A new diner is expected to open in the coming weeks in a prominent location on Ellsworth’s main commercial thoroughfare.
Legends, the latest restaurant run by the Makridis family, is moving into the High Street space formerly occupied by Wicked Munchies.
The daughter-and-father team of Despina and John Makridis, who most recently partnered in a diner in Hudson, Florida, hope to have the new eatery open by late January or early February.
John Makridis is a longtime veteran of the food service business, having operated various versions of his Big Fred’s Route 66 Diner in Salem, Massachusetts, and Florida. In the early 2000s, he owned and operated Big Fred’s in Bangor at locations on Broadway and then on Center Street.
The Ellsworth diner will be run day-to-day by Despina Makridis, and so will have a different name than the eateries her father previously ran. But it will still have some of the items the elder Makridis has featured over the decades — and that his daughter has been familiar with from “literally” having grown up in her father’s restaurants, she said.
For one, the restaurant will have large one-pound burgers on its menu with various options for toppings, as well as smaller versions. And it will serve roast beef, another item that John Makridis says has long been one of his specialties.
“It’s nice and pink all the way through,” he said of the specialty.
Other expected menu items will include typical diner fare: Philly cheesesteaks, sub sandwiches, french fries, chicken fingers, onion rings and more.
Wicked Munchies functioned only as a takeout business, and only accepted orders online, but Legends will take a more traditional approach. The diner will have enough seating for roughly two dozen people and, though it will offer takeout, will only take orders over the phone, the Makridises said.
