Olympic Pizza Opens In Former Michael's RestaurantBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
09:23AM / Saturday, August 13, 2011 | |
 Stella Giannaris, her husband Dimitris Sfakianakis and their two daughters, Melina and Mariza Sfakianakis, will be running — along with their son Petros Sfakianakis, who is not picture — Olympic Pizza Family Restaurant at the former Michael's Restaurant location on Route 2. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Michael's Restaurant may have changed owners but Greek and Italian food will still be cooked at that location.
Stella Giannaris has leased the building and opened Olympic Pizza Family Restaurant on Tuesday.
The restaurant specializes in Greek and Italian food straight from the homeland. Giannaris has been waiting for an opportunity to move her family from Athens, Greece, to her childhood home and when Michael's went on the market — she got it.
"I used to come here when I was 7," Giannaris said last week, sitting in a booth at her new restaurant. "It's nice here. Williamstown is a very nice area."
Her family has a long history of owning local restaurants in the county. Her father opened a pizza place in Pittsfield in 1965, where Giannaris grew up, and now her mother runs Christo's in North Adams. Giannaris later moved to the family's homeland but for the last year, with political turmoil and her children creeping up on their college years, she has been looking for an opportunity to come back.
"I think kids have more opportunities in this country," Giannaris said. "There is a lot going on in Greece right now."
Giannaris' mother, Mary, is friends with Michael's owner Cindy Nikitas and once the news spread that she was going to sell the business, Mary Giannaris jumped right in to help bring her daughter home.
"We wanted to move here from Greece and my parents wanted to do something for us," Stella Giannaris said. "We signed the lease two months ago... I just got here a month ago."
In just those two months not only did the family of five move halfway across the world but also renovated the restaurant's kitchen and bathrooms, repainted the inside and redecorated the building. Stella Giannaris said her long history of working in her parents' restaurants have allowed her to hit the ground running.
The restaurant will be similar to Christo's but with a larger menu, she said. The family, running the new restaurant together, will be cooking up an array of Greek and Italian specials as well as offering takeout and delivery. Olympic Pizza will be open every day from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.
"It's a family business," Stella Giannaris emphasized.
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