18 Nov Kafenio Owner Resurrecting The Greek Gyros And Pizza With Brookhaven Restaurant
John ‘Johnny’ Gianoulidis launched the eatery with an outpost in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market in 2010 — it closed in 2012
By: Kasey Fox October 30. 2020
The Greek Gyros And Pizza, a long-shuttered restaurant from Kafenio Owner John “Johnny” Gianoulidis, is being brought back next year. The Greek was first launched in 2010 with a location in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market which closed in 2012. Now The Greek is making its return with an outpost in the Skyland Shopping Center in Brookhaven sometime next summer, Lisa M. Graham, senior leasing representative with Brand Properties, the firm leasing the recently-redeveloped commercial strip, Friday confirmed in a telephone call with What Now Atlanta.
Skyland will look different before The Greek debuts next year. Family Dollar is set to vacate its space before the end of the month making way for a new junior anchor tenant, and the former Scavenger Hunt space is also available. Graham said medical or office would be ideal for that unit. The center is flanked by the 166-unit Skyland Brookhaven townhome community.
Gianoulidis’ pairing of pizza and gyros will supposedly be reminiscent of an older New England tradition of Greek-inspired food. This includes 12 to 16-inch pizzas that you can order with vegan ingredients. According to Kafenio’s website, Gianoulidis spent a good portion of his childhood in his parent’s pizzeria — Johnny’s Pizza — doing his homework on the corner table while his mother cooked up some cheesy Greek pies. He didn’t just learn to make pizza and tzatziki from his mother, but also adopted her work ethic.
“Just because you’re the owner doesn’t mean you don’t do things like sweep, cook, or wash dishes,” Gianoulidis writes on the Kafenio website. “If everyone else is busy, guess who’s going to do it? It’s going to be you.”
The Greek’s 2,000-square-foot unit, at 3400A Clairmont Road, will be a close neighbor to Kathleen’s Catch Fresh Fish Market. As for Kafenio, the College Park location has been closed since March and has yet to reopen. According to a Facebook post, it could resurface sometime in late-spring 2021. In the meantime, Gianoulidis hopes to rent the space out for film and television shoots. An outpost in Avondale Estates is open and operating.
