It’s a Family Affair

The Breakfast Company

George Soublis opened El Greco restaurant in downtown Sarasota in 1990, and the popular Greek eatery was a Sarasota staple for the next 30 years. Many Sarasota residents grew up going to El Greco on the corner of Main Street and Orange Avenue. George’s Greek dressing was famously delicious, and his generosity of spirit and warm hospitality filled the space with as much light as the big picture windows.

George’s legacy lives on in the lives of his wife, Paulene (a realtor with Michael Saunders), his children and grandchildren, and especially within the walls of The Breakfast Company, the bakery and café opened by his daughter, Terri Soublis Syros, and her son, Dimitri Syros, in October of 2020.

They opened a restaurant in the height of COVID? They did. Not only did they open a small bakery and café during a pandemic, and not only did they make it work, but business is booming. The Breakfast Company, which started as a way for Terri to spend some time with her friends and family in a restaurant setting, now has three locations and a thriving catering business.

Dimitri helped his mother to run the business—while simultaneously attending law school in Miami—but the small family business quickly became a small family empire and Dimitri came on full-time to help build the family’s legacy. George’s philosophies, work ethic, and recipes are celebrated at each location. The family credo “Stay strong. Work hard. Family first.” is emblazoned on the wall next to a picture of George and the family behind “Pappou’s Table.”

Pappou is the Greek word for grandfather and there is a “Pappou’s Table” at each location of The Breakfast Company. I asked Terri what the special table symbolizes, and she said, “Eating as a family was always so important to our family. We wanted a way to pay tribute to my dad because he always believed that families should eat their meals together.”

It’s also important to Terri that there is always a family member present at each location. “Every member of our team is worth mentioning, from our front-of-the-house servers, our hostesses, bakery baristas, to our cooks, all the way to our dish staff. Without them nothing would be possible. We are fortunate to have an amazing family support system. Any location will always have a family member representing us—from spouses to siblings and cousins—we are all family!”

This is not just lip service from an out-of-touch owner, I ate at each location while writing this story and I watched employees hugging each other and smiling at visitors and greeting regulars with warm affection. The Breakfast Company has a loyal following, says Terri, “We have many regulars who very quickly become family. My son Dimitri got married this year in Colombia and some of our regulars even attended his wedding.”

“Eating as a family was always so important to our family. We wanted a way to pay tribute to my dad because he always believed that families should eat their meals together.”

Some of El Greco’s menu has made its way onto the menu of The Breakfast Company and we’re thrilled to report that the iconic Greek dressing is as tasty as ever and there isn’t a better Eggs Benedict than an Eggs Benedict with chopped gyro meat, crumbled feta cheese, and homemade pita.

The Breakfast Company is also a bakery, and I’d be remiss not to mention the stuffins, which are a confectionary delight that basically amount to breakfast cupcakes (my favorite is the carrot cake). There is a rotating menu of seasonal specials, and I noticed a plethora of Girl Scout–themed items in March. I asked Terri about the Girl Scout theme and she laughed, “We support the community Girls Scouts with their booths outside our establishment, so we thought, ‘Why not dedicate our seasonal items to the Girl Scouts?’ Who doesn’t love a Samoa Stuffin or a Thin Mint Latte?”

Terri says that people often tell her that they still remember seeing her father working, through the windows on Main Street, and she’s proud that he was such a pillar of the community. I think that George would be just as proud to see his family through their own restaurant windows and see how they have continued and expanded his legacy. Opa!

The Breakfast Company: thebreakfastcompanyfl.com

A note about 1592 Wood Fired Kitchen and Cocktails

There’s a new family ensconced on the corner of Orange Avenue and Main Street in Downtown Sarasota, and they’re also keeping George Soublis’s legend alive in the location where it all began. Mila Aguiar and her husband, Eddie Zaki, along with Eddie’s brother Johnny and their business partner (and friend) Alexandre Gosselin, purchased the old El Greco in 2019 and revitalized the restaurant with their own brand of Mediterranean style and cuisine. They have many delectable Greek dishes on their menu and also some fun Montreal-inspired treats (an ode to their own backstory). The location is the same and there is a strong Greek influence, but this is not Terri’s father’s El Greco: It’s more modern, more eclectic, more artsy. The team behind 1592 does have their own version of “Pappou’s Table,” however. Above a table toward the center of the restaurant, scrawled into the wooden wall, is a handwritten message “In loving memory of George Soublis “Legends Live Forever” 1940-2019.” What a lovely and fitting tribute from one fabulous restaurant family to another.