Comfort Diner opens in June.

Chelsea residents will soon be able to enjoy eating at The "Best Diner in New York" according to Time Out Magazine, when The Comfort Diner opens at 25 West 23rd St. the week of June 30. The Comfort Diner, also located at 214 E. 45th St., is the brainchild of partners Gregg Leipzig and Ira Freehof who wanted to create a "great looking" diner with "great food and great prices."

Insignia/ESG's Matthew Gorman represented The Comfort Diner in the ten-year deal for the 2,500-SF restaurant, while the landlord, DMJ Associates, acted on its own behalf.

"In order to better serve residents in the heavily trafficked 23rd Street corridor between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, The Comfort Diner will be operating 24 hours a day," said Gorman. The diner will join a host of other eateries in the neighborhood including Mangia, and Cipriani's, which have recently taken space nearby. According to Gorman, retail rents in and around the 23rd Street corridor are in the $100 per SF range.

"More of a restaurant than your average diner, the West 23rd Street location will offer a full bar area, and more of an upscale feel," said Leipzig. "However, we will still continue to provide our customary weekend brunch and breakfast all day, two of our signature features."

A diner historian and aficionado, Freehof has been a fixture in the NYC restaurant scene for many years as manager and director of operations for several well-known and highly successful ventures including Steak Frites, City Crab, Chat 'n' Chew, Isabella's, and the Coconut Grill. The Diner has been featured in a wide variety of magazines and on television including Woman's Day, Bon Appetit, New York, Newsday, The New York Times, CNN, The Food Network, "Weekend Today" on NBC, and the authors of A Chocolate Lovers' Guide to NY maintain that the Comfort Dinner serves the "Best Egg Cream in New York."