New Greek restaurant to open in Sarasota's Gulf Gate

Achilles Kouskoutis says with 40 years in the restaurant business, he's never had a bad experience.

He expects it to be the same story for Nikki's Greek Café, which is targeting an early October opening in Gulf Gate.

The restaurant is the response of Kouskoutis to a lack of Greek restaurants in the Gulf Gate area, and he says the dishes it offers will draw from his experiences growing up in a Greek family.

Not the first venture

The restaurant business runs in Kouskoutis' family.

His father, Charlie Kouskoutis, came from Greece to Tarpon Springs when he was 7 years old, and was also a restauranteur.

In San Diego, where Charlie Kouskoutis owned two restaurants, Achilles also opened his first, a Greek hamburger restaurant called Mission Beach Steakburger, in 1984.

Achilles' earliest experience, however, was washing dishes for his father beginning when he was 9, for which he would be paid $2 per day, with one being placed into the bank.

When he was older, he lived with his grandmother, who taught him how to cook a variety of Greek food, including how to roll grape leaves and prepare Greek chicken. 

His work in the restaurant industry has taken him in a variety of directions, from a role as a food and beverage director at a San Diego hotel, to opening a succession of pizza joints in New Hampshire, to the corporate restaurant world as a district manager for Checkers/Rally's.

The name of his new restaurant follows Nikki's Greek Gyros, which he opened in 2000 in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and says was "a really big success," although he closed the business after rising rents. 

His daughter Nikki Kouskoutis, for whom the restaurant was named, worked there as a cashier at the age of 9. 

"That's why I name it Nikki's, because she always, always wants to help Dad," he said. 

Later, after moving to Sarasota, where Nikki was living, he worked in the construction industry for a time before finding the space in Gulf Gate. 

"I found this place, and thought, you know what, let's open a little restaurant," he said.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Kouskoutis says the restaurant's food preparation will emphasize fresh and healthy ingredients, using beef tallow for deep fryers, and olive oil everywhere else. 

The menu items range from pastas, to meat and seafood dishes, to Greek spreads and dips. One offering Kouskoutis notes is the Pasta Mediterranean, which will feature angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, Kalamata olives and feta cheese. 

"It's spectacular. It's delicious," he said.

He says some meals including the Greek meatballs and whole fish, will be cooked to order and some will be pre-prepared, while the only items he receives frozen are the meat cones for the gyros. 

Once he obtains a license, although he doesn't know if that will be before opening, the restaurant will offer beer and wine as well. 

Serving in the role of restaurant decorator is Nikki, who also suggested adding an additional dessert, baklava with ice cream.

"Basically, you take off the top of the baklava, you put some ice cream on it and close it make like an ice cream sandwich," Achilles Kouskoutis said. 

His son Zach will also work in the restaurant as well. 

Achilles Kouskoutis says what he learned from his family will influence the food he offers.

"I learned that it comes from the heart," he said. "If you like to do it, then it comes out delicious. You have to enjoy what you do. If you don't enjoy what you do, then it's a job. This, for me, is not a job."