Mykonos Island is Closing

One of my favorite Greek restaurants in town, Mykonos Island (on Richmond at Greenbriar), is closing on Friday. Where will I go to get moussaka, Greek wine and Greek dancing now? Mykonos Island makes some of the best Mediterranean Red Snapper I've ever had. I really hope he reopens in a new location soon.

Well...at least the Greek Festival is coming up soon...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/5087264.html

A cultural hot spot closing its doors
Mykonos Island Restaurant says goodbye to patrons


By DAI HUYNH
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


The sound of the bouzouki will fade into memory, the belly dancing will cease and Houston's Greek community will have to find another restaurant to celebrate its birthdays, weddings and anniversaries.

Mykonos Island Restaurant on Richmond will serve its last moussaka and grilled red snapper on Friday.

"Its lease has ended," Mykonos lawyer Gus Pappas says. "H-E-B (which controls the lease) does not want to extend it with us." H-E-B had no comment on its decision.

Mykonos has filed a lawsuit against H-E-B for revenue loss because of a leaking roof. Neither party would discuss the case.

With the closing drawing near, owner Frixos Hrisinis is scrambling to find employment for his 22 waiters, bartenders, cooks and dishwashers.

"I worry for them. About 80 percent of my employees have been with me for more than a decade," Hrisinis says. "I was almost positive we would have until next year. We negotiated until the last moment. I was hoping, just hoping."

For 27 years, Mykonos has served as one of the city's Mediterranean hubs, where transplants from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Syria, Israel and elsewhere came to dine and mingle.

Patrons will never forget the Saturday night that actor Robert Duvall twirled with the Greek folk dancers. Others recall when former Rockets forward Bostjan Nachbar and 150 friends celebrated Greece's 1-0 victory over Portugal in the 2004 World Cup soccer championship.

"They were dancing on tables, up on the bar — everywhere," Hrisinis says. "It took three days for us to get the restaurant back to normal."

Mykonos has hosted countless politicians, including former President George H.W. Bush, as well as TV personalities, music icons and entire sports teams. But the stars of Mykonos have been Hrisinis' Greek regulars, who came during the lunch rush and lingered for hours at a table in the bar. They were the decision-makers of the shipping industry, construction, oil and gas, real estate. It was a ritual to meet and talk about their girlfriends, politics and other hot-button topics. In between bad jokes, they shook hands on multimillion-dollar deals.

"We can begin at noon and at 3 a.m. (finally) leave Mykonos," patron John Stergiou says. "We do it all to the beautiful music and dance of Greece. Mykonos is home — the home we left behind."

It's a Saturday night, and the sound of the bouzouki drifts outdoors from Mykonos. Laughter and the buzz of conversation fill the white walls of the 8,000-square-foot restaurant.

Hrisinis sprints from the crowded dining room to the cramped kitchen to check on the food.

"Hurry, hurry and get the food out," the restaurateur orders. After 50 years in the business, he understands that nothing leaves a diner colder than cold food.

After arriving in Houston from Greece, 15-year-old Hrisinis started washing dishes at a restaurant. In 1981, he opened Mykonos on Portsmouth with father Elias and mother Katina. In 1999, the family moved the restaurant to its current location. His mother taught him to cook; his father taught him to fish.

He'll be doing more of the latter after the restaurant closes. He wants to rest for a few weeks. Then, he promises, he will open a "different" Mykonos in a new location.

The new restaurant will be more quaint and intimate, he hopes, with patio seating. It will have a smaller menu, half the size of the current one. It will have to be close to "Moma" because he needs to check on her several times a day. And there will be no live music or bellydancing.

"This place was a touch of Greece," Mohammad Hussein says over a plate of moussaka. "There's nothing like it. We're going to miss this place. And we're going to miss that crazy Frixos. Look at him. He's all over the place."

Hrisinis hops from table to table, checking on his customers.

"How are you, honey? Everything all right?" he says, setting down a plate of creamy garlic dip. "I call this the Greek penicillin."

Since the news broke last week that Mykonos was closing, tables have been filled every night.

"I come here for three things — the fish, the cultural experience and connecting with Frixos," Socrates Hadjisavvas says. "Frixos is a cultural icon. People are looking for the Greek experience, and Frixos can offer that. It's Greece in Houston. The only thing missing is the beach."

It's almost 2 a.m. A table of Greeks remains. In the bar, Hrisinis dines on grilled snapper and avocado salad with wife Sallie.

"It's going to be crazy on the last day," he says. "Just crazy, Sallie. I don't want to even think about it."

 

Is that the one on Westheimer near Dunvale, in a strip mall on the south side of Westheimer...where DSW is?

I've got an Indian veggie place for you to try....Bombay Sweets on Hillcroft near Harwin. Lunch buffet = $6.50. The food is so good it makes a carnivore like me forget I'm not eating meat.

 

A buddy of mine just called. Went by Mykonos. One hour wait for lunch. If you are planning on going between now and Friday, get there at least an hour early.

 

Check out Bombay Sweets for lunch one day. It might be the Indian restaurant that changes your mind. It is moderately spicy.