Tom’s Restaurant, The Exterior of Seinfeld’s Monk’s Café & Inspiration For Suzanne Vega’s ‘Tom’s Diner’

On a recent trip to Morningside Heights in Manhattan, I stopped by Tom’s Restaurant, which was used as the exterior of Monk’s Café, where many ridiculous conversations took place on Seinfeld.

Tom’s Restaurant was also the inspiration for the 1987 Suzanne Vega song “Tom’s Diner”. Vega grew up in the neighborhood and used to eat breakfast at Tom’s Restaurant before taking the subway to work.

Scott Beale
Scott Beale

Scott Beale is the founder of Laughing Squid and is based in New York City. When not running the blog, Scott can be found posting on Threads and sharing photos on Instagram.