Goodbye, Monroe Diner

By Christine Urio
MONROE — One last burger with a side order of nostalgia was placed at the Monroe Diner this past Tuesday, the day the village’s landmark served its final meals.
Owned by the Lagakos family since July 18, 1975, the Monroe Diner had been a staple to the community for nearly 40 years, serving classic dishes and friendly service to both loyal residents and those simply passing through looking for a quick bite to eat.
There were thousands upon thousands of Sunday morning family breakfasts, quiet coffees between friends desperate to sort out problems, jumbo pieces of pie, celebratory ice creams, deal-making lunches, dinners with grandparents, post-prom snacks, quick meals because mom or dad didn't want to cook and enough salads and sandwiches to fill the largest container ship afloat.

But the iconic eatery reached a turning point, much like brothers Alex and Steve Lagakos, who together founded and managed the diner, and who are now retiring.
“My family came from Greece with little education, yet managed to establish four restaurants,” said John Lagakos, Alex’s son and the diner's general manager. “They were living in Yonkers, and my father and uncle took a ride one day. They originally opened up the Chester Diner and they found out this one was for sale, so they met with the owner and it was basically a handshake deal.”
Now, in post-diner life, the brothers intend to spend their time with family and traveling.
“They both have grand kids, and in this type of business, it’s a seven-day work week, so they never really enjoy time with their family, or take trips back to Greece,” Lagakos said.
It’s also a time of big change for Lagakos, himself, who practically grew up at the diner, working shifts since he was 16. He's now looking to get involved with the organized labor in New York City.
“I’ve been at the diner my whole life, I’m going to miss being around the community, talking with and seeing all the locals,” he said. “All the people you meet, you become friendly with plenty of them and you become like a big family. I see kids I graduated high school with now bringing their kids in with car seats and other customers have been coming here since my father opened it and have known me since I was a teenager. It's nice to see it come full circle.”
Diner foodies, take heart: The building will remain a diner, except under new management and a new name.
“It’s being sold to the Wenger family,” Lagakos said. “They own the Chester Diner and are going to reopen this as the Empire Diner.”
This isn’t the only transformation the diner has undergone recently. Residents will remember the building was renovated and a menu introduced only two years ago.
“It was time to change,” said Lagakos. “We usually update every 15 years and this was our fifth renovation. It wasn’t planned with selling it (the diner) though. A few people were interested in the place, and someone came to us with an offer. We didn’t do the renovation to sell it off, it just happened that way.”
As for menu modifications, Lagakos said the change stemmed from a desire to be less wasteful.
“The menu went from 16 to 10 pages, there was a lot of food not getting used and thrown away, so we wanted to cut it down in size,” he said. “A lot of people liked the older menu, and maybe it’s not as much of a diner menu as it used to be. But it’s hard to please everyone in this business. You have to try and work with the best you can.”
Although there are diners in Chester, Central Valley, Goshen and points beyond, neither those competitors or the economy contributed to the decision to close.
“The distance of the other diners is far enough to not be effective, and while things have changed and expenses go up, that didn’t play a direct effect,” Lagakos said. “If we sat and broke everything down, it could be part of the reason since cost of living, expenses and, soon, minimum wages, go up. And, there’s only so much you can do to change the menu and the prices before guessing how many people are going to come and spend that much. It's hard for 'mom and pop' shops to stay around in any type of business.”
Thankfully, popular dishes such as hamburgers and mozzarella sticks rarely go out of style no matter the economy. However, running the diner did come with its own set of challenges.
“There are challenges every day, especially during the winter when it’s not busy, but your costs stay the same,” said Lagakos. “You deal with customer relations. Sometimes everybody’s not happy. So that’s tough to compromise and make everyone happy.”
Lagakos knows his family has mixed emotions about the diner's closing.
“Everyone’s known us for 40 years — when you came to the diner you knew our family, so it’s sad, but they’re (the customers are) happy everyone’s going to enjoy their families now,” Lagakos said. “It’s good to see the community, how much they liked us, and how much we’re going to be missed. It's the end of an era, it’s bittersweet.”
Although the closing announcement was posted just on social media only within the last week, the news continues to spread rapidly by word-of-mouth.
For now, all the reasons people stopped at this diner in Monroe will be temporarily on hold.
Until the new one opens and the first burger with a side order of new memories is placed.
“I appreciate my staff for being with us throughout the years because without them, I wouldn’t have been successful,” said Lagakos. “I also want to thank the community so much for all these years they’ve been coming and supporting us, and know we will miss them all and look forward to seeing them around town.”