The Modern Diner, Well Done
Posted by estiator at 10 November, at 14 : 19 PM Print
Carnegie Diner & Café lands in Brooklyn, with many more openings on the menu. By Michael Kaminer
The newest location of Carnegie Diner & Café, the white-hot brand from Estiator cover stars Stathis Antonakopoulos and Peter Xenopoulos, is bringing its winning formula to Brooklyn for the first time. For Antonakopoulos and Xenopoulos, the new restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn’s hip City Point development is the eighth location for their reimagined, modernized diner concept, which has won over Gen Zers and seasoned New Yorkers alike with urbane decor, up-to-the-second menus, and a relentless focus on service.
Along with Carnegie Diner & Cafe’s seven locations across New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, the pair oversee a portfolio including Voco Roofbar, Delos Greek Restaurant, and Carnegie Catering. Antonakopoulos also operates several delivery-focused brands, including Organic Burger House, NYC Pancake House, and NYC Pastrami House.
“When I started the Carnegie Diner & Café brand with Peter, I asked him, ‘Is this going to be one store, or maybe five? Because if it’s not at least five, maybe I won’t do it,’ ” Antonakopoulos tells Estiator during a rare break from a nonstop schedule. “I really believed from the beginning that could be a brand with the trajectory we have now,” he says. “I always dreamed and believed that we could have a diner in every state.”
The concept’s success, he says, comes from looking forward, not back, while sharing tried-and-true standards of hospitality. “We wanted a diner that could feel like home,” he says. “But I believed people were sick and tired of old, traditional diners. The younger generation didn’t want anything to do with old-style Americana. They’d had enough of it.”
With that in mind, Carnegie Diner & Café’s new Brooklyn location replicates the subtly, smartly retro designs of frequent collaborator Enkela Malellari, director of architecture at New York firm Archela PC.
“The design concept is ‘a modern New York diner with urban nostalgia,’ “ Malellari says. “Carnegie Diner & Café brings together the nostalgia of a classic New York diner with a fresh, contemporary feel. Warm cognac-colored booths, rich wood paneling, and natural wood tables create a comfortable and inviting atmosphere, while black accents and modern finishes give the space a more refined look.
“A custom colorful, illuminated New York City skyline serves as the main focal point, complemented by an eclectic mix of artwork that celebrates the city’s history, culture, and iconic personalities,” Malellari continues. “The lighting combines traditional globe sconces with simple modern pendants, adding warmth while keeping the space bright and lively. At the bar, an illuminated canopy with cascading florals adds a playful touch and creates a memorable feature within the restaurant. Throughout the space, the mix of materials, colors, and textures is intended to feel familiar without being dated. The goal was to capture the energy and character of New York City while creating a welcoming place where people can gather, relax, and enjoy the timeless diner experience.”
The design is a celebration of New York City, Malellari says—”its energy, culture, and timeless diner tradition. Through warm colors, inviting seating, iconic artwork, and contemporary detailing, we wanted to create an atmosphere that feels both familiar and exciting, where the nostalgia of old New York meets the vibrancy of the city today.”
The Brooklyn space, in City Point’s subterranean lower level, had been a craft brewery, Antonakopoulos says. “It had an industrial look when we took it over, but we made it a true Carnegie, with a full renovation,” he says. Likewise, “We brought exactly the same menu we have at all of our locations. We’ve been consistent on our brand. I thought about localizing it, but I didn’t see much difference in Brooklyn.”
The restaurant in next to “the busiest Trader Joe’s in New York,” he says.
Antonakopolous, whose official title is CEO of Carnegie Hospitality, still gets personally involved in menu development. “We change it up every sixth months, based on seasonality,” he says. “I look at social media, trends, what the younger generation is eating, what I like to eat. I check out what the leading QSR concepts are offering, and how to adopt that at a diner level.” Recent innovations have included poke bowls, gyro “bowls” with chicken, lamb, or carne asada over rice. “It’s current with what people like,” he says.
Then there’s the pastrami burger. “The pastrami burger was a total surprise,” Antonakopoulos says. “I thought it would be fun, but I didn’t think it would become a dominant thing. It surpassed all of our burger sales, and we have 10 burgers on the menu.” At press time, Antonakopoulos was preparing to introduce a new fall menu. “We’re changing more than 10 dishes. It’s usually just four or five that we adjust,” he says.
“What is an American diner in 2027? It’s about quality food with high-standard ingredients at a casual level with affordable pricing,” he says. “If those elements are in the menu items that I’m thinking about, along with seasonality and likeability and Instagrammability, the ability to trend, then we introduce it.”
Carnegie Diner & Cafe features an all-day breakfast menu, along with salads, burgers, sandwiches, steaks, fresh fish, pastas, and desserts. Breakfast selections include a classic Benedict with a lobster add-on option, avocado toast, a BLT quinoa bowl, and a huge range of egg dishes. There are a dozen types of decadent pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Lunch and dinner entrées include rib-eye steak, salmon, fish ’n’ chips, shrimp spaghetti and spaghetti carbonara. For dessert: a 24-layer chocolate cake, pies, cupcakes and over-the-top milkshakes in flavors like strawberry cheesecake.
According to a spokesperson, Carnegie Diner is also the first diner in America to serve a full plant-based menu, which includes items like a souvlaki platter, yeero platter, and Impossible Burger.
If Antonakopoulos’ instincts about restaurants and customers seem second-nature, it’s because the business is in his blood. Born in Athens, Antonakopoulos was raised in the Corinthian Gulf, where his family owned Alkion, a seasonal waterside restaurant and hotel. As an 11-year-old, the Athens-born restaurateur worked as a busboy and managed the restaurant by age 18.
After studying in New York, Antonakopoulos opened his first solo venture—a wholesale bakery—before pivoting to restaurants, including well-known brands Kellari and Stix. He met Xenopoulos in 2007, and Carnegie Hospitality was born.
Fast-forward to 2026: The Carnegie Hospitality pipeline includes a massive Manhattan expansion, with locations in the rejuvenated Penn Plaza this year and in Hudson Yards in 2027. “Hudson Yards will be an 11,000-square-foot location, our biggest diner yet,” he says. “We’ll also debut our Carnegie Diner & Café Express concept there, a QSR version of our brand with bowls, sandwiches, and salads.” In Tribeca, the company will open branches of Express and Delos Greek Restaurant, its fine-dining concept. A diner will come to Maiden Lane, in the Financial District, next May. And in June, Carnegie Diner & Café is set for takeoff at JFK Airport. In September 2027, a large location will also open at the busy Garden State Mall in Paramus, NJ.
Antonakopoulos has also planted flags in a couple of Manhattan hotels, signaling another potential direction for expansion. “We’re in two hotels—the Martinique, which is a Curio by Hilton property, and the Voco, which is part of Intercontinental Hospitality Group,” he says. “Our hotel partners have loved how much we’ve amplified engagement with guests. Usually, 20 to 30 percent of guests have breakfast inside the property. We’ve doubled those numbers. People appreciate that they don’t have to deal with a boring buffet like they may be accustomed to in hotels. We’re very excited about the possibilities in that space,” he says.
By the end of 2026, Antonakopoulos says, Carnegie Hospitality will employ more than 1,000 people.
Carnegie Diner & Cafe
445 Gold Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
carnegiediner.com // @carnegiediner
