Same great taste and fun at Kisavos as ownership moves to next generation

'Home made, hand made, hand crafted, everything is from scratch,' says chef Petros Itskos, who has been cooking at the Greek restaurant for 25 years.

Kisavos Restaurant & Lounge owners Petros and Dorothy Itskos, and staff Alison Smith and Shannon Kozakevich in the restaurant at 1820 Broadway in Saskatoon.Photo by Michelle Berg /Michelle Berg

Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to Petros and Dorothy Itskos, who recently took ownership of Kisavos Restaurant on the corner of Broadway and Taylor Street.

It was a friendly ownership transaction, as Dorothy’s parents, who have been working in restaurants in Saskatoon for over 40 years since coming here from Greece, had owned Kisavos since 1990. When they decided it was time to retire they were overjoyed to keep it all in the family.

Dorothy used to work at the restaurant as a server when it was called CheeseToast before becoming a hairstylist for many years. Petros has been the head chef at Kisavos for the last 25 years so he is quite familiar with the menu and the restaurant.

Kisavos Restaurant & Lounge owner Dorothy Itskos in the restaurant at 1820 Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon on Jan. 25, 2023.Photo by Michelle Berg /Michelle Berg

Q: Are you going to change the restaurant?

Dorothy Itskos: Many people have heard that my parents sold the restaurant so they thought recipes were going to change, but I’m happy to say, no. My husband is still the cook. They are all his recipes already. So nothing is changing, absolutely nothing. And I just want to reassure people.

Q: What made you decide to take on the restaurant yourselves?

Petros Itskos: Dorothy and I have been chatting about this for five years, about buying the place from her mom and dad. We thought it would be a big commitment but we saw a fantastic opportunity and decided to take the plunge and be restaurateurs.

DI: As I grew up, my parents always had a restaurant. Given the opportunity, we said let’s just do it.

Q: Have your parents been helpful to the new owners?

DI: My parents still stop in here often. It’s a bit of a transition for them. It’s been their life for the last 40 years or so. It’s kind of hard to just quit one day and retire. I was calling them up quite a bit in the first couple weeks for help with different issues. So it was good that they were right there to help me. I haven’t worked here in 25 years, I’ve been busy doing my own thing. It was nice to come back into this. I’m enjoying it. There’s long hours, but it’s good.

Q: What stands out about your menu?

DI: There is a very big selection because we are a family restaurant so we have something that your little five year old is going to like, and something for grandma or anyone in between. We have a little bit of everything. For lunch it is a smaller portion of the dinner menu. We also have a lunch and dinner special every day, as well as a soup of the day. Lately, because everybody just loves it, it’s chicken lemon rice soup. It’s in such high demand, but he does change it up once in a while. He makes amazing soups.

PI: Home made, hand made, hand crafted, everything is from scratch.

Q: What are some of your popular items?

PI: We have Greek baby back ribs that we marinade for at least a week. Then they go to the broiler and straight to your plate. We have other baby back ribs, but only the Greek ones are marinated for a week.

Another thing we’ve been doing really well here for years is the dry ribs. We’re famous for them and we sell tons. We cut the dry ribs ourselves. There is so much preparation from the box to actually get them to the plate. It takes a lot of time.

Kisavos special pizza is really popular. I think it’s the dough and the pizza sauce. It’s different when you actually make it yourself. I think we have one of the nicest pizza doughs and pizza sauces around Saskatoon. The pizza sauce is indescribable. Everybody is asking for extra pizza sauce — some sweetness and a little bit of a different taste than any other place. I think that’s what makes it so special.

I make our shrimp scampi a little different, too. I was in Spain about four years ago and I ordered shrimp scampi and they were kind of different with spices. I talked to one of the chefs over there and he gave me a little bit of a heads up on how to do it. Since that day I’ve done it a little different than everybody else — with a little kick to it. There is garlic butter, but there’s a little bit of spice and it pops out.

Q: Do you have some specials?

DI: Right now on Tuesdays we have buy one pizza, get the other one half price and on Wednesdays it’s buy one pasta and get the other one half price. We do dine-in, pick up and delivery of our full menu.

PI: On Sundays, someone was bugging me that we should do some kind of breakfast. Then I started making a fancy burger with eggs on it for the lounge just on Sundays. It’s been very popular.

Q: Are you planning any special events?

DI: My husband and I talked about starting a Greek night where we just have a Greek feast of some sort. My husband does lots of traditional Greek cooking. He’s really good at that. And it’s healthy food. I’ve been talking to him about doing something like that once in while because so many people have visited Greece that they can kind of relate to having an evening of food that reminds them of their travels.

Q: What stands out about your restaurant?

DI: We have been around for a very long time, so obviously people come back because they like the food and service. We have an amazing staff. They are so awesome. I get compliments on them daily from customers about how wonderful their server was and how great their attitudes are, which is so important when you go into a restaurant. So that to me is No. 1. And then the food, of course. Everything we make is from scratch. You’re not going to find anything that’s pre-made and brought in here.

This interview has been edited and condensed

Kisavos Restaurant & Lounge