Beloved Breakfast Joint Tom's Restaurant Expanding To Coney Island

Tom's Restaurant, a much-loved Prospect Heights breakfast (and lunch) joint that's been turning out omelets and cherry lime rickeys for the past 70 years, is moving on up to that great big kitchen in...Coney Island. Will the freaks line up for their eggs Florentine?

NY1 first reported the move, and a phone call to the staff at Tom's confirms it: "We're not moving," snapped a rep this morning. "We're expanding." The deal is still being finalized, but owner Jimmy Kokotas hopes to be up and running on the boardwalk space, the former site of ChaCha's and Nathan's boardwalk concession, this spring. "We'd like to stay open as much as possible," Kokotas told NY1. "The ultimate goal is 52 weeks so people can come and have pancakes and eggs and whatever else they'd like on the boardwalk in December, in January and February."

It's the family-owned restaurant's first-ever expansion, but our man played it cool on the phone, saying, "Who knows what we'll do after this—who knows what the future holds?" It'll be interesting to see how this legitimate mom-and-pop business will play into the "revitalized" Coney Island—you know, the one that previously kicked out a series of longtime establishments to make way for shiny new toys. Whether or not a septuagenarian greasy spoon can stay beloved in a new, controversial location remains to be seen, but as long as they keep their pancake recipe the same, they have a fighting chance.