NYC night owls left hungry as 24-hour restaurants dwindle

The City That Never Sleeps? Tell that to night owls starving for a bite to eat.

Manhattan’s once thriving 24/7 eateries — where revelers spilling out of thumping clubs and after-hours hot spots would merge with an early-morning work crowd — are dwindling as staff shortages, rising real estate prices and soaring crime eat away at all-night options.

“People go out earlier now, and no one wants to take the subway late at night. It’s not safe,” Mark Amadei, co-founder of famed Chelsea all-night diner Cafeteria, told Side Dish.

“When I left a party at 2 am the other night, everything was closed and there was no one on the street.”

Cafeteria, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, stopped offering its elevated comfort food in the wee hours during the pandemic.

It was among several beloved late-night haunts like Veselka that were forced to shorten their hours because of lockdowns.

The few all-night joints that remain can be found in areas like the Lower East Side, where Remedy Diner has been on E. Houston St. since 2007, and Hell’s Kitchen, where Empanada Mama has a 24-7 outpost, along with its LES location. 

“Most of the clubs have moved to Brooklyn now and there just isn’t a 24-hour culture in New York the way there used to be,” Cafeteria co-founder Stacy Pisone said. “It’s not even just the restaurants. Even Walgreens isn’t [open] late night. The City That Never Sleeps is sleepier than it has ever been.” 

Not everyone is buying into the theory that Manhattan has lost its late-night edge. 

Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen plans to launch a 24/7 diner in Chelsea 

“I just signed the lease,” said Morfogen, who is taking over the iconic Lyric Diner space, a former 24/7 Greek diner at 283 Third Avenue and East 22nd Street.  

“The new name will be Diner24,” Morfogen said, adding that it will be a 24/7 Greek diner.

“The biggest search terms after 11 pm are ‘late night eats’ and ‘late night snack.’ One million people are searching that after 11 pm in the 20 blocks around Gramercy Park. Our name will be picked up first,” Morfogen said. 

While the clubs may have moved to Brooklyn, neighborhood folks still want to eat late. 

 “People are working from home and they want to go out,” Morfogen said. “The area is filled with bars and they are all full. But people need to eat.” 

Morfogen seems to be an outlier. 

Stathis Antonakopoulos, owner of the Carnegie Diner & Cafe,  said his just-opened outpost at 828 8th Avenue, off 50th Street, was going to be 24/7 but it didn’t make sense financially. 

The new location, which launched Wednesday, is open from 7 am until 1 a.m. seven days a week. That’s in addition to the flagship Carnegie Diner & Cafe, which opened at 205 W. 57th St. across from Carnegie Hall in 2019.

“I don’t think we can afford to be open 24 hours because it’s too costly to operate overnight and there’s still a staffing shortage. That said, 18 hours a day is doable,” Antonakopoulos said. 

Cafeteria’s co-founders are also making the burnt ends meet despite closing early.

The famed eatery at 119 Seventh Ave —  which seats 140 people inside and 74 people outside — now opens at 9 am and closes at midnight from Sunday to Wednesday, and at 1 am from Thursday through Saturday. 

Launched by celebrity chef Tyler Florence across the street from Barneys downtown, Cafeteria became a haven for creatives and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Hollywood stars and music legends from Julianne Moore and Mariah Carey could be found seated in the dining room — and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West spent one of their first dates there. Cafeteria cemented its lore after being featured as the go-to brunch spot for the “Sex and the City” gang. 

“It was a big part of New York, like a mini-downtown fashion quarter,” Amadei said. “Our idea was to create something for shoppers during the day and for our friends at night who wanted to go out. The Meatpacking District was just beginning. The minute we signed the lease, Barney’s closed, but it didn’t matter. The neighborhood was opening up.” 

Cafeteria’s anniversary bash was attended by 600 people, including Stanley Tucci, Michael Musto, Carmen d’Alessio, Brian Atwood and Thom Felicia.

Amadei — who is also a top residential broker at Sotheby’s — said the loss of all-night dining is “really about real estate” prices. 

“Basically you can’t have a club in Manhattan. It isn’t economical. All the clubs that are still here will ultimately become development sites. They will all be condos,” Amadei said, citing a current $1.3 billion project transforming Terminal Warehouse in West Chelsea into an office and retail complex.

 “I don’t think New York City is dead, it’s just that the city is expensive. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  It is a good thing for real estate — who wants to live next to a club or 24/7 restaurant? But how many young 21-year-old artists now live in Manhattan? Maybe on the Lower East Side. The city is always changing.”

We hear…that City Harvest’s annual summer fundraiser, City Harvest Presents Summer in the City 2023, brought together restaurants, chefs and mixologists including Aquavit, Butcher Bar, COTE Korean Steakhouse, Ed’s Lobster Bar, Eitan Bernath, Mexology, Muddling Memories, Nami Nori, Rezdôra, and Ron Ben-Israel Cakes. The waterfront tasting event took place at The Lighthouse, Pier 61 and raised funds to help rescue food waste and provide more than 714,000 meals to New Yorkers in need.

We hear…that Citymeals on Wheels also recently celebrated its 36th Annual Chefs’ Tribute, themed “Family Affair,”  raising funds to prepare and deliver 90,000 meals for homebound elderly New Yorkers. This year’s chef lineup included Maneet Chauhan of Chauhan Ale & Masala House, Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter, Dino Gatto of Rao’s, and Junghyun Park of Atomix, as well as veteran chef supporters,including chefs Daniel Boulud, Larry and Marc Forgione, Charlie Palmer, Alfred Portale and Jonathan Waxman.