Big Nick's (CLOSED)

The menu at this dumpy Upper West Side institution, a 24-hour joint with 27 pages of dishes, reads like it’s from a truck-stop dive by way of the Aegean: all-day breakfast, three-napkin burgers, Greek standards such as gyros and souvlaki, pizza, meat-and-potatoes suppers and a wide range of desserts. Service is brusque, the decor is ’70s kitsch (the place hasn’t been redecorated in a generation), and tables are cramped and far from clean. Nevertheless, Big Nick’s has a bighearted New York spirit that makes it part of the city that never sleeps.