It’s the star restaurant on Long Island.
A Nassau County man has turned his popular Bethpage restaurant into a patriot’s haven and welcoming haven for the first, proudly emblazoning “Home of the Brave” on its exterior and filling nearly every space of open with US pits, police, fire, EMS and rescue decor.
“I love America. We should all be thankful we live here,” Embassy Diner owner Gus Tsiorvas, 44, told The Post. “And the customer’s reaction? Ninety-nine percent say they love it.”
When Tsiorvas bought the diner off Hempstead Turnpike in the spring of 2022, his father, Peter Tsiorvas, owner of the well-known Oconee Diner in Islip, passed on this advice: “Exaggeration” is the key to business success.
So the patriotic Tsiorvas took his father’s advice and ran with it.
He placed dozens of flags, photos, a football jersey and other tributes to emergency responders in the lobby of the Embassy, which was built in 1962.
And as if that weren’t enough, he recently gave away 6,000 custom “Embassy Diner USA” baseball caps to diners for free.
“That’s what makes this place so special,” John Gatto, guitarist for the Long Island band The Good Rats, told The Post while waiting for his dinner. “We have debt [first responders] a lot. So I’m behind it 100%.”
For Tsiorvas, a father of three from nearby Wantagh, his connection to emergency personnel runs deeper than most.
“My brother is an NYPD cop, one of my sisters is a Nassau County cop, another is an MTA police officer, and my brother-in-law is a Westbury police officer. We are big behind the blues,” he said.
“‘Home of the Brave’ is the name of my corporation, so that’s what my employees see on their paychecks.”
The owner has seen firsthand the sacrifices his family regularly makes and the risks they take to keep others safe.
Tsiorvas said he wants all first responders to know they can rest easy at his facility.
“When they come in, I say, ‘Welcome home.’ That’s the way it should be everywhere,” said the restaurant chef, who gives Thanksgiving turkeys to a local hospital and police precinct.
The good feelings are more than appreciated, and clients associated with the police and fire departments began handing Tsiorva their organizations’ stickers.
He plastered all 76 of them on the front door of the restaurant.
“It’s good to see that there are people who have the same values as us,” Pete Conklin, a retired law enforcement officer who eats at the Embassy twice a week, told The Post.
“You really are at home when you come here.”
Joseph Bonomo, a retired member of the NYPD Highway Patrol, said, “Knowing that we have Gus’ support makes us want to come out here and support him.
“Plus, I’ve been to a lot of work dinners, and this one just takes the cake.”
Tsiorvas said: “The biggest thing for me is to give a sense of atmosphere to the restaurant – and a sense of love.”
Even Maryann Petrarca, who works at a competing restaurant in the area, can’t get enough of the restaurant.
“How can you not like it here?” she told The Post while having dinner at the Embassy recently. “I love Gus and the staff – they really are the best.”
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Image Source : nypost.com