Bull’s Head Diner regulars ‘distraught’ over closure
STAMFORD — City resident Jennifer Saunders had planned to ask her parents to get dinner with her at Bull’s Head Diner later this week for her 39th birthday.
It was their “go-to place,” Saunders said, with food that was “the next best thing” to a homecooked meal. Her favorite dish to order was one of their specials: chicken oreganato. She would also ask for grilled chicken without any seasoning to give to her dog, Raine.
“It’s a real heartbreak that they’re not going to be there right now,” Saunders said.
The diner announced its closure in a post on its Facebook page on Monday, citing the loss of its lease.
Dimitrios Kitsios opened the diner in 1992, according to a statement from his family.
“It has been a family operated and run establishment that catered to the community as well as employing almost 40 people,” the family said in the statement. “We watched our customers grow up and have children of their own and it has been our pleasure to be a part of many memories.”
Kitsios died in January. The statement from his family indicated that his death was related to COVID-19.
The pandemic was also hard on the diner itself. The COVID-19 pandemic “literally brought the restaurant industry to a halt,” the family noted. “For almost 3 (months) we were only able to do take out or delivery which was 20% of our previous income.”
After a struggle to pay their rent, they closed Sunday.
“We would like to thank everyone for your patronage and continued support and offer our heartfelt goodbyes,” they said.
Old Greenwich resident Valerie Zygmont said she was “distraught” over the closure. Before her mother died in 2018, they went to the diner together for years.
Her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008, and “even with her being ill and really not being able to get out much, she still wanted to go there,” Zygmont said. The staff treated her mother “with incredible kindness,” offering to wrap up her meal when she wasn’t feeling well.
One day in 2012, Zygmont said she was “rushing around Stamford” with her daughter and felt unwell. They stopped at Bull’s Head Diner to get some food.
“When I got there … it was amazing,” Zygmont said. “I didn’t even tell them I wasn’t feeling well. Maybe they could tell. I don’t know. They brought me water. They sat me down. They were like, ‘Here, what would you like to eat?’ And they really made me feel so calm. They just had this warmth to them. And I immediately relaxed, and I immediately started feeling better.”
“Well, lo and behold, the very next day, I ended up in the emergency room,” she said. “One of my arteries was blocked 90 percent. The other one was blocked 80 percent. … And I had mentioned what had happened to me the day before at the diner, and the doctor even said to me, ‘If those people hadn’t slowed you down, you would have had a heart attack.’ And so I really feel like they saved me.”
Zygmont said it was going to be difficult to no longer see the staff.
“It’s not even like I could get my last meal there and say goodbye,” she said. “It’s almost like a death in the family.”
Claribel Moran Vignola said the diner was a hangout spot for her and her friends when she attended Stamford High School in the late 1990s. It was a place where people were asked out on first dates, had their first kisses, showed off their cars or gathered with their friends after prom. It “felt like home,” she said.
“I would love to … go to diners, but especially that diner because of the people who owned it. They always made you feel like family,” said Vignola, who lives in Texas now. “They always made you feel welcome.”
City Rep. Alice Liebson, D-11, who represents an area around the diner, highlighted the diner’s large menu and portion sizes, saying the food was delicious.
“I’m so upset to hear about this,” Liebson said. Fellow Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, said it was a “shame” that the diner closed.
“It’s going to be a loss for the whole community,” Zelinsky said.
The diner was a tenant of Bull’s Head Realty. Managing partner James Grunberger said he is “actively looking for a responsible new tenant who provides excellent quality food for those of us who live here.”