John's City Diner
- This article is about the restaurant on 21st Street. For the smaller restaurant on 4th Avenue North, see John's Restaurant (4th Avenue North).
John's City Diner (originally John's Restaurant) is a restaurant known for its seafood specialties and signature John's Slaw salad.
John's was first opened in 1944 by Greek restaurateur 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.
The restaurant was remodeled and modernized in 1949 with new dining room fixtures which included coat-hooks on the end of each booth. Proferis closed the restaurant again for remodeling in the summer of 1959, with a grand re-opening held on July 20. The renovation included new kitchen equipment, new dining room furnishings and colorful decor.
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 also opened a second location at 1483 Gadsden Highway in Trussville, but that location has since closed.
In June 2014 the Birmingham Design Review Committee approved the design for a painted wall mural on the south side of the downtown restaurant featuring the skyline from the John's City Diner logo and the slogan "It's Nice to Have You in Birmingham". Gober also replaced the canopy, renovated the exterior neon sign, freshened the interior decor and upgraded some of the utilities.
References
- Guster, Chanda Temple (December 26, 2007) "New owner of Birmingham landmark restaurant kept beloved bread on revamped menu." The Birmingham News
- Evans, Amy (March 11, 2004) Interview with Zoë Cassimus. Greeks in Birmingham oral history project. Southern Foodways Alliance
- Walsh, Jan (May 2010) "Downtown Landmark: From Ambience to cuisine, John's City Diner is familiar and comforting." Birmingham magazine. Vol. 50, No. 5, p. 53
- Tomberlin, Michael (June 25, 2014) "John's City Diner mural, Jimmy John's downtown among Birmingham Design Review actions." The Birmingham News
- Jacoby, Kathryn (September 9, 2014) "Birmingham's John's City Diner steps up its game and embraces history with $225,000 of renovations." The Birmingham News
External links
- John's City Diner website
- John's Famous Dressing website