John's City Diner

John's City Diner (originally John's Restaurant) is a restaurant known for it's seafood specialties and for its signature John's Slaw salad.

John's was first opened in 1944 by Greek restauranteur John Proferis at 214 21st Street North. It later moved a block down the same street to its current downtown location at 121 Richard Arrington, Jr Boulevard North. Through most of its history, John's served a meat and three lunch and brought out white tablecloths for dinner. Noted entrees included trout almondine and prime rib served with cornbread sticks and a finely-shredded cabbage salad with a signature-recipe French dressing.

Proferis' family sold the business when he retired in 1972 and it subsequently changed hands several times.

In 1990 Proferis' great nephews Tom and Pete Hontzas began bottling the slaw dressing for retail sale under their Hontzas Brothers Foods label.

The restaurant was bought on March 22, 2004 by Shannon and Shana Gober. They upgraded the menu and completely renovated the interior, changing the name to "John's City Diner". The Gobers opened a second location at 1483 Gadsden Highway in Trussville.

References

• Guster, Chanda Temple (December 26, 2007) "New owner of Birmingham landmark restaurant kept beloved bread on revamped menu." Birmingham News.
• Evans, Amy (March 11, 2004) Interview with Zoë Cassimus. Greeks in Birmingham oral history project. Southern Foodways Alliance.

External links

• John's City Diner website
• John's City Diner Trussville profile at birminghamrestaurants.com
• John's Famous Dressing website