I knew Mike Cioffi might be blushing before I looked up from my notes. “A midlife crisis,” he says. “That’s what the diner is for me.”
He opened Phoenicia Diner in 2012—after an end to a career in Broadway set construction that included a noncompete clause—with zero restaurant experience, only perspective. “My wife and kids were fed up with me critiquing restaurants and service whenever we went out,” he says.
It was on their drives between family homes in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill and Margaretville, NY, that he would regularly pass the diner space before seeing it up for sale. Built in Long Island in 1962 and relocated to the Catskills in the 1980s, the dining room has a movie-set nostalgia as well as a flood of stunning natural light. (In recent years, it was the backdrop for episodes of “Severance” on Apple TV.)
“Our team at the diner—most of them have been with us since the first day”
It was Cioffi’s introduction not only to restaurants, but the culinary world as well. Chefs have come and gone, but Cioffi says each one’s shared his commitment to purchasing from local vendors in keeping their casual but creative menu. The patty melt’s grassfed beef comes from Ulster County’s Veritas Farms, for example. Bacon and sausage are made at a Delhi-based smokehouse run by Catskills Food Company, and maple syrup is produced by Cody’s Sugar Shack just down the road. All of the menu’s seasonal, modern riffs on diner food (The Mitchell, Phoenicia’s version of a tuna melt, includes sustainably caught tuna, melted Swiss, citrus mayo, pickles, and griddled Arborio Bread from See & Be Kitchen) are abundantly fresh, generous in portion, and bursting with personality. At the same time, its approachability has made it embraced from day one, by both visitors and Instagram.
Thirteen years in, they’re busier than ever, expanding and becoming recognized nationally. Phoenicia Diner Canteen at Blue Duck Brewing in Kingston opened this year; the team hosts pop-ups in NYC; and now sells branded products like Phoenicia Diner’s buttermilk, buckwheat, and vegan pancake mixes all over the country. We should all have such midlife crises. In reality, that is not—nor has it ever been—the motivator for Cioffi; instead it’s connection, community, awe, and learning.
“Our team at the diner—and I hate jinxing this stuff—most of them have been with us since the first day,” he says, apportioning all credit to them. “Restaurants that have opened up here with ownership and staff that they’ve transplanted. But I wanted people in the back who recognize all the local places our ingredients are coming from, and in the front who can talk about the area and where to go hiking after breakfast, or buy shoes. We are kind of an outpost and a guide for the area, so we take that incredibly seriously. I think it’s a [testament to our staff] that I’ve never tried to push down the personality part of the equation.”
The path to Canteen was carved in part by Courtney Malsatzki, Phoenicia’s director of operations. “We got an email about a new brewery opening and looking for a partner to do food, and I recognized the founders’ last name, Gillette, because we used to do business with the Gillette family creamery in the area,” Malsatzki says. At a meeting, they presented their service-forward, customer-first, and employee-first vision. “It mirrored so many of the things I heard Mike say when we first met,” Malsatzki says. The Canteen has a “diner-adjacent” menu, so as not to completely duplicate the original, with the team’s signature pancakes, Reuben, and veggie Reuben in common. It also features variations on pub fare, like a Benton’s ham grazing board, fried fish and chips, Szechuan chicken wings, and a chana masala– spiced version of tater tots.
“To some extent [Kingston is] the complete opposite of Phoenicia. There’s so much more density,” says Cioffi. They need to know what’s happening two blocks away, how the weather differs between locations, or if there’s a festival or event—something Kingston is known for.
The team has been growing the brand’s line of consumer goods. “Expanding our merchandise was a big step,” Malsatzki says. “When I started, it was a T-shirt, a mug, and a tote bag, but Mike challenged me to come up with new things. Now we have sweatshirts, joggers, thermoses, stickers, enamel pins, tons of different shirts.” Their newest offering: a Sugar Shack pancake mix that incorporates their locally sourced maple right into the mix.
“All these things are not terrifying, but new,” Cioffi says of the continued expansion.
When Cioffi opened Phoenicia, the gap between what he thought he knew about hospitality and what he had to learn surprised him, but the process produced the success he enjoys today. And, therefore, the work is never done. “What is the learning curve, and how do you deliver on that?” Cioffi sums up his inner monologue. “Because that’s not always a straight path.”
Phoenicia Diner Phoenicia, New York @phoeniciadiner
Portraits by George Holz | Diner Photography by Kait Ebinger
