Garrett Owen

New at 22nd Street and Third Avenue, Diner24 shares many characteristics with other diners in New York City: customers can have breakfast for dinner; the waiters are in dress-shirt-bow-tie getups; the tile floor is black and white; and the tables have shiny, metal striations around them that may have been considered “Space Age” in the 1950s. RECOMMENDED: A first look at Diner24, NYC’s newest 24-hour restaurant and bar  

New York City's reputation as the city that never sleeps has waned in recent years, but a new 24/7 diner is seeking to breathe new life into the epithet we’re so proud of.  Gramercy's new Diner24, which opened in May, is hoping to make it as one of these "open-late" spots despite a still-recovering economy and a city not yet fully back to its pre-pandemic self. At 22nd Street and Third Avenue, it shares many characteristics with other diners in New York City: customers can have breakfast for dinner; the waiters are in dress-shirt-bow-tie getups; the tile floor is black and white; and the tables have shiny, metal striations around them that may have been considered “Space Age” in the 1950s. In an age when these kind of 24/7 restaurants are few and far between, it’s remarkable when a new spot enters the scene. That’s why last Saturday I took a stool at the counter from 11pm to 7am, to experience the late-night hours that put the 24 in Diner24. 11pm   Photograph: Garrett Owen for Time Out New York “I Will Survive” plays as the staff busies themselves with arriving customers, orders and plates of food. Stratis Morfogen, the diner’s owner, leans against the bar in his black T-shirt and blue jeans, tortoiseshell glasses and silver watch, typing away at his phone, promoting the diner on social media. New York City’s iconic all-night diners are an endangered breed and Morfogen knows it.   “Unfortunately, during these COVID shutdowns, not just 24-hour diners but a lot of restaurants