With its grand opening on May 26, Lorain businessman Anthony Horn and his crew will open up 4th Street Diner, 400 Broadway in downtown Lorain.
Horn is adding another business to his portfolio, this time with a distinctly 1950s flair.
The new restaurant, themed heavily after Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, will feature traditional American breakfasts and lunches.
In keeping with Sinatra’s New Jersey heritage, Horn hired Asbury Park, N.J., native Kadaz Kyles to manage the new location.
“It’s supposed to be an older theme (with) the Rat Pack,” Kyles said. “We’re just trying to give it that older feel, and the fact that it’s a diner, you know, helps with that a little bit.”
Kyles said he had tended bar for Romano’s Macaroni Grill in North Olmsted before taking the job with another one of Horn’s establishments, the Knights of St. John on Kansas Avenue in Lorain.
One thing led to another, and within months, Kyles took the gig as manager at the new diner.
“I wanted basically a second job,” he said. “Tony (Horn) called me.
“He said, ‘I’ve got a diner open, too. You can manage the diner as well.’ So I said, you know, new opportunity after new opportunity.”
In addition to traditional diner Americana like omelettes, chicken and waffles, and fried perch, Kyles said the diner will feature food with a Hispanic flair courtesy of head chef Joshua Ocasio.
Specifically, Kyles mentioned the diner’s huevos rancheros dish as especially good.
Kyles called the soft opening experience May 22 “different” but great.
While much of the initial service was exceptionally well-received, he and the team were eager to work out some of the kinks before the official grand opening.
Kyles spoke to the process of structuring the 4th Street Diner and its chain of command as one of the biggest hurdles the staff faced before the restaurant’s grand opening.
“It’s very different … this is real world stuff,” he said. “(We) had to come here, you had to build it up from the bottom up, you know?
“Nothing was structured, and in the real world, it’s not like that.”
For help in running the diner, Kyles said he turned to Horn for advice.
The staff is excited to get to work on May 26, Kyles said.
“This is just a small (opening), and it’s already kind of busy,” he said. “Seeing a lot of new faces (is exciting). Seeing, you know, important people coming in and out, seeing the regulars coming in and out; people who enjoy the food.”
According to Kyles, the diner will open at 6 a.m. each morning, and may run until midnight during Rockin’ on the River events.
Located just across Broadway from Black River Landing, he said he hopes the diner becomes a hotspot for late-night, post-concert hunger.
