The Work We Do: Tony Julian, Sunny’s Riverhead Diner and Grill

My name is Tony Julian. I’m from Guatemala.

I am the chef at Sunny’s diner here. I’ve been cooking food for like eight years. I used to work in a different restaurant. 

My favorite part is that we get along with everyone who does work in here.

My day starts in 6 o’clock in the morning every day. I’m usually the first person to get here, and I just get ready for whatever I need for my breakfast, and then we open at 7 o’clock.

I get off at 2 o’clock, and then that’s it.

I discovered myself cooking a variety of dishes and sending the plates to customers, so I discovered that the customers like my food. I do it just naturally. I am so happy to have customers leave full and happy with our food here. We’ve been open for like 19 months.

My favorite thing to do is my breakfast, my eggs, how my omelets come out, and that’s my favorite part, to serve them the plate. I also like teaching new chefs. They come in and I’ll teach them whatever they want to learn. That’s another reason why I love this job.

I like it when it gets busy because, you know, I’m the kind of guy who likes to stay busy all the time. I’m so happy when all the customers are here and they love the food and when they leave they’re so proud of us. That makes me so happy.  Every time I make the dishes look pretty, that’s when the customer gets really happy. That’s a really great part about this job.

This is a pretty nice place in Riverhead. We’ve been so proud that customers know that we’re new, and that when people are discovering things to do they choose to come here. This is a great place to come. I’ve been working so hard to get the customers good food.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview.