Peter Ganiris, the gregarious owner of Sherban’s Diner, was in the mood to talk about history and his fond memories on a rainy afternoon in April. He was most proud of operating the South Plainfield establishment for more than 40 years. He recounted the story of how he was born on the Greek island of Chios and came to the U.S. at the age of 16. And then, the 65-year-old Ganiris told the classic New Jersey entrepreneurial diner tale: he started as a dishwasher, saved his money, and through hard work and determination, ended up owning his own diner.
All the while, as Ganiris reflected on his career path and life journey, this reporter was enjoying potato and leek soup, a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich (on whole wheat with mayo), and a bottomless cup of coffee. How good was the coffee? Well, four cups good (or was it five?). And there was one big treat to cap off the meal: a generous slice of dreamy banana cream pie. How good was the pie? It’s safe to say it was good enough to enjoy feeling guilty about eating it. In fact, it still makes this reporter smile. “Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention…”
Ganiris paid tribute to his family’s New Jersey diner and restaurant heritage, noting that, over the years, he learned the business from various relatives, his beloved mentors. For example, his aunt, Stella Barkalis, worked at a diner in Woodbridge in the 1930s, originally known as the Hy-Way Diner, which evolved into today’s Reo Diner. Ganiris’ sister, Irene Kokodis, currently serves as his business partner.
The original owner of Sherban’s Diner, Alex Sherban, launched the business in the late 1950s. Born in the U.S., Sherban’s family originally came from Romania. “Alex was a good guy and proud of his business,” Ganiris said. To pay homage to Sherban, Ganiris keeps a vintage black-and-white photo of the original diner prominently displayed on his dining room wall.
In 1972, Ganiris and John Stellakas bought the business from Sherban, and three years later installed a new diner on the site, manufactured by the Swingle Diner Manufacturing Company. The two partners expanded the facilities in the 1980s, adding a dining room and a larger kitchen. Eventually, Ganiris bought out Stellakas and joyfully proclaimed that he plans to run the business for another 40 years.
The mustachioed Ganiris became especially nostalgic when he mentioned his business dealings with the Swingle company. “Joe Swingle was a good man, a beautiful man, an honest man, and very good to us,” Ganiris said, his eyes becoming misty. Joe Swingle indeed is a New Jersey diner legend—a 20th century diner renaissance man. He was part of the golden era, when companies throughout the Garden State produced stainless steel diners in factories as precise, engineered products. Yes, New Jersey is the diner capital of the world, because we have more diners than anywhere else. However, New Jersey also was the diner manufacturing capital of the world, as most of the major U.S. diner builders were based here. Today, that grand business sector has vanished. Diners in the 21st century are site-built structures. Time marches on.
In the late 1940s Joe Swingle got his start in the business working as a diner salesman for the legendary diner builder Jerry O’Mahony, who had a factory in Elizabeth. Swingle later became a sales manager for the Fodero Dining Car Company in Bloomfield. In the early 1950s, Swingle and his older brother Dallas purchased property in Springfield along Route 22 and bought a state-of-the-art diner from Fodero, which they operated as Swingle’s Diner. Finally, combining all of his expertise, Joe Swingle established his own diner manufacturing company in Middlesex, and produced nearly 150 modular, prefabricated eateries. He ran the manufacturing business until he retired in 1988, and died a year later.
The lunch specials at Sherban’s diner included Yankee pot roast, seafood creole, broiled salmon, baked lasagna, spinach pie, and corned beef and cabbage. In addition to bacon, lettuce and tomato, sandwich choices on the menu included cheese steak, jumbo shrimp, broiled or fried filet of sole, meatloaf, and chicken cutlet. There were majestic chef, Caesar and Greek salads. Desserts included various cheesecakes, puddings and pies, but I was very content to indulge in my banana cream pie. It was yummy.
It was time to go and we bid farewell to Peter Ganiris. He was a gentleman—a true old-school diner guy, and couldn’t have been more charming and friendly during a tasty lunch. It was still a dreary day, complete with gray skies, a chilly breeze and a persistent drizzle, but that was OK. A good meal, multiple cups of super coffee and sparkling conversation about New Jersey diner history on a Thursday afternoon in South Plainfield was more than enough to brighten the day. And did I mention how much I enjoyed the pie?
Sherban’s Diner
222 Front St.
South Plainfield
908-755-7427
Michael Gabriele is the author of “The History of Diners in New Jersey,” published by The History Press.
JERSEY BITES: What is your earliest food memory?
Opened on April 5, this wholesale seafood distributor offers a retail seafood market and a 70-seat restaurant with a popular chef’s table that allows interactive views of the kitchen and its culinary team, headed up by chef/owner Scott Snyder. Among the restaurant’s signature dishes are its canneloni: jumbo lump crab wrapped in thinly-sliced avocado over a salad of diced pineapple finished with a passion fruit vinaigrette, shrimp corn chowder with applewood-smoked bacon and celery root, and a yellow fin tuna poke appetizer served with avocado, jicama, and sugar snap peas in a sesame-soy chili dressing. “Our seafood risotto has also been a big seller, along with our entrée of Maine lobster, fresh shrimp, and dayboat scallops finished with a truffle froth,” said General Manager Richard Spaulding. “We also offer many blackboard specials driven by what’s fresh in the market that day.” To help introduce itself to the marketplace, Boulevard Seafood will be among the 45 outlets participating in the annual Taste of Somerset, on May 23.
Purchased by new owners last summer and now fully remodeled, this American regional farm-to-table restaurant with Italian influences officially opened for business on April 22. Updated from its former aesthetic (Park & Orchard first opened in 1981), “we turned the space on its ear, opening it up to feature exposed beams and brick, a new floor, and booth seating that creates private dining spaces and an industrial chic ambiance,” said Managing Partner David Madison, who added that the new restaurant seats 150 in the dining room, 25 at the bar, 15 in the lounge, and another 100 in a private dining area. To welcome back loyal fans of its previous and long-running incarnation, “we’ve carried forward some classics from the original restaurant, including Ethel’s Famous Pot Roast and Crawfish Pasta LeRuth’s, and have added some new favorites, such as our duck ragout with gnocchi and hand-made pastas like our Five Mushroom Bolognese and Three-Cheese Agnolotti,” Madison said. “We’ve got a great vibe here and we’re very happy with what’s happening so far and so excited to welcome even more guests,” he said.
Describing itself as a destination for great food and fun, STRYXE opened in late February and offers a full service restaurant, scratch kitchen, wood-fired artisan pizza bar, two adult lounges, 20 bowling lanes, amusements, billiards, shuffle board, and three private-event gathering rooms. With a culinary team led by acclaimed Chef Rolf Baumann, who previously launched premium catering at Yankee Stadium, STRYXE offers authentic Sicilian wood-fired specialty pizzas—listed on the La Tabisca menu—and has also been getting rave reviews on its pan-fried oysters and 300 Burger, which is topped with shitake mushrooms, portabello mushrooms, pancetta, and a brown egg, as well as our nachos and wings, according to a STRYXE spokesperson. With two bars offering domestic, imported, and craft beers on tap as well as specialty cocktails, the spokesperson I spoke with described STRYXE as a small, boutique gastro-pub in a large venue that goes beyond expectations to surprise and delight customers.
Opened on April 13 by the Apostolopoulos family on the site of their former upscale Italian restaurant, Bruschetta, Tavern 292 offers casual dining that features great burgers, live lobster and steak entrées, and seafood favorites such as Alaskan king crab legs as well as a range of sandwiches, salads, and more. “We decided to give our former restaurant a facelift and go with a more casual theme,” explained owners Soto and Helen Apostolopoulos, part of the family who also owns the 
Following a long absence, the iconic hot dog business originally launched by Mrs. Callahan in 1950 and then owned and operated by the Castrianni family for decades after will be returning to its Fort Lee roots with the launch of The Callahan’s Hot Dog Emporium on May 23, complete with a ribbon-cutting by the mayor. Currently owned by original family member Lenny Castrianni (who has been a fixture in the business since the age of nine) and Gregory Papas, “we’re known for our hot dogs, which are among the largest on the market and represent a great recipe of high quality pork and beef,” Castrianni said. The new 2,000 square-foot location, which can seat over 80 indoors and outdoors, will also feature the outlet’s famed French fries, hamburgers, and cannolis as well as new potato roll products, a ‘super one-pound hotdog,’ hot dog ‘tempura,’ and live entertainment on the weekends. After the store converted to a food truck years ago, “we’re back in the town where we first started, very close to our original location, and are excited be part of the resurgence of Fort Lee,” Castrianni said of their new brick-and-mortar presence. “It’s been a family project all these years but my mother and father, Ida and Leonard (‘Artie’) Castrianni, were truly the foundation.”
Coming this summer, Pig & Prince Restaurant in Montclair will host a mini farmers market on its expansive patio on Saturdays. The market will feature a range of fresh produce and other fare aggregated from local farms to serve the restaurant’s busy brunch crowd and will be coordinated by Harvest Drop, a Morristown-based company that aggregates produce from a variety of New Jersey farms once a week and delivers it to restaurants within 24 hours of being picked. “We’re excited about this opportunity at Pig & Prince, which will help the restaurant demonstrate that they use locally-purveyed food and give their customers access to the same high-quality ingredients,” said Harvest Drop founder Oliver Gubenko, who has opened doors between dozens of farms and restaurants throughout New Jersey since launching his company in early 2015.
A couple of years ago, Philadelphia Magazine voted The Pour House’s Second Coming Burger Best Burger, and it’s easy to understand why. The patty is 100% dry aged sirloin. It’s topped with chopped tomatoes, roasted garlic aioli, gruyere cheese, all served on a brioche roll. The American classic is served with (what else?) shoestring fries and a pickle.
