VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Family-run diner offers train-car aesthetic downtown
Danny Kramer: If you walk past Water Street Bagel Company and head toward the corner of East Water and Montgomery, there’s a small, train-car style diner. That’s Across the Hall Café, and for Jack Levine, it’s a spot he almost walked right past.
Jack Levine: Last year, I was at Water Street Bagels with two of my roommates. One of them went to Water Street, the two of us weren’t hungry. And then we see Across the Hall right here. And we’re thinking, “Hidden gem, how do we not try it out?”
Danny Kramer: Those booths, empty after the lunch rush, are served by chef and owner Joseph Terotta, who opened the family-run café five years ago.
Joseph Terotta: As we were looking for a place, found myself right back to kinda my roots, in general. I mean, I grew up four blocks away.
Danny Kramer: Terotta says he instantly connected with the space.
Terotta: I just popped in, looked at it, kinda fell in love with just the old school charm of it. Knew exactly what I wanted to do from that day forward.
Danny Kramer: Terotta’s family was busy finishing up in the back, helping to keep the small diner running smoothly, especially as customer Sebastian Muñoz was sneaking in one more order.
Sebastian Muñoz: Yeah, I would consider myself a regular. I’m in here almost every Saturday, Sunday. So I, I just like the quaintness. It’s like a low key spot, you can just come get a good sandwich.
Danny Kramer: Even with limited advertising because of the diner’s small size, Terotta says once customers walk through the door, it usually isn’t the last time.
Joseph Terrota: Once they, once they’re here, they kinda tend to come back.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Tucked on the corner of East Water Street and Montgomery Street is a tiny, train-car style diner called Across the Hall Café. It looks exactly like a repurposed rail car, and can be taken apart and reconstructed like an Erector set.
That is exactly what happened when the structure that is currently Across the Hall Café was deconstructed and moved from Erie Boulevard to its current location in 1954.
Joseph Terotta, owner and chef of Across the Hall Café, grew up only four blocks away from the restaurant’s current location, and now runs it with his family. Terotta opened the diner five years ago, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and said he instantly connected with the space.
“Popped in, looked at it, kinda fell in love with just the old school charm of it,” said Terotta. “(I) knew exactly what I wanted to do from that day forward.”
Terotta does not advertise the place very much because of how small it is, but the tucked-away feel is precisely what keeps customers like Sebastian Muñoz coming back.
“Yeah, I would consider myself a regular. I’m here almost every Saturday, Sunday, so I, I just like the quaintness,” said Muñoz. “It’s like a low-key spot, (where) you can just come get a good sandwich.”
Turning customers into regulars is not unusual for Terotta, who said even the college crowd is part of his clientele.
“Once they, once they’re here, they kinda tend to come back.”
Another one of those customers is Jack Levine, who said he discovered the diner unexpectedly. It can be easily overlooked with Water Street Bagel Co. just across the street.
“Last year, I was at Water Street Bagels with two of my roommates,” said Levine. “‘Then we see Across the Hall right here. And we’re thinking, ‘Hidden gem, how do we not try it out?'”
Across the Hall Café is located at 258 E Water St, Syracuse, New York.
Across the Hall Café is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.