LONG CLOSED MAPLEWOOD DINER SET TO RE-OPEN WITHIN WEEKS

Five years after fire destroyed the Maplewood Diner at Springfield and Chancellor avenues, the eatery is fixed up and ready to re-open as soon as next month.

Veteran restaurant and diner owner George Filippatos showed us the interior of the new building this week, where workers are putting in fixtures and equipment and said he hopes to be ready to serve by the end of May or early June.

George Filippatos

He is planning a 24-hour operation, but vowed it would be "respectable and without any problems." He is leasing the building, which was renovated for use last year.

Filippatos was owner of the former Kless Diner in Irvington, which is now an I-HOP. He also had experience with the now defunct Cafe Arugula in South Orange.

Stay tuned for the grand ribbon-cutting!