Peter Pan Diner, 999 Sunrise Highway, Bay Shore, NY 11706

ByPeter
Classic Long Island roadside diner glowing at blue-hour dusk

Twenty months is a long stretch for any diner to stay dark, and the Peter Pan Diner in Bay Shore had never gone dark before. According to its owner, the place had not closed for a single day since the 1950s, until a kitchen fire in July 2024 shut it down. It reopened in March 2026, still run by the family that has owned it for roughly seventy years.

The story is part restaurant profile, part small-town news event, and it says a good deal about what a Long Island diner is for.

A Bronx Diner, a New Jersey Restaurant, Then Sunrise Highway

The diner on Sunrise Highway dates to 1955. The Lentzeres family came to it four years later. Estiator reports that Constantine Lentzeres bought the Peter Pan in 1959 with three partners, Tom Gavaris, Charles Demirakos and Louis Demakos, whom his son Peter calls his uncles. The family had emigrated from Sparti in the early 1950s, and before the Peter Pan, the men had run the Paramount diner in the Bronx and the Harbor Restaurant in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Peter Lentzeres joined the business in the 1980s. The Messenger reports he took a semester off school to help his father, who had fallen ill, and has stayed ever since. Asked about the men who raised him in the business, he told Estiator, “I had four fathers, not one.”

That Greek-immigrant arc is the backbone of the Island’s diner trade, a pattern laid out in how Greek families came to own Long Island’s diners. Today Peter runs the diner with his brother Nick, and News 12 describes the pair as partners.

The Timeline

WhenWhat happened
1955The Peter Pan Diner opens on Sunrise Highway in Bay Shore
1959Constantine Lentzeres and three partners buy it
1980sPeter Lentzeres joins the business
July 2024Kitchen fire closes the diner, its first closure in about 69 years
Late 2024Insurance settlement finalized; contractors and designer hired
June 2025News 12 reports the owners expect to reopen in October; that date passes
March 2026The diner reopens after about twenty months

The Night the Kitchen Burned

ABC7 reported that the fire started in the kitchen in the early hours of Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Flames and heavy smoke came through the roof, and one firefighter suffered a minor hand injury. Two other outlets date the fire to July 1, so the exact hour of the call depends on whose clock you trust.

Response time became part of the story. ABC7 reported that hydrant work across the street, linked to a water main break, forced crews to find a hydrant three blocks away. Lentzeres later told Estiator that the hydrant had no water when firefighters arrived, and that the problem made the insurance process a huge headache.

Lentzeres told ABC7, “I thought I was dreaming — a nightmare, you know?” A banner went up across the road and customers gathered to show support. Fire Island News noted the closure ended a 69-year run and that, weeks afterward, the diner’s voicemail predicted a reopening in six to nine months. The real answer was more than twice that.

The family later thanked the Bay Shore Fire Department, the Bay Shore–Brightwaters Ambulance and the Suffolk County Police Department’s Third Precinct for saving the building from total loss. The story of another South Shore room that did not come back is told in the Forum Diner’s history and closing, a reminder that a reopening is never guaranteed.

Rebuilt Down to the Beams

Newly rebuilt diner counter with fourteen upholstered stools and herringbone floor

Lentzeres had planned a repair. He chose a rebuild. Greater Long Island reports that he took the building down to the beams, replacing bathrooms, kitchen equipment, basement systems, electrical work and air conditioning, and he says the result is “still totally identifiable as a diner.”

Estiator’s account of the redesign fills in the details:

  • Designer Georgio Sava and builder Peter Alexis reworked the room.
  • The dining area is smaller, and a larger bar with 14 seats also doubles as a counter.
  • The floor is herringbone porcelain that resembles wood, with terrazzo trim.
  • A custom-lit tree with forest-motif wallpaper anchors the dining room.
  • A “community wall” of local photographs replaces the customer photo board lost in the fire.
  • An illuminated photo shows Lentzeres’s father and three uncles.
  • The new exterior sign carries a face modeled on his three-year-old grandson, George.
Diner dining room with a custom-lit tree and green leather booths

The Messenger adds that the classic green stayed, with an “enchanted forest” influence layered over it and a goal of a cleaner, somewhat more upscale feel. For how the original diner buildings came to be, see the story of Kullman and the other diner manufacturers.

What Comes Out of the Kitchen

Smoked salmon eggs Benedict with home fries on a diner plate

The diner’s own menu has always been long, and the family has not narrowed it. Estiator reports that wraps and quesadillas are bestsellers, that the diner serves ten types of burgers, and that fish dinner specials and a skirt steak combo draw regulars. Omelets and pancakes remain perennial favorites.

Greater Long Island lists the new additions: bowls (tropical salmon with mango salsa and avocado, Greek lemon chicken with olives and tomatoes, and a shrimp-and-salmon seafood bowl), smoked salmon eggs Benedict, tacos, fajitas and loaded double smash burgers. There is now a bar with signature cocktails, a coffee bar and an ice cream menu.

Smash burger with fries and a chicken wrap on a diner counter

Longtime customers remember other things. Fire Island News singled out one patron known for ordering Eggs Benedict at any hour, and the paper’s own writer favored an omelet with home fries, rye toast and black coffee. A MenuPages listing for the diner also shows Greek dishes such as gyro and a spinach pie dinner, plus matzo ball soup, though that page may not match the current menu.

Why the Town Cares

Wall of framed vintage black-and-white community photographs in a diner

The reopening brought back 65 to 75 jobs, according to Greater Long Island. Some servers have worked there more than forty years, and Estiator says customers still ask for two of them, Athena and Shari, by name. Islip Town Supervisor Angie M. Carpenter, a customer for decades, told Estiator the diner means a great deal to the town. Councilman Mike McElwee called the reopening great news for Bay Shore.

Customers say the same thing in plainer words. Billy Moss of Brentwood told Fire Island News he had been coming for over 20 years. At the grand opening, longtime patron Donna Tucker told News 12 that nothing compared to it. The Messenger heard of a customer who drove in from the Hamptons for lunch on reopening week, and of owners who sent trays of food to a regular’s home during a family illness.

Lentzeres, for his part, summed up the return simply. “It feels like I never left,” he told the Messenger.

Questions People Ask

Is the Peter Pan Diner open? Yes. News 12 reported on March 15, 2026 that it was set to reopen that week, and a News 12 grand-opening story followed after a soft opening to bring the staff up to speed.

When did it open, and who owns it? It dates to 1955. The Lentzeres family has owned it since 1959, and brothers Peter and Nick Lentzeres run it today.

Where is it? Every outlet places it on Sunrise Highway in Bay Shore, and MenuPages lists 999 Sunrise Highway, Bay Shore, NY 11706. The Messenger’s article gives a Brightwaters Main Street address and a different phone number, so confirm the address and hours with the diner directly before driving over.

Was anyone hurt in the fire? One firefighter had a minor hand injury, per ABC7. The diner was closed at the time and no customers or staff were inside, according to the Messenger.

For another chapter in the same fading roadside tradition, read the diners that disappeared from Long Island’s roadsides.

Sources

Peter Kalafatis

Similar Posts