Sid Stein's Greek Tragedy

I recently visited an Italian restaurant with a Spanish name owned by Mexicans so I could hang out with my Jewish father who is a friend of the Irish bartender. It’s a very good restaurant and has a lively bar crowd even if most of the patrons are older than I. The “colonoscopied” crowd can have fun too. So, I am sitting at the bar, catching up with my father, when I asked him if he heard that Dino, owner of the Gateway, one of Albany’s better known Greek diners, had passed away the day before. Surprisingly, my father, who I thought knew every notable person in Albany, had never heard of him. I had met Dino years earlier through a friend who managed one of the city’s premier discos. Dino, who wore his hair like Elvis, had financed the disco. Greek diner money, apparently. http://www.gatewaydiner.com/

As fate would have it, my father pointed out that another Greek diner owner was having dinner in the restaurant. I had been to his diner a few months earlier and had the worst egg salad sandwich I had ever been served. My father advised that I should tell him about my poor dining, or should I say diner, experience.

I continued chatting with my father. Before long, Nick, the Gateway’s competitor, came over to say hello. However, rather than bring up the egg salad sandwich, I mentioned that I had read that Dino had passed away. I know that the Greek community in Albany is very tight-knit and figured that Nick was an acquaintance of Dino. Nick noted it was sad that Dino had died and told me that he offered to sing at the funeral service. Apparently, Nick is quite a good singer, at least in Greek. The family declined Nick’s offer for reasons I can only guess. Maybe some resentment exists among the various Greek diner families. Whatever the reason was, Nick continued and told me in his heavy Greek accent that a number of people had already approached him and asked if he would be taking over the Gateway. Nick then looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and in complete innocence, asked me why anyone would think that he might take over the Gateway Diner. Sensing an opportunity, I looked Nick in the eye and responded: “Hey Nick, maybe because you’re Greek and you already own a diner.” I never brought up the egg salad sandwich.