Tom’s Restaurant was the locale that inspired Suzanne Vega’s 1987 song “Tom’s Diner” but it is probably more known for its exterior which became famous worldwide thanks to the popular sitcom Seinfeld,  since Jerry Seinfeld’s and his friends regularly gathered to eat and chat at the diner. However, Tom’s Restaurant is a diner located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Frequented by artists, musicians, comedians, students and faculty of nearby Columbia University, it has been owned and operated by the Greek-American family of Minas Zoulis since the 1940s.

The documentary highlights past and present owners, clientèle and pop culture references. When President Barack Obama was a student at Columbia, he frequently used to eat at Tom’s Restaurant, and Senator John McCain often ate at Tom’s when he visited his daughter Meghan when she was a student at Columbia.