STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Island Coffee Shop has reawakened after a three-month closure. On Saturday morning, while the restaurant’s staff spread butter on toast, flipped hash browns and shuttled omelet platters to customers, George Bakratsas explained why he had to close.
“The Buildings Department said I had to fix the hood and add a metal door near the furnace,” said Bakratsas with a shrug. While the Castleton Corners proprietor awaited approvals for 407 Manor Road, he said, “I had to stop answering the phone. Too many questions. I had to keep turning people away.”
A Quiet Wait at the Booth
He spent most days waiting in the diner, hunkered down in a small booth by the entrance. While Bakratsas painstakingly waited for inspections and endured the financial strain, all he could do was sit “right there.” He nodded to a small booth by the entrance.
This summer’s closure followed another setback just six months earlier, when a fire on June 11, 2024, forced a five-month shutdown…