16 NOVEMBER 2, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
BUSINESS
Tasty’s Diner makes a big comeback after fi re forced it to close
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Aft er a fi re forced it to close for
six months, Tasty’s Diner in
Ridgewood is ready to once
again provide the community with the
delicious food and attentive service it
always has, while also updating with
the times.
Back in April, an electrical fi re inside
one of the walls at Tasty’s Diner,
located at 58-02 Myrtle Ave., forced
owner George Lagos to shutter his
establishment for half a year in order
to make repairs.
However, the repairs he would
have to make went far beyond what
he thought he would have to do.
When Lagos’ father bought Tasty’s
in 1987, it was a donut shop, and he
changed it into a restaurant. The
restaurant had an open kitchen area,
and when building codes eventually
changed, Lagos explained, Tasty’s
open kitchen design was grandfathered
in and was allowed to remain.
When the fi re struck, Lagos was
forced to conform to the new codes and
had to redesign the entire restaurant.
“We remodeled the whole entire
place,” Lagos said. “Outside, inside,
backyard, everything. We changed
everything top to bottom. Everything
is new and shiny.”
George Lagos (second from left), owner of Tasty’s Diner, is fl anked by his wife, two daughters, his father,
Councilman Antonio Reynosos, Assemblyman Mike Miller, David Aglialoro and David Renz of Assemblywoman
Catherine Nolan’s offi ce, and Ted Renz, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue BID.
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome
was changing the kitchen aft er
30 years of having the same design
and equipment, and getting the chefs
to acclimate to all these new changes.
“The only saving grace of this whole
six-month ordeal is we had a lot of
time,” Lagos said. “We would put
things and actually see if this was going
to work, or if that was not going to
work. We had a lot of time to sit around
and actually think about and engineer
a great cooking line. And the guys now
love it.”
Lagos offi cially reopened his eatery
on Oct. 18 — six months to the day of
the fi re — as a “soft opening” so he and
the staff can get used to the way the
new-and-improved Tasty’s operates.
In order to fully celebrate the
reopening of Tasty’s, Lagos held a
grand reopening and ribbon cutting
Photo by Anthony Giudice/Ridgewood Times
ceremony from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on
Saturday, Oct. 28, right outside the
restaurant on Myrtle Avenue.
During the ribbon cutting ceremony
there was games and face painting
for the children. Councilman Antonio
Reynoso, Assemblyman Mike Miller,
and staff from Assemblywoman Catherine
Nolan’s offi cer were on hand.
Lagos could not have been more
excited to fi nally reopen Tasty’s and
get back to doing what he does best.
“I have two beautiful daughters,
and it was the equivalent of having
another child. It was like, ‘Oh my
God, thank God it’s over,’” Lagos said
of reopening the restaurant. “It was
my equivalent of child birth because
it was such an ordeal. We fall into
patterns, and my pattern was come
into work and run the day-to-day
operations. Now you’re dealing with
something completely out of your
realm, because I make cheese burgers;
I’m not a contractor.”
Even though Lagos went through
some growing pains trying to get
Tasty’s up and running again, he never
lost the support of the community.
When he put up a paper sign in
the window aft er the fi re alerting
customers that they would be closed
for renovations, he noticed that
people started writing on that sign,
off ering him well wishes and a speedy
renovation.
“It was almost like the passing of a
person,” Lagos said. “It was so cool to
see all that transpire.”
Although Tasty’s has a brand-new
look, Lagos assured that the food
and friendly service customers have
grown to love over the last three decades
are remaining the same.
Ridgewood Savings Bank spreads fall cheer
Photo courtesy of Ridgewood Savings Bank
On Saturday, Oct. 21, members of Ridgewood Savings Bank dressed up as superheroes during the institution’s
Fall Festival held in the main branch’s parking lot at 71-02 Forest Ave. Children were treated to fun and games
and had their picture taken with the superheroes.
