Americana Eatery & Bar, the latest successor to Great Neck’s legendary Seven Seas Diner (1979 to 2023), has been closed since early November and is unlikely to reopen, partner Stephanos Frangos said.
A gas leak that Frangos said his insurance company will not cover the expense of fixing coupled with other unmet financial obligations leaves “only a very slim chance we can save Americana.”
Frangos said he is open to partnering with another operator or to selling the lease to what he describes as “a turnkey property.”
The restaurant opened in April, a collaboration between Frangos, a silent partner and chef Gregory Zapantis, who left the business a few months ago. In May, Zapantis described Americana as “not a diner, not a Greek restaurant, not fine dining, not the neighborhood place on the corner. We are a family restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch.
A pastrami sandwich at Americana Eatery & Bar in Great Neck. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
The menu was indeed wide-ranging, but it was certainly no match for the one at the Seven Seas Diner, which stood at the corner of Middle Neck Road and Northern Boulevard for 44 years. In 2023, the owners of Seven Seas, Jimmy and Peter Tsolis, completely renovated the diner and relaunched it, for less than a year, as Paros Grill. Americana kept most of the new decor — lots of blond wood and Mediterranean baskets — as well as the new layout, featuring a large central lounge that accommodated a bar, high-top tables and a communal table. Once forming a web of casual, affordable venues, diners have become an endangered species on Long Island. This year, the Golden Coach in Huntington and the Baldwin Coach both ceased operation, joining a much longer list of closures.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.