Greece Lightning

Sotiris, 6523 E. Seneca Turnpike, at the
main intersection in Jamesville, serves Greek food exclusively, and is
a little more laid back than the Black Olive. “A customer once asked
for falafel, but I decided to focus on authentic Greek food,” says
owner Chuck Capousis. 

Sotiris is located in what had been the
Village Eatery Diner for more than 20 years. The diner closed a few
years ago, and Capousis bought the building as an investment, not
really thinking that he would go into the restaurant business himself.
He had his own job working with a food brokerage firm as a marketing
sales representative for companies like Campbell’s and Great Lakes
Cheese. He flew all over the country promoting his long list of clients. 

 

Grecian delights: Sotiris owner Chuck Capousis
opened his new restaurant in Jamesville earlier this year and already
one of the most popular desserts is the baklava cheesecake. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTOS

 

But family prevailed, and the Syracuse
native concluded he wanted to spend more time here with his wife
Desiree and their four children. With the Jamesville building now in
his possession, the prospective restaurateur proceeded to transform the
diner into a Greek eatery. “The project snowballed,” says Capousis, who
found himself gutting the entire building. For instance, five layers of
carpeting and linoleum had to be peeled away before getting down to the
original wood floor. 

Today, walking into the transformed
building is like entering a cozy tavern on a Greek island. “My wife
designed the interior,” notes Capousis. In addition, Desiree, an
accountant, is in charge of the books. With Chuck in the kitchen and
Desiree overseeing the finances, it is definitely a marriage made in
restaurant heaven. 

A rustic “Sotiris” sign carved by hand out of Spanish
cedar marks the prelude of what to expect inside. The entry links two
rooms; to the right is the bar area. A set of three arches on the end
wall encases individual painted scenes of Greece created by Paul
Peppard, a Cazenovia artist. Lighting installed within each arch draws
attention to the blues and whites of the striking Aegean landscapes. 

In the dining room, straw-hued walls in
a stucco-like finish serve as a backdrop for framed photographs of
Greece along with a smattering of ornate Hellenic-style plates.
Wide-plank wood floors in both rooms have been burnished to a warm
glow. Local barnwood detail, forming beams and shutters, combine with
Greek lanterns to complete the picture. 

Seating for 99 is divided among
shiny-top tables in the center, booths against the walls in both rooms
and stools at the bar. Capousis’ idea was to create a space that had
character but was also comfortable for both adults and families, rather
than a stuffy, white tablecloth venue. “We were looking for a strong
and fun experience: simple and clean,” he says.

A kitchen adjacent to the dining room is
long and narrow, making an efficient space for cooks to pivot easily
from one station to the other. The lower level, originally an
apartment, has become the restaurant’s prep room, bright and pristine,
with tall tables just the right height for slicing and mixing. A huge
walk-in cooler stores an abundance of food items. The end corner is
reserved for Capousis’ office, which also stores the overflow of
bottles of wines and spirits for the upstairs bar. “I plan to install a
wine cellar as one of my next projects,” he explains.

Capousis created the menu, does most of
the cooking and trains kitchen staff, as well. The chef/owner comes
from a long history of Greek restaurateurs. His father owned Stavros,
the Greek deli that was a fixture on East Fayette Street for many
years. “When I was in high school around 1979 I worked for my father,”
Capousis recalls. In the process he learned all about authentic Greek
cuisine. “My uncle also owns the Redwood Diner in East Syracuse,” he adds. 

Sotiris’s extensive, three-page menu is
divided into nine cold appetizers (kryo meze), 11 hot appetizers
(zestes mezedes), eight salads and soup (salata and soupa), six meat
and chicken (kreas and kotopoulo), five “other” (alla), six seafood
(thalassina), five combinations (syndiasmos), seven children’s menu
items, and nine desserts (epithorpia).  

Cold appetizers include six dolmades,
the familiar stuffed grape leaves, for $8.50; a serving of marinated
olives with pita at $4; Greek feta cheese with pita for $5; and a
variety of spreads, which may be ordered singly, for $6 each or in the
sampler platter for $13.

Hot appetizers feature spanakopita, the
spinach and feta cheese mixture folded between layers of delicate filo
dough. Served with tzatziki (cucumber dip), it cost $10.50. Exotic fare
includes marinated grilled octopus for $11 or mussels sauteed with
wine, sweet bell peppers, roasted red peppers, Bermuda onions and
finished with white wine for $10. A variety of vegetables, beans and
seafood are served up Greek style and priced from $3.50 for
oven-roasted potatoes to lightly seasoned and flash-fried calamari for
$12.50. 

Avgolemono, the creamy lemon/chicken
soup with orzo and spinach, is $4.50, and salads range from a
traditional green salad, with romaine, feta, olives, tomatoes,
scallions and pepperoncini for $7, to char-broiled salmon topping
greens for $10.50. The Aegean (Sotiris’ favorite) combines lettuce with
a number of items found in the cold appetizer section, for $10.

On the meat and chicken listing,
chicken, either roasted or souvlaki style ($13.50), pork chops ($15) or
rack of lamb ($22) and even a 16-ounce T-bone steak ($22), are all
lightly seasoned with Greek herbs.  

“Other” is perhaps the best category for
finding tasty Greek fare. Moussaka (eggplant and beef topped with
bechamel sauce) and pastisito (Greece’s answer to lasagna) are both
priced at $13.50. Desiree’s Delight tosses champanelle pasta (in the
shape of small cones with ruffled edges), sun-dried tomatoes, fresh
spinach and feta cheese sauteed in white wine sauce for $14.

The seafood listing ranges from mussels
($14.50) to red snapper ($19.50), plus shrimp and salmon. Every Friday,
try a tasty alternative to fried fish with the baked haddock; it’s
topped with homemade Mediterranean sauce, greens and sauteed onions for
$15. 

The popular “combination” listing is
probably the best way to sample a variety of items on Sotiris’ menu. A
mix of five to six items on each sampler runs from the vegetarian
platter of souvlaki, spanakopita, hummus, giant Greek beans, tzatziki
and pita for $13.50, to two samplers at $19 that feature either lamb
chops, chicken souvlaki, dolmades, plus other side items, or the
Grecian Delight that begins with moussaka and brings along a melange of
other Greek classics.

Children 12 and under are invited to
sample Greek food, but those looking for the more familiar may opt for
pasta with either marinara or garlic and butter with cheese. 

The nine desserts are “to die for.” See
for yourself in the illuminated glass display case. Go for the richest
with the baklava cheesecake: filo dough shaped into a cupcake-like
shell and filled with the creamiest cheesecake ever. Ruby red
grapefruit, suspended in Greek Metaxa brandy, secretly spiced and
anointed with apricot preserves, is broiled to resemble the bronzed
shield of Zeus. This culinary paean to the gods is one of Capousis’ own
creations. There is also baklava, rice pudding, Greek yogurt with honey
and nut mixture, apple pie, oreo cookie “universe” and carrot cake.

Curiously, the menu doesn’t include
prices for desserts; guess you’ll have to ask. The lunch menu is not
quite as lengthy, nor expensive.

Sotiris has an extensive wine list
featuring mostly California and New York state wines. Retsina, the
Greek wine commonly paired with Greek food, is available, and will
enhance your Greek meal. You can get your favorite draft and bottle
beers, and there is a full bar for cocktails. “The ladies come in for
their Cosmopolitans,” notes Chuck. 

While there is a full-service bar here,
Capousis opts to promote dining over drinking. “Actually I considered
serving only beer and wine, but my friends John Stage {Dinosaur
Bar-B-Que} and Terry Riley {Riley’s} convinced me that a full bar was
the only way to go.” 

The restaurant delivers within the
Syracuse University and DeWitt areas and does “tons of catering,”
according to Capousis. And while all this is enough to keep Chuck busy,
June presented a superabundance of off-premises work. “We participated
in the Taste of Syracuse and the Balloon Festival,” he notes. But the
biggest coup was the Greek Festival in June; Capousis won the moussaka
and pastisio bid for the entire four-day run. “About 20,000 people
showed up and ate,” he says. 

Sotiris Taverna is open Mondays through
Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to
midnight. Visit www.sotiristaverna.com or call 469-7484.