Oh So Timely: Three brothers, friend merge restaurant, business skills to open their own place

Take three brothers and one friend who have known each other since they were young boys. Mix in an infusion of parents in the restaurant business and a few dozen years of restaurant experience among them.

The result: A four-way partnership in a restaurant.

Sammy Gianopoulos and Pete, Spiro and Jimmy Strates own o'So eats, which opened Sept. 1 at 299 Jonestown Road.

The four men are all Winston-Salem natives and graduates of R.J. Reynolds High School, and they've hung out together as long as they can remember. "We found a picture of us when I was probably about 7," Gianopoulos said.

Gianopoulos' dad owned restaurants in Thomasville and Lexington. And the brothers spent a lot of time at Duke's

Restaurant on Country Club Road, which their dad, Paul Strates, still owns.

And Pete Strates, the oldest at 33, owns a second Duke's in Walnut Cove.

Gianopoulos got a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University, then worked at Biltmore Estate in Asheville and the former Louie Blue's in Winston-Salem before opening his own place. Gianopoulos, 30, owns Giannos Italian restaurant, Aquaria seafood restaurant and Sammy G's catering company in High Point.

Spiro Strates, 33, ran a Duke's downtown and worked with his brother in Walnut Cove before becoming a co-owner of Mayflower restaurants in Hillsborough and Wilson. "I moved back in November. I met a girl, and I decided it was time to come home and be near my family," he said.

"And that's when we really started talking about the restaurant," Jimmy Strates said. At 26, he's the youngest partner, and he's also the only one who also works outside of the restaurant business, in commercial real estate.

In 2001, the Journal wrote a story about Gianopoulos and Pete and Spiro Strates and other young Greek-Americans who were raised in the restaurant business here.

"We were saying then we hoped we would all open a restaurant," Gianopoulos said.

The new restaurant is an American-style bistro that offers a little bit of everything -- pastas, steaks, seafood and Greek dishes.

The differences are in the details. The gyro (which is called "soul-vaki" on the menu) is made with leg of lamb roasted in-house. A Greek salad includes dried cranberries. Nachos are done Greek-style with havarti and feta cheese sauce with spinach, roasted peppers, pepperoncini and olives all over fried pita chips.

The pastas are listed by sauce -- carbonara, Florentine and 10 others -- and diners can choose a protein and a type of pasta to go with them.

Baklava, the popular Greek dessert, is ground up, and sprinkled over vanilla cream with a brownie on the bottom.

The partners wanted something more contemporary than old-fashioned American food. "We were born and raised in that style of restaurant," Spiro Strates said. "We wanted something different."

Pete Strates said, "Our motto is: We do it simply. We do it funky. We do it all. We do it well."

Gianopoulos and Pete Strates said they have great staffs at their other restaurants that allow them to devote a lot of time to getting o'So started. They also have family members to help out at o'So, including Paul Strates and Gianopoulos' dad, Terry.

Gianopoulos is reveling in the new restaurant, because he's behind the stove again. "I was a chef, and then I became a business owner, and I was wearing a suit and tie every day. Now I'm back in the kitchen, and I'm loving it," he said.

Spiro Strates also works in the kitchen, and Pete and Jimmy Strates work the front of the house.

Some people may wonder at the idea of four partners who have to agree on all the details that make a restaurant successful.

But Gianopoulos and the Strates brothers aren't worried about that.

"With four partners, if everybody's on the same page, then it works," Pete Strates said. "We trust each other."

Drunken Steak

Recipe from Sammy Gianopoulos of o'So eats. At the restaurant, this is made with rib-eye and served with fried oysters and a bacon-balsamic aioli, but it's good just by itself. Other cuts of beef can be used instead of rib-eye. Note that 600 degrees is hotter than most stoves and even many grills. For best results, use the hottest setting you can. If you want to cook these indoors on the stove, preheat a cast-iron pan for at least 10 minutes and make sure that you have a hood fan turned on high before you start cooking the steaks.

1 cup bourbon

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup Dijon mustard

1 cup diced onions (¼-inch pieces)

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar firmly packed

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Pinch cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

4 steaks, such as rib-eye

1. Combine all ingredients except meat in mixing bowl. Whisk to blend well.

2. Add steaks to marinade, cover and refrigerate, and marinate for 2 to 4 hours.

3. Heat a grill to 600 degrees, or as close to it as possible. Grill steaks to sear meat and lock in juices. If desired, move to cooler part of the grill to cook to desired doneness.

Makes 4 servings.

Apple-Glazed Pork Chops

Recipe from Sammy Gianopoulos of o'So eats. See note about the heat level with the recipe for Drunken Steak.

1 pound Red Delicious apples

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

½ lemon, grated rind and juice

¼ cup water

Pinch salt

½ teaspoon brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 pork chops, bone-in, frenched (rib bone scraped clean), center

cut, 12 ounces each

1. Core apples to remove seeds. Dice cored apples with skin on.

2. Add apples, vinegar, lemon rind, lemon juice, water, salt, sugar and cinnamon to a pot. Simmer until apples are falling apart, about 30 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and puree in a blender or food processor. Chill the apple butter.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a grill to 600 degrees, or as close to it as possible. Grill pork chops to sear meat and lock in juices.

5. When chops reach an internal temperature of about 130 degrees, brush each with about 2 tablespoons apple butter and bake in 350 degree oven until pork reaches 165 degrees.

Makes 2 large, or 4 medium, servings.

O'So Nanas Foster

Recipe from Sammy Gianopoulos of o'So eats.

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, divided use

2 slices pound cake, your favorite homemade

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 banana, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons crème de banana liqueur

2 tablespoons Kahlua coffee flavored liqueur

¼ cup heavy cream

Vanilla ice cream

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Brown pound cake slices briefly on each side. Transfer to serving plate.

2. Add remaining 3 tablespoons butter and brown sugar to the skillet and heat until a caramel begins to form.

3. Add bananas into caramel mixture and toss well. Add Kahlua and crème de banana and flambé. Stir in heavy cream and cook down to a thick consistency.

4. Add ice cream on top of pound cake and pour banana mixture over all.

Makes 1 large, or 2 medium, servings.