LI diner owner feeds over 80 snowed-in hospital workers during legendary blizzard: Theyre my neighbor

Order up!A quick-thinking Long Island diner owner whipped up food in record time for more than 80 snowed-in and starving hospital workers during last week’s historic blizzard — after the medical center’s kitchen staff couldn’t make it in.“We didn’t have enough people to make certain that we were able to get our staff fed,” Joseph Manopella, president of St.Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, told The Post.“Immediately, I said, ‘I know what I need to do.'”Manopella phoned his close friend, Gus Tsiorvas, of the Embassy Diner, directly across the street from the hospital, at around 7 a.m.

Monday with nearly two feet of snow piling up — and told him St.Joe’s needed to feed its staff.“He just said, ‘Come over in 30 minutes,'” the hospital boss recalled.Now Tsiorvas and his eatery are being served back as Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino honored them Tuesday.“All essential workers hit home for me, because I know what they do,” said Tsiorvas, whose entire family is made up of cops and frontline workers.“They sacrifice their lives for other people’s lives.”The patriotic-themed diner lived up to its usual reputation of staying open come hell — or, in this case, high frozen water — to give first responders a hot meal and a place to rest their heads during the brutal conditions Sunday into Monday.“I actually just finished doing an order for PSE&G for 100 people when Joe called,” said Tsiorvas, who had two workers sleep in the diner Sunday ahead of the storm’s biggest squalls just in case.“I went back to the cook, and I said, ‘Listen, we’ve got one more.

So he looked at me, goes, ‘Are you serious?!’ I said, ‘Yeah, we got one more.Do it again.'”His five devoted kitchen staff went to work like a NASCAR pit crew to fill the massive order in what seemed like record time.They were flipping pancakes, making waffles, French toast, eggs, corned beef and hash, potatoes and any other breakfast staples one could think of �...