After a reader had suggested I visit a different restaurant on the Bronx’s City Island, I took the long trek up from Queens to check it out. After a nearly two-hour commute, I was ravenous and ready to eat, so you can imagine my disappointment when I approached and realized they were closed on Sundays. Frustrated with myself for not checking their hours online, I needed to quickly conjure up a Plan B, and that’s how I ended up at City Island Diner.
It was around noon and the diner was quite busy. I was lucky to snag one of the last remaining tables in the back corner, where a woman at the table next to me ate a salad out of a giant metal bowl. We made eye contact, and she smiled. The atmosphere was lively, and I watched big plates of pancakes, eggs and waffles be passed out to patrons, which was a mix of families, solo diners, and groups of friends with Sunday morning drinks. Having serious decision fatigue and too hungry to think straight, I ordered a BLT and threw in a mimosa for good measure when asked what I wanted to drink. The mimosa came out quickly and was served in a Guinness pint glass with ice.
I’m not entirely sure what prompted me to order a BLT. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered one at a diner before, but I guess hunger and disorientation will do that to you. What was left of my logic, which was clearly missing on this particular day, was that a BLT requires no cooking aside from the bacon, so it should come out quickly. I was right. Less than 10 minutes from when I sat down, my BLT arrived on a silver platter. (Well, porcelain, actually.)
City Island Diner has an open-style kitchen, so whether you order a BLT, pancakes, omelets, cheeseburgers, or their very popular fish and chips, you’ll have the option to watch as your dish is prepared.
“Everything is made in house and cooked to order,” owners Susan Hayes and Donna McGowan tell me.
They’re not kidding. One of the tables near me had a stack of pancakes delivered promptly after ordering, all of which I overheard, and when I watched a woman spread butter on said pancakes, I could actually hear the sizzle due to being so fresh off the griddle.
As for my BLT — lightly toasted white bread with crispy bacon and lettuce, a good slathering of mayo, and a thick, plump and juicy tomato slice — the BLT at City Island Diner is as no frills as it gets. You’d like to think, “I could’ve made this at home,” but that’s the beauty in it. Isn’t there just something nice about having an off day and getting a simple, comforting sandwich, where someone else takes the load off and not only prepares it for you, but serves it to you?
I bit into my sandwich and heard the music of all its layers as I dug in. I’m a “more is more” kind of gal. But the BLT at City Island Diner reminds me there’s beauty in the simple pleasures of life, like finding comfort in an unfamiliar setting or unforeseen circumstances — or both, as was the case for me that day.
At one point, I needed to use the restroom and was advised to go through a small door, which connected me to a bar full of patrons watching sports and cheering with pints of beer and shots. In my need to use the restroom, I learned that City Island Diner is attached to The Snug, which is co-owned by the same duo.
“When The Diner closes at 3 p.m., the Snug Bar + Grill continues operations,” Hayes and McGowan, who took over the diner space in 1997, and opened The Snug in 2004, say. “Same business, different atmosphere.”
Different atmosphere indeed. City Island Diner feels like being in a small hometown greasy spoon that could be anywhere from Ohio to Upstate New York. The Snug felt more like a college bar with a bustling, young crowd.
Will I ever return to City Island Diner? To be honest, I’m not sure — but that’s not because I don’t want to. It’s a long trek for me. But I do know that if I ever want an escape from the hustle and bustle of New York City, fewer places in all five boroughs will make me feel as at home than I did that Sunday morning.
- Address: 304 City Island Ave, Bronx, NY 10464
- Phone: (718) 885-0362
- Hours: Monday-Sunday 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Prices: Homestyle Dinners $16.95-$17.95; Diner Basics $6.95-$10.95; Eggs $6.95-$12.95; Eggs $3-$11.95; Omelettes $9.95; Griddle $6.95-$9.95; Muffins $2-$3; Starters $9.95-$12.95; Wings $10.95; Soups $3.95-$10.95; Salads $13.95; Sandwiches, Wraps, & Paninis $12.95; Hot Heroes $13.95; Hot Opens $14.95; Burgers $11.95; Speciality Burgers $13.95
- Takeout available, no delivery, reservations only for large parties at The Snug
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