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Former New York lawyers Stanley and Dimos Tripodianos, who visited their relatives in Roanoke as boys, have come to town to create a dining destination steeped in family and Greek traditions.
Imagine you and your brother are successful attorneys living in New York City. You’ve lived your entire life in the city—first Queens, then Long Island. You’ve grown up surrounded by entertainment, art, eateries, Broadway shows (I’m pretending, too)…you get the idea.
Now, imagine, while you like being an attorney, you find it stressful (not hard imagining) and not completely satisfying. It’s fine, but not that fine. Your brother feels similarly. So, the two of you decide to leave all the art, Broadway, eateries, family, friends and city behind, and go open a Greek restaurant 460 miles south in an Appalachian mountain town called Roanoke.
Whoa. That’s some imagination.
That’s exactly what Dimos and Stanley Tripodianos did.
The Tripodianos story—especially as Dimos tells it—is classically Greek: many characters all related with beautiful but often difficult names; all fully engaged in a life that somehow seems both strategic and a little confusing. The Tripodianoses’ father immigrated at the age of 16 to Roanoke from Greece with his 18-year -old brother. Their goal? Earn enough money for their parents and young sister to join them. The boys lived with an uncle who had immigrated years prior. They spoke no English and never finished school. But, they were successful and soon the family was together again. Eventually, the family moved to New York City where Mr. Tripodianos—Dimos and Stanley’s grandfather—bought a restaurant across the street from a hospital in Queens (remember this). Years later, and lots of story left out, in this same hospital, Stelios (Stanley) and then Dimos Tripodianos were born.
Naturally, being Greek, the brothers grew up steeped in family and food. Dimos Tripodiandos—front-of-house man and spokesperson—says he loved his grandfather’s restaurant, and when asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, he’d say, “Own a restaurant.”
“Oh, no, no,” his parents would tell him, “Your grandfather was always there, always there. You gotta go to school.”
“So, okay,” he says, shrugging. “I went to school. I excelled at school.”
Yet years of practicing law never diminished the restaurant dream. If anything it intensified it. Dimos says he liked what he did, but wanted to work with the public on a more personal level. Being an attorney was stressful. Living in the city was stressful.
When the brothers finally decided to actualize their restaurant dream, they knew they would come to Roanoke. Childhood trips visiting family opened them to a reality different than New York City.
“People in Roanoke are genuine, more down to earth,” he says. “They value things differently. In New York, people are more consumed within their own culture. It’s a strange bubble.”
Just like their father’s family decades earlier, the brothers strategically split to ensure success. In 2013, Stanley moved to Roanoke, while Dimos kept their law practice going in the city. It took two years to find the old medical-supply building on Jefferson and another year to remodel it. Dimos says he knew from the first pictures that this was the place. He found its smallish size great for managing quality control. He liked its rectangular shape for creating the layout he’d been designing in his mind. And he thought its location—across the street from a hospital—was a sign.
The Tripodianoses are slavishly committed to bringing Roanokers authentic Greek cuisine. The recipes are their mother’s and grandmother’s. Only Stanley Tripodianos is allowed to use them.
“Even when my brother and I follow the same recipe, I can tell the difference,” says Dimos of Stanley, who runs the kitchen. “It’s gotta be good and it’s gotta be the same. It’s gotta be the way I remember it was when my mother made it.”
Greek oregano. Greek salt. Greek coffee (imported from Greece). Greek gyro meat (called a cone—you can see it through the kitchen window, which is one reason the window is there). These are just some of many items that make Athens Corner Grill not just “Greek,” but “authentic Greek” cuisine. Dimos Tripodianos says he loves when customers who have gone to big cities and eaten in Greek neighborhoods, come back and say, “You know? I can’t believe we have better Greek food in our own little town than in the big cities.”
“It makes my heart sing,” he says as he puts a hand to his chest and throws his head back, grinning wide.
While sadly, I can’t (yet!) compare Athens Corner Grill to eating in Greece, I can say I never understood the fuss over Greek food—until now. There is not a single menu item I have tried at Athens that I have not loved or at least really, really liked.
I’ve eaten several of their gyros—I think the meat lovers is my favorite. Or maybe the Athens. My cheesesteak-loving son adores the Philly. I’ve had their Falafel, Saganaki (flaming cheese), Lamb Kebabs, Greek Meatballs and Lemon Potatoes; all exceptional. Their Tzatziki and Hummus make Fresh Market’s most expensive versions seem banal. Any of their salads are made even more delicious with their Homemade Athens Greek dressing (the brothers’ own creation).
And then dessert. I never leave Athens without having Baklava or Galaktoboureko. Each is a beautiful Greek experience in and of itself.
Maybe this is what I love most about Athens Corner Grill. It’s Greek-ness. From the owners, to their story, culminating in their food. Right here in Roanoke.
Athens Corner Grill
Monday - Saturday: 11am to 9pm
1003 S Jefferson St., Roanoke
540-206-2210; athenscornergrill.com