What’s the best part of owning a restaurant?
Rita: Talking to the tables! People are in such a good mood because they’re happy to be here. And they keep coming back. If they’re not friends, they become friends after they eat here.
You know Michael could be the mayor of Santa Fe because he loves to circulate all the tables. Not only that, he used to be an opera singer. So he sings a little song for everybody.
Michael: They’ll ask me to sing something so I’ll sing something in Italian.
How did you wind up here?
Rita: We’ve been in Santa Fe 35 years. We had a fine jewelry store on the Plaza, and we always had a little coffee cart called Caffe Greco. A woman we knew convinced us to expand into a full service restaurant, so we moved to Canyon Road and bought this building. So you can blame it on her.
So you guys are Greek and Jewish?
Rita: I’m a Greek and a Sephardic Jew, a Spanish Jew. Michael is an Ashkenazi Jew.
I think we are really the only authentic Greek restaurant here in town. There are other Middle Eastern ones and takeout, but nothing is like this. My dad was from Thessaloniki and these recipes are what I grew up with.
What do you guys like about Canyon Road?
Rita: I don’t know how to put it. It’s like everybody is very accepting of everybody. Nobody really cares what you drive, how much you have, how much you don’t have.
Michael: I like that everybody respects and loves each other. It doesn’t matter who you pray to. That’s what I love.
Rita: It’s just such a special place. I mean, I don’t think there’s any street like it in all of America.
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