t simply 20-somethings. Maria Pino, 60, an intensive care nurse, got here along with her spouse after that they had spent a date night time dancing at a membership.
“She’s getting hungry,” Ms. Pino stated of her spouse, who lived close by and didn’t wish to be named. (There can be no nightcaps as state legal guidelines prohibit eating places from serving alcohol from 4am to 8am)
Ms. Pino loves the eccentric individuals she meets at dinner events and even witnessed a spontaneous marriage ceremony at one 10 years in the past. She hoped town would by no means lose these locations.
“This isn’t Arizona, this isn’t Virginia, that is New York,” she stated. “New York is 24 hours. You want a spot to go.
The latecomers and the early risers
5 to eight within the morning
The blinds remained down through the night time. However round 6am the daylight slowly crept by way of the slats, reminding me how lengthy I might been there.
Simply earlier than that, the lights within the restaurant softened to a yellowish glow, the waiter beginning his shift dropped a breakfast menu on our desk, and the playlist switched to jazz. A supervisor stated it was his means of signaling drunks to depart or shut up. A cleansing crew swept up playing cards, photographs and bottle caps from the night time earlier than.
Rachel Prucha and Lo Logsdon, each bartenders in Manhattan, had not too long ago completed their shift and have been discussing enchiladas and espresso martinis. “That is our dinner,” stated Ms. Prucha, 30. “And breakfast.”
Throughout the pandemic, hospitality employees had nowhere to eat after work, stated Mr. Logsdon, 29. He did not wish to order supply and pay all the varied charges. “Coming again to this place is so heart-warming,” he stated.
And there have been visitors simply beginning their days, like DY Kim, a undertaking supervisor at Google who had simply returned from South Korea the day earlier than and was digging right into a plate of pancakes and an omelette. He awoke jet-lagged and craving breakfast, so he drove from his dwelling in downtown Brooklyn to Kellogg’s, one of many few locations open that early.
“We do not have meals courts in Korea,” stated Mr. Kim, 35. “I used to be trying ahead to an American breakfast.”
And is there a extra American place to eat than a 24-hour diner?
