After growing up helping his parents run a diner, chef Dino Mitsides shares his family’s legacy with downtown Sylva. photograph by Tim Robison

Hundreds of drawings stretch above the leather booths at Lucy in the Rye in downtown Sylva. Crayon marks outline bunnies, churches, cartoon characters, and whatever else the children who dine at this three-year-old establishment can dream up. Instead of a children’s menu, staff members give kids crayons and blank paper with the promise that whatever they draw, from misshapen woodland creatures to primary-color versions of the restaurant’s chocolate waffle — a buttermilk waffle topped with chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and whipped cream — will be proudly displayed on the walls.

It’s a tradition that owner and chef Dino Mitsides has carried over from his parents’ diner in Largo, Florida, which they owned for 30 years. From the age of 12, Mitsides hosted and bused tables, whisking away cleaned plates of diner staples and Greek dishes like souvlaki, a nod to the family’s heritage.

Enchanted by the restaurant industry, Mitsides set out on his own, working at kitchens around the South until he learned that a storefront in western North Carolina was available. Within six months of signing the lease, he’d turned the building on Main Street, where locals in the 1930s and ’40s used to pop in for a cold drink at Stovall’s 5 & 10, into Lucy in the Rye.

Chef Dino Mitsides serves phyllo spinach pie — along with a “Strawberry Fields” salad — at his restaurant. photograph by Tim Robison

Mitsides began welcoming people in for comforting breakfasts — say, a candied walnut waffle or a corned beef and cheddar omelet named after the old convenience store. He soon added a full lunch menu with classics like buttermilk-fried chicken sandwiches, burgers, and BLTs, plus dishes close to his heart, like phyllo spinach pie, a savory reminder of his roots. A bakery and coffee bar soon followed.

The concept for Mitsides’s restaurant came naturally: He wanted to bring back the feel of the classic American diner that he grew up in. From the black-and-white hexagonal tile entrance to the leather booths — procured from a church in Georgia — to the old-school menu covers with brass corners to the Scotch-taped children’s drawings, subtle hints of his culinary beginnings abound.

Crayon art created by young diners is proudly displayed on the dining room wall.  photograph by Tim Robison

And then there’s the name. For those who don’t have the song playing in their heads, “Lucy in the Rye” is an homage to a British band, not an American novel. Although there’s no Beatles memorabilia around the space, Mitsides explains that he likes to cook the way that the Beatles liked to play music.

“[Their music] is love, it’s fun, it’s bubbly, but they’re technicians. They’re really skilled,” he says. “I’m kind of bringing a little bit of Beatles philosophy to a breakfast restaurant.” That idea is behind each dish at Lucy in the Rye, the place where Smoky Mountain people eat spinach pie.

Lucy in the Rye
612 West Main Street
Sylva, NC 28779
(828) 586-4601
lucyintherye.com