Greek restaurant boom on Long Island

There are about 3,000 Greek islands.

Add one more.

In the last few years, Long Island has had a boomlet in Greek restaurants, from the palatial to the humble. Credit the Mediterranean diet. Or maybe all those brilliant images of sun-bleached white buildings and impossibly blue waters.

For reasons big and small, for dishes as varied as pricey whole grilled fish and inexpensive gyros, this island now hosts many Greeks bearing gifts -- the tasty kind.

Here's a quick odyssey to some of our favorite eateries.

1060 Rte. 25A, Mount Sinai

631-928-8600, alexandrosrestaurant.com

65 Merrick Rd., Amityville

631-691-4607

25 Middle Neck Rd., Great Neck

516-305-4958

354 Larkfield Rd., East Northport

631-266-3300, gyrotimeny.com

5145 Main Rd. (Route 25), East Marion

631-477-0138, the hellenic.com

1043 Northern Blvd., Roslyn

516-869-8989, limaniny.com

1363 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn

516-686-6486, mptaverna.com

273 Main St., Huntington

631-385-3473

57 Commack Rd., Commack

631-858-1482

1446 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn, 516-625-2600

1020 Montauk Hwy., Water Mill, 631-726-6200

trata.com

The Greeks' greatest contribution to the Long Island dining scene has virtually nothing to do with Greek cooking. Rather, it is the establishment and operation of that most ubiquitous of eateries, the diner.

The diner opens early and closes late (it may even be open all night) and serves enormous portions of a vast range of foods. Breakfast all day, veal Marsala, cheeseburgers, chef salad, broiled scrod, roast turkey with gravy and stuffing, navy bean soup, Black Forest cake, a can of sardines, Salisbury steak.

But the Greek diner may not be the best place to sample Greek cooking. Helen Georgatos, who owns Commack's Premier Diner with her husband, Peter, and brother Charles Kyriacou, explained that the average diner's commitment to a large menu can work against the ability to highlight the owner's native cuisine. "If you're going to serve real Greek food," she said, "you have to sell a lot of it every day. That tray of moussaka needs to be fresh."

Nevertheless, most Long Island diners evince an unmistakable Hellenism, from the standard lineup of "Greek specialties" -- souvlaki, moussaka, pastitsio -- to the Greek-key-bordered paper place mats.

Kathy Boulukos of Freeport, a historian of the Greek-American experience and the editor of the Recipe Club of St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral's "Complete Book of Greek Cooking" (William Morrow, $21.99), could not think of one diner on Long Island that is not owned by Greeks. (Neither could Helen or Peter Georgatos.) It's safe to say Greek Americans dominate the local diner scene.

Boulukos explained that Greek immigrants had been active in the food industry almost since they first arrived in America. "Food service was a good fit for hardworking people who didn't speak much English," she said.

Many of these newcomers started out with pushcarts and candy stands, and then moved on to ice-cream parlors and coffee shops. Those modest coffee shops evolved into the sprawling diners that now dot the suburban landscape. Diner busboys became diner cooks and then diner owners. And they hired their cousins who followed them to the New World.

Both Georgatoses see changes in the future of the Greek diner. Helen has been the force behind trimming the Premier's menu and upgrading the food quality. "Diners are restaurants," she said. "They need to serve good, fresh food." Peter wondered whether the children of today's diner owners will want to stay in the business. "Our kids, they are going to college, getting educated. I can see the diner getting out of Greek hands." -- Erica Marcus