GRAMERCY — A new restaurant has risen from the ashes of the old Lyric Diner.
Tivoli, described as a diner geared toward modern New Yorkers' tastes, opened on Nov. 23 at Third Avenue and East 22nd Street, in the space that was home to Lyric before it shuttered in April, according Gus Kassimis, who also owns Murray Hill's Gemini Diner.
“The response was great,” Kassimis said. “People were so happy to see a family-type restaurant here again, because they were missing that after Lyric closed.”
Tivoli offers typical diner fare including burgers for less than $10, salads priced between $9 and $14, and round-the-clock breakfast entrees for $8 to $15.
Tivoli shares roughly the same layout of its predecessor, with the addition of a large, round booth at the front of the house and a more prominent bar along one wall, with beer taps and liquor.
The restaurant’s application for a liquor license, which got the backing of Community Board 6, is still pending, but Kassimis said he expects it to go through within a week. Once that’s sorted out, Tivoli will serve beer, wine, and liquor until 2 a.m., he said.
The restaurant already employs about 25 servers, cooks, and delivery people, according to Kassimis, including one waitress who previously worked at Lyric.
Kassimis said he hopes Tivoli can bridge the gap between diners of old and restaurants that cater to modern New Yorkers’ tastes, leaning towards quality over quantity and healthy options over the traditional greasy-spoon fare.
“I want people to be able to have a beer but also be able to get a restaurant-quality burger and fries, and at a bar you usually don’t have the same quality,” he said.
Kassimis is betting that Tivoli’s mix of bar, diner and restaurant can provide an answer to the vanishing institution of the New York diner. A number of diners have closed across the city in recent years, including Lyric, in a trend one recent New York Times story described as the end of the “best days of the New York City diner.”
