Ellas Group
History

Tom and Zabeta Dimacopoulos. owners of the Ellas Restaurant and Banquet Facilities on Pape Ave., just north of the Danforth, will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their highly successful and popular dining establishment on Nov. 25th.

Zabeta and Tom Dimacopoulos cut the cake recently at the 30th anniversary party of their restaurant, Ellas, a fixture in the Danforth Greektown area for the last three decades.

A monument to Greek cuisine, the main dining room at Ellas is only slightly less shiny than Versailles Stop: Dips Nearby attractions and sights: Greektown Where to eat: Ellas (702 Pape Ave., 416-463-0334) “Souvlaki is to Greeks what hamburgers are to North Americans," says Eria Dimacopou los. It's fast food, and young people tend to be its biggest consumers, but there's so much more that defines the country's edible her itage. Dimacopoulos' family has maintained the broad range of Greek food at Ellas, where she grew up, for exactly 30 years this month. (Father Tom and mother Zabeta founded and still run Ellas, and uncle Kostas handles the kitchen.) The lamb fricasee is legit, with large pieces of lamb simmered and served with pieces of romaine lettuce and avgolemono egg and lemon-sauce. There are many occa sions to cry "Opa!" (the Greek version of “Yeee-haaa!") as romano cheese, feta or cala mari are flambéed tableside in ouzo. Stifado is a wonderful rabbit dish, fragrant with thyme, bay, rosemary and a touch of cinna mon, finished with pickled onions. For more Hellenic nostalgia, the interior is spun with Corinthian columns, sculpture, ornate ceil ings and enough gold leaf to cover the Parthenon. Entrées: $9.95 to $24.95.

Ontario Restaurant News January 1993 Front Page Honourable Marilyn Churley, provincial Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations (left), helps the owners of Ellas Restaurant, Zabeta and Tom Dimacopoulos, cut a giant birthday cake to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Pape Avenue location. Pioneers of Toronto's Greek Dining District Reach 25th Anniversary TORONTO- One of the pioneers of restaurant and hotel trade. this city's Greek restaurant com- Ellas extended the celebrations munity reached the quarter-cen- on to his customers, by offering a tury mark recently. selection of menu items at 1967 Ellas Restaurant and Banquet prices, including the lamb entrée Halls, owned and operated by for $1.25, moussaka for $1.50, and husband and wife team of Tom and Pork Tenderloin Shish Kebabs for Zabeta Dimacopoulos, has been $2.25. Literally thousands of cus operating on Pape Avenue for 25 tomers poured through the 200 years. seat main dining room over the The Dimacopoulos', along with two-day promotion, says Zabeta. their four children - Argi, Eria, Esia “This was our way of thanking and Zoe - welcomed 500 guests to our customers who have contrib their birthday bash, including lo- uted so much to our success over cal dignitaries, prominent mem- the past 25 years,” explains Tom. bers of Toronto's Greek commu- Alter undergoing extensivereno nity, family and friends. vations last year, the Pape Avenue The secret formula to their fam- location now seats an additional ily's success can be attributed to 300 banquet patrons on the third “long hours and lots of hard work- floor, while the second level oper - nothing else”, comments Zabeta, ates as a smaller banquet facility. who left her native Argos to marry Behind the scenes, another Tom in Toronto in 1970. Dimacopoulos, Tom's brother Tom had arrived in Canada four Kosta, has been running the kitchen years earlier, working locally in the as chef for the past 25 years, Carmen Lamanna has also been with Ellas as chef since 1970. Ellas made its mark in Toronto around 1971, when the city's dining scene began to evolve towards a more cosmopolitan cuisine. Dimacopoulos started market ing and catering to the non-Greek com munity with its traditional fare. Provincial Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations Marilyn Churley joined the formal ceremonies by assist ing Tom and Zabeta in unfurling a giant anniversary banner across Ellas' land mark, mythically-inspired exterior facade. . The Dimacopoulos' also own and manage a second, similar restaurant and banquet facility further east on the Dan forth, which opened in 1983, able to accommodate large private parties. The restaurant portion of the operation seats 150, while the banquet area can facilitate 1,500. Friends and family joined Tom and Zabeta Dimacopoulos, owners of Ellas Restaurant, in marking their 25th anniver: sary in business recently. DCC

Ellas on Pape - Toronto's Oldest Greek Restaurant S22 The Sunday Sun, February 5, 1984 toronto pleasures By Howard MacGregor Table talk by Howard A little Greek to the east... One of the Toronto's most successful Greek restaurants is Ellas on Pape Ave., a few steps north of Danforth. Ellas is one of those peek-in-pots places that came into favor back in the late 1960s by producing a reasonable resemblance of Aegean cookery at moderate prices. Business has been so good for Ellas (that's the Greek name for Greece) that they quite obviously sunk a bundle of the cash that flowed from Pape Ave.. The owners didn't stop at Pape. They eventually opened another restaurant and banquet room "The wood paneling and sculpted crystal chandeliers look very expensive. So do the logoed recently, a, poshified, suburban Toronto china and the velveteen seating. It's version of Ellas in Scarboro. nice - if one forgives paper placemats We got to the Scarboro Ellas a few laid over tablecloths and plastic lami days ago. It's a sparkling new building nated menus - but the overall ambience with lots of free parking and a separate evokes hotel dining room, somewhat ster banquet hall. ile and formal. It's not what the average A Grecian banquet room in east Metro Torontonian thinks a Greek restaurant seems an inspired business idea. The should be, and that's particularly strange new generation of upwardly mobile in the suburbs, where the key to restau Greek-Canadians is beginning to move rant success these days seems to lie in from the confines of the Danforth Ave. providing a pleasant theme to go along ghetto into family-sized suburban homes. with the food. Besides, even a medium-sized wedding It's as though the owners decided to party, for example, has difficulty finding open a Greek restaurant in Scarboro but places to park in that traffic jungle along feared Scarberians wouldn't go for it. the Danforth. Certainly, the menu indicates a lack of And for the same reasons, a suburban faith in the market's potential taste for Greek dining room seems a sound busi- Greek food. It's unrelentingly simple ness proposition. We wonder, though, minded in what it offers. about the thinking that went into this Sure, there's lamb and shishkabob, and one. The Scarboro Ellas is a huge, sky- moussaka and a feta salad, but after that lighted room into which the owners have it's mostly Dover sole, lobster tails, surf 'n' turf, roast beef and steak. It's a rare Greek kitchen that doesn't make dolmathes - the tasty hors d'oeuvre in which grape leaves are stuffed with seasoned rice and meat - but the new Ellas doesn't. There is a tasty saganaki (fried and flambed Romano cheese) along with a tzatziki that's not served cold enough and is mostly thick yogurt instead of a blend ing of yogurt, cucumber and dill. But there's no taramosalata, a zestily Greek concoction of blenderized fish roe and seasoned bread. There's no avgolomeno, the luscious egg and lemon soup of Greece. And no spanakotiropita (spinach and feta in filo pastry). Pity. Squid are labelled squid when even the densest of us knows them by their Grecian name of calamari. Meanwhile, prices are reasonable enough for the Greek entrees”, running from $6.25 for veal meat balls through $6.50 for the moussaka and $6.75 for a stuffed lamb dish. The stuffed lamb turns out to be chunks of well-done meat touched with rosemary and bound with cheese-sauced peas and carrots inside a thick wrapping of filo pastry. The dinner plate is arrayed with more overcooked peas, plus mushy cauliflower, a ladling of over steamed, seasoned rice and a redundant baked potato. There's a lot of food on the plate for $6.75 but restaurant-goers these days | surely are demanding authenticity over quantity. (At $6.75 an entree, one does not expect a lot in the way of quality in any dining room.) Small wonder, then, that on a Friday evening there were fewer than a dozen people in the dining room. Wise diners were probably enjoying themselves at the original Ellas on Pape Ave., eating real food. The new Ellas should consider chang ing both its menu and decor. Ellas. 45 Danforth Rd. (at Warden) Open every day. Major cards. 694-1194. Recently reviewed and recommended!

Celebrating 30 years! Zabeta and Tom Dimacopoulos cut the cake recently at the 30th anniversary party of their restaurant, Ellas, a fixture in the Danforth Greektown area for the last three decades. LLLAS NEWS CLIP The Hellenic Times November 1997 ELLAS NEWS CLIP WHERE TORONTO Toronto, Ontario November 1997 A monument to Greek cuisine, the main dining room at Ellas is only slightly less shiny than Versailles Stop: Dips Nearby attractions and sights: Greektown Where to eat: Ellas (702 Pape Ave., 416-463-0334) “Souvlaki is to Greeks what hamburgers are to North Americans," says Eria Dimacopoulos. It's fast food, and young people tend to be its biggest consumers, but there's so much more that defines the country's edible heritage. Dimacopoulos' family has maintained the broad range of Greek food at Ellas, where she grew up, for exactly 30 years this month. (Father Tom and mother Zabeta founded and still run Ellas, and uncle Kostas handles the kitchen.) The lamb fricasee is legit, with large pieces of lamb simmered and served with pieces of romaine lettuce and avgolemono egg and lemon-sauce. There are many occasions to cry "Opa!" (the Greek version of “Yeee-haaa!") as romano cheese, feta or calamari are flambéed tableside in ouzo. Stifado is a wonderful rabbit dish, fragrant with thyme, bay, rosemary and a touch of cinnamon, finished with pickled onions. For more Hellenic nostalgia, the interior is spun with Corinthian columns, sculpture, ornate ceilings and enough gold leaf to cover the Parthenon.

CANADA PRIME MINISTER PREMIER MINISTRE February 21, 1993 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dimacopoulos, I am delighted to offer you my warmest greetings and congratulations as you celebrate Ellas Restaurant's twenty fifth year of service to the people of Toronto. Your accomplishments in business attest to the many years of dedicated service you have provided to your clients and your community. This anniversary offers you an opportunity to look with fondness upon your achievements while preparing for the challenges that lie ahead. I know I join with Mr. Reg Stackhouse, your many friends and family in wishing you an enjoyable anniversary celebration and every success and happiness in the future. Yours sincerely, Brian Mulroney

Where to eat: Ellas (702 Pape Ave., 416-463-0334) “Souvlaki is to Greeks what hamburgers are to North Americans," says Eria Dimacopoulos. It's fast food, and young people tend to be its biggest consumers, but there's so much more that defines the country's edible heritage. Dimacopoulos' has maintained the broad range of Greek food at Ellas, where she grew up, for exactly 30 years this month. (Father Tom and mother Zabeta founded and still run Ellas, and uncle Kostas handles the kitchen.) The lamb fricasee is legit, with large pieces of lamb simmered and served with pieces of romaine lettuce and avgolemono egg and lemon-sauce. There are many occasions to cry "Opa!" (the Greek version of “Yeee-haaa!") as romano cheese, feta or calamari are flambéed tableside in ouzo. Stifado is a wonderful rabbit dish, fragrant with thyme, bay, rosemary and a touch of cinnamon, finished with pickled onions. For more Hellenic nostalgia, the interior is spun with Corinthian columns, sculpture, ornate ceilings and enough gold leaf to cover the Parthenon. Entrées: $9.95 to $24.95.