At the corner of Darby and Eagle, Havertown Grille serves breakfast to regulars most mornings. A few times a year, it also becomes a movie set.
By the time the cameras rolled on Thursday, February 12, chef Yiannis Akritidis had already been working for hours. The griddle was still warm from the breakfast rush. Coffee mugs sat stacked near the counter. Outside, cars moved steadily along Darby Road. Inside, the dining room had shifted. Tables were nudged aside. Cables ran along the floor. A light was angled toward the counter where customers usually sit.
For a few hours, the doors were closed to the public. The breakfast spot turned into a film set.
Owner Nick Haselidis has kept Havertown Grille going since 2012, building it into a steady breakfast and lunch destination for neighbors in Havertown and surrounding towns. He is a first-generation Greek American. His father is from Gastouni in the Peloponnese, with family roots in Çeşme in Asia Minor. His mother is from Kozani in northern Greece. Those different strands of Greek history sit quietly behind the counter here, decades removed from the villages but still present in the way the place runs…