"The beloved chef and owner of neighborhood diner Tribeca’s Kitchen died on March 27 from complications related to COVID-19. Koutsoudakis, who ran restaurants in New York for more than 30 years, reportedly tested positive for the virus on March 12 and was admitted to the hospital more than a week later. He had closed his restaurant two weeks earlier for the duration of the pandemic “in order to support the city’s efforts and in order to keep our guests, team, and community safe and healthy,” he wrote on his restaurant’s Facebook page at the time. The restaurateur moved from Greece to the United States when he was 14 and opened the Gee Whiz diner in Tribeca in 1989. He opened Tribeca’s Kitchen, a favorite among NYC politicians, in 2014. “He was a kind, warm, and cheerful New Yorker,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wrote of him at the time on Twitter. “ He was always at the front door welcoming customers.”" - Tanay Warerkar
