He’ll Serve You Blind
John Diakakis is a sometime standup comic as well as a restaurateur, but he's serious when he says that in 30 years he's never spilled coffee on a customer.
“How many people do you know who literally cannot see anything?” John Diakakis wants to know. While you’re contemplating that, remember the shiny Bendix Diner on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights, a Bergen institution that has appeared in several movies and TV shows. Sightless from birth, the 56-year-old Diakakis has owned the diner—and worked there— for more than 30 years to provide for his three now twentysomething sons, Tony, Dimitri and Michael. Last year the diner and the family were the subjects of director Anthony Scalia’s award-winning 26-minute documentary, Bendix: Site Unseen.
How has business changed since Bendix: Site Unseen came out?
Starting last summer there has definitely been a major uptick on Saturdays and Sundays. I’ve had people come in for the first time from Staten Island.
So is there a crazy wait on weekends?
I’m such a Type A personality that I want people served, boom boom boom! I feel like I’m the one who’s rushing it. It’s not that big of a wait unless there’s three tables of six, seven or eight in the dining room and we’ve got to push tables together. There’s just enough room in the parking lot. There’s banter and a little kidding around because I have done stand-up comedy. For me, it’s like a performance every Saturday and Sunday.
What are your sons’ roles at the Bendix?
I’ve been working overnight since 2013 with my kids as my “eyes.” Tony is a Harvard graduate; Dimitri is at the Culinary Institute of America and Michael is at Rider University. Tony is up in Boston, but I suck him in about once a month. He’ll cook, bus tables, wash dishes—wherever he is needed. Dimitri works the dinner shifts and does some cooking in the afternoon, the burgers and a fettucini alfredo or a chicken parm. He bakes the cheesecakes and some danishes, and he does most of the soups on the weekend. Michael comes here every weekend to help me on the floor when it becomes chaotic. He’ll say, “There are three people at your table on the grill side.” He also brings coffees to the table, but I bring about 90 percent of the coffees. And in my 30-year streak, I’ve never dumped it on anybody.
Do you find that customers try to help you once they figure out you’re blind?
It’s amazing how aggressive some people try to get. “Oh, he’s blind, let me get up and help him.” Well, we’re going to collide. Stay in your seat. That’s the better option.
And you’ve said you have heightened hearing. What types of things do you hear at the diner?
What causes me to go neurotic is when there’s too much excess noise at the counter or by the grill, or from the old people that argue about politics. That drives me crazy. I can hear a person with footsteps and say, “OK, they’re two people and they stopped at the second table.” I rely on my kids to help me, but I like to figure it out too.
What’s your favorite dish at the diner?
I don’t ask Dimitri for it a lot because it requires more cooking, but pasta with vodka sauce. I’m more of a carbs person. I’m not a meat eater or an eggs person. I don’t think I’ve had an omelet or eggs over easy in close to 10 years, even though I’m serving it all day long.
Of course the Bendix has done cameos in lots of shows and movies. What celebrity would you like to stop by?
Ed Sheeran, when he plays The Meadowlands. I would love to have a conversation with him.
Besides working about 70 hours a week, what do you do with your minimal spare time?
I was at a Neiman Marcus fragrance counter for over an hour yesterday. Since I was in high school, I’ve been collecting cologne bottles. I’ve complimented both men and women [at the diner], asking what cologne they’re wearing.
I heard you have a sneaker collection too.
Actually, I sold two-thirds of my sneakers collection when my kids got to driving age. I got a decent amount of money, went down Route 17 and bought a brand-new Nissan Murano for Tony, who was in his sophomore year at Harvard. Now the other two brothers drive it here.
