There’s no doubt about it: the Diner Capital of the World is suffering an extended downturn. The Garden State has lost at least 30 diners, most likely even more, during the last 10 years—a trend that appears to be accelerating through mid-2025. Shifting economic conditions and the sharp rise in food, labor, and maintenance costs are hammering the Jersey diner business, part of a post-COVID-19 hangover.
Losing a favorite diner is troubling, considering the fond memories it holds for loyal patrons. But an even bigger concern is the loss of a factory-built, modular, prefabricated eatery from the 20th century. New Jersey was the diner manufacturing capital of the world during this period, and the demolition of a real-deal stainless steel diner represents the irreplaceable loss of a piece of iconic American industrial design and ingenuity, as well as a chapter of New Jersey history.
However, despite the current diner-downturn blues, some refreshing good news is on the horizon: the renaissance of the Roadside Diner in Wall Township. Nick and Maria Kallas, owners of the uber-successful Broad Street Diner (built by the Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company, circa 1952) in Keyport, will now own and operate the Roadside, in addition to managing Broad Street.
If all goes well, a grand opening celebration at the Roadside will be held in mid-May. Nick Kallas, in a recent interview, said all the papers have been signed and the needed renovation work is underway. New kitchen equipment and counters are being installed, booths are being rebuilt, and he promised that the diner will have a sparkling luster inside and out.
“I love it,” Kallas said, confessing that he’s had his eye on the Roadside for several years. “We feel good about being here. Everything is official. The lease is signed. We’re in!”
Kallas said that his two diners will share a similar menu—salads, seafood, omelets, waffles, breakfast bowls, beef and chicken dishes, egg platters, and daily specials. Initially, he said the Roadside will focus on breakfast and lunch.
The husband and wife Kallas team—having collected numerous accolades for their food and hospitality since opening Broad Street in 2015—are skilled professionals and can trace strong family roots in the Jersey diner business. Their parents (Nick’s dad, John Kallas, and Maria’s dad, Billy Niotis) were partners for many years at the Parsonage Diner in Menlo Park, which closed in 1996.
The Roadside has a historic lineage as the 32nd diner built and delivered in 1949 by Silk City Diners, a long-gone division of the old Paterson Vehicle Company.
Barry M. Sabin, a retired partner in a Washington D.C. law firm, is the landlord of the property upon which the Roadside sits. Sabin, who also owns adjacent tracts of land surrounding the diner, said he’s honor-bound to keep the diner in place along Route 33.
“My father and mother (Milton and Shirley Sabin) purchased the property in the mid-1970s. When my father died five years ago, he transferred the ownership to me and my sister (Jennifer Sabin), but made us promise that we would never sell or remove the diner.” Barry Sabin also had high praise for the previous Roadside operators, Dimitri Gerakaris and his family, saying “they’re honorable, hard-working, decent people.”
Sabin also expressed pride in his own Jersey roots, saying that his grandparents, Phillip and Sophie Sabin, many years ago, operated Sabin’s Hot Dogs in the Weequahic section of Newark.
Former Roadside chef and diner owner Gerakaris, on March 22, posted a fond farewell online, saying that he, along with family and staff, “would like to thank our loyal customers for 27 great years. Thank you for sharing your countless special diner moments with us.”
Jersey Rock ‘n Roll fans may recall that Jon Bon Jovi and his band posed for a photo shoot at the Roadside for his October 1994 greatest hits album, “Cross Roads.”
Rock on, Roadside Diner.
