PHOTO BY CATHY PINSKY
A long-held tradition on high school graduation day in Armonk is celebrating at Moderne Barn Restaurant. Flashy balloons adorn each table which is decorated with colors of the graduate’s future college. This exclusive, wonderfully festive gala shows how Moderne Barn’s owners, the Livanos family, is deeply committed to their community and their love of fine dining.
Moderne Barn was opened in 2010 by siblings Nick, Bill and Corina Livanos of the Livanos Restaurant Group. All three grew up in the restaurant business originally established by their father, John Livanos, who, as a young Greek immigrant arrived in this country in the 1950s and first opened a luncheonette in Astoria, Queens.
Today, along with Moderne Barn and the City Limits Diner in White Plains, the Livanos Restaurant Group owns the high-end sea food restaurant Oceana and the upscale Mediterranean Molyvos, both in Manhattan. Molyvos is named for the village in Greece where John Livanos was born.
The entire family journeyed north from the metropolitan area to Armonk over 20 years ago. It was a move initiated by Nick who left Ardsley in 2002 when he found a house and a neighborhood he liked. His younger brother Bill became fond of where Nick lived and moved near his older brother a year later. Since Corina’s husband was working in Purchase, it made sense for her family to move to Armonk, which she did in 2005. Her parents, John and Chrysa shortly followed. Today, Nick, Bill and Corina live in the same development. The idea of opening a new restaurant in Armonk surfaced when a few local eateries closed down.
“Locations were available on and off, but we never took them too seriously,” Nick recalls. “But the seed was planted to possibly open another restaurant not far from our homes.”
Then the Modern Barn Furniture store came on the market. The mammoth warehouse barn had been dubbed the Yellow Barn Furniture store because it was painted bright yellow.
The Livanos’ were interested.
“But we had to act fast,” Bill notes. “We made an offer in 72 hours and the deal was made.”
Opening a new business comes with the usual hurdles along with obtaining various approvals. The Livanos’ were asked to have a traffic light installed at the corner of Bedford Road and provide an easement in the back of the building as an access route for the fire department next door.
There was strong encouragement from the community for the Livanos’ to open a restaurant, including support from then town supervisor Reese Berman. But a strange rumor was circulated that the new eatery was going to be a nightclub or an afterhours lounge.
“We never had any objections from anybody when opening a restaurant,” Nick says. “This was very unusual.”
To squelch the gossip, the Livanos family held a coffee and doughnut meet-and-greet in the building before they started construction.
“About 30 or 40 neighbors came,” Corina remembers. “They were mostly neighbors who lived within a block or two of the building. The event was successful, and the rumor stopped.”
PHOTO BY CATHY PINSKY
Because the former furniture store which sold sleek Scandinavian furniture since the 1960’s was so popular, the Livanos embraced this bit of local history and adopted the store’s identity by slightly changing the name.
“It’s the first time we came up with the name right away and the town elders loved that we attributed it to what was here for 30 years,” Corina notes. “We’ve had so many people come in and say ‘I got my couch here.’”
Today an old “Yellow Barn” sign hangs in an interior stairway.
When they finally did open the 200-seat restaurant the Livanos’ were warmly welcomed by the community. Coincidentally the former Restaurant North opened the same week and both restaurant owners became close.
“It was fun because we hit it off with each other,” Nick says of the North Restaurant owners. “We had a great relationship. They were from Manhattan, and we knew each other professionally. We ate at each other’s restaurants, helped each other – if one of us ran out of linen the other would lend what we had. We would exchange wines and gifts.”
Restaurant North closed in 2018 and was replaced by Lenny’s North Seafood & Steakhouse.
When it comes to the Livanos Restaurant Group, family and business have always been deeply intertwined. Three generations of Livanos work in the hospitality business, a point of pride for John Livanos, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday with his whole family at Oceana. John and Chrysa are also regulars at Moderne Barn.
The family is extremely hands-on, and Nick, Bill and Corina all wear different managerial hats. Bill is strictly based in Westchester overseeing operations at City Limits Diner and Moderne Barn. Nick and Corina split their time between their Manhattan and Westchester restaurants.
When Corina is at Moderne Barn she is usually at the front of the house. “It’s fun and something I love doing,” she explains. “There are so many people reaching out to me on a daily basis inquiring about having a party or hosting an event. I see folks I know and some nights I feel like I’m hosting a party in my house.”
Mother’s Day is the restaurant’s busiest day of the year.
“That’s because, like on the holidays, we draw from all over Westchester,” says Bill.
Hosting the popular high school graduation party started over ten years ago. The entire restaurant is closed to accommodate some 30 to 40 families who are joined by grandparents and siblings. Families arrive at the same time right after the graduation and all are served a special three course meal.
Corina says reservations for the June graduation party start in January on a first come first serve basis.
“But I have mothers reaching out to me to reserve a table in the summer, right before their child starts their senior year,” Corina explains. “We are very blessed and lucky that so many people want to celebrate here.”
Livanos says raising their children in Armonk has been a very positive experience.
“Bringing our kids up here was fantastic and they got a great education,” Bill says about the Byram Hills Central School District. “The schools had the perfect size classes where everyone knew one another and the maximum graduating class was around 200 students. My kids continue to have bonds with their classmates.”
Nick has four children ages 27 to 35. Two of his sons work for the family business.
His oldest son Johnny is an alumnus of both the Cornell University’s Hospitality School and the Culinary Institute of America. He assists with the wine and spirits side of the Livanos Restaurant Group and is a Greek wine importer who produces his own craft gin made in Greece called Stray Dog Wild Gin.
Nick’s son Enrico, 33, was formally trained at Syracuse University’s Hospitality School and went on to take advanced studies at the Culinary Institute of America. He has worked at renowned establishments such as Bedford Post Inn and Eleven Madison Park. He began working full time for Moderne Barn when it opened, and he also works at Molyvos.
Bill’s four children have pursued a variety of professions; one son is in the Army and lives in Texas, the other is at University of Chicago studying animal behavior, his oldest daughter is a professional brand marketer based in New York City while his youngest daughter attends University of Miami where she studies architecture.
Corina has two sons; one is a junior at Boston College and the other is a freshman at the Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hospitality Administration.
Over the 15 years that Moderne Barn has been open the Livanos have seen many changes especially that of their patrons.
“Since Covid, we’ve noticed a lot of people retiring or moving to Florida,” says Nick.
“But we are also seeing a ton of families with babies coming in along with the grandparents – and they all come for early dinners. You see that a lot for Sunday brunch as well.”
There is also a growing population that prefers to have a drink and a meal at the bar.
“Whether it’s couples or individuals, about 90 percent of the people that go to the bar order a meal,” Bill explains. “It was a new trend that started about 10 years ago. Our bar regulars go right to the bar. Even on a quiet night the bar will be full.”
Changes have not only happened in the front of the house, but in the kitchen as well. Moderne Barn’s Executive Chef Gregg Boyd started as a cook over eight years ago and worked his way up.
“We are also seeing more women working in the kitchen,” Bill notes. “We have a good team and much of our staff has been with us a long time, including four brothers who have worked with our various restaurants for over 30 years. We have very little turnover, and we’ve never had a hard time finding staff.”
When it comes to the menu, both Nick and Bill maintain a good relationship with their chefs.
“We don’t decide what dishes are on the menu, but we are there for them to bounce their ideas off of us,” says Bill. “If we see a trend that we like, we discuss it. We have a nice synergy with our chefs.”
The Moderne Barn’s menu, which is considered American with Mediterranean influences, has kept some favorites but occasionally introduces new dishes.
“The menu is always evolving,” Nick explains. “There are staples that have been on the menu from the beginning such as the original Moderne Barn burger. That hasn’t changed.”
Along with introducing gluten free dishes, the dinner specials are constantly changing. “That keeps things exciting and fresh,” says Corina. “Our chef would change the menu more often but there are so many dishes’ people do not want to see changed.”
Recently Corina received a text from a woman she knew who was very disappointed that the regular chicken dish had changed.
“She was devastated that the dish was gone,” Corina recalls. “It’s now an Italian style dish, Chicken Scarpariello, made with Italian sausage, roasted potatoes, bell and cherry peppers. But people are loving it. It just shows that among some of the challenges we have are that the chef wants to change the menu, but people get upset.”
Another long-standing favorite on the menu is the Garlic Honey Pork Chop.
“I don’t think we will ever change it,” Bill notes. “We use a wonderful marinade which makes it very tender. It has created a strong following.”
Corina tells of how multiple orders for the popular Moderne Barn Salad can create long endless order tickets because of the many different add-ons. She jokes about how they’ve wanted to frame the unusual lengthy orders.
“The salad is a favorite amongst the ladies and when you have eight best friends who regularly dine here all getting the Moderne Barn Salad, each ordering a different modification, the order ticket ends up being quite long and it takes time for the cook to read it.”
About 15 months ago the Livanos opened the Moderne Barn Mediterranean Gourmet Market a few doors down from the restaurant. It was a new culinary venture for the group.
“We did go through a small learning curve about running a gourmet market,” Nick explains. “And because I regularly go to the Athens Food Show I was inspired to sell mainly Mediterranean and Greek products.”
Among the many specialty Greek and Mediterranean imported goods are olive oils, grains, olives, fava beans, honey, tahini and halvah. There is a bakery, and for Grab-N-Go there is a coffee bar, fresh salads, sandwiches, Greek spreads, sweets, and juices.
“Those shopping at the market usually end up here at the restaurant,” Nick says. “The market keeps building as more people are discovering it.”
Overall, this multigenerational business with strong family bonds and consistent dedication to their community and a fine dining experience keenly validates that the Livanos are on a continuing path of success.
“You will always see one of us here,” Nick says of the Moderne Barn. “We have all the typical challenges that any businessperson has but we love what we do and that hasn’t changed.”
