At The Athenian, a new generation is set to bring Greek fare into the future

That’s how the restaurant got its dual personality: American, Mexican and Greek favorites for breakfast and lunch, and all-Greek at night complete with flaming saganaki and shouts of “Opah!” The ambience is complete with standard Greco-Roman pillars, statues, and a blue and gold Greek flag color scheme.

Tom didn’t have to look far for authentic recipes. He had grown up in the Greek city of Tripoli and worked in his family’s restaurant. “My mom taught me well,” he said.

“I was a dishwasher, busboy and then I learned to cook.” The “cookbook” was in his head.

Angie was also born in Tripoli but moved to America when she was very young. On a trip back there to visit family one summer Angie met Tom who had just finished his stint in the Greek army.

“My cousin introduced us,” Angie said. “She said ‘Do you want to get married?’ I said sure, if the right guy comes along and if he’ll move to Denver.”

Tom was right and ready to go. “She said ‘I’ll take you to paradise,’ ” Tom said with a sly grin. Paradise, he said, turned out to be working in restaurants for the next 30 years.

They married in 1984 in Greece but he didn’t move to Colorado permanently until 1988.

Over the years The Athenian has built a reputation for always being open, serving enormous portions, and having warm motherly service and a festive mood, especially at dinner.

The bestselling items are the five big fat platters the feed two to four people the greatest hits of Greek-American cuisine.

For instance, The Zorba features includes pastisio, mousaka, tiropitas, spanakopitas, gyro, dolmades, olives, feta cheese, tzatziki and pita bread.

The sweet and savory flaky pastries — baklava, spanakopita and tiropita — are made in-house. Angie makes galaktoboureko, a dense, sweet and eggy custard in phyllo. “People come in and the first thing they say is ‘Did Angie make the custard?’” she said.

“They have to have it. They say it’s just like crack.”

At dinner you’ll be offered a free shot of ouzo and encouraged to shout “opah!”

The Athenian has customers who have followed the family over the past 25 years, Angie said. “They are family. If you don’t see certain customers for awhile, you wonder if they’re OK. So they make a point of coming by to visit.”

Angie’s clearly the sparkplug that gives The Athenian its energy as she goes from table to table offering dessert and gently steering diners away from pine-flavored retsina to a more pleasant Greek wine varietal.

“I do the talking and he does the work,” Angie said, nodding to Tom. He nodded in agreement.

“And I’ve got to learn how to do both,” said their son Marco, looking at his parents.

After more than a quarter century of feeding folks, Tom and Angie are starting to think about slowing down. “This is hard work and you start to feel it as you get older,” Tom said.

Tom and Angie’s older son Nico, now 25, graduated from the University of Colorado and sells real estate.

Tom was 21 years old when he landed in Denver and now 21-year-old Marco is itching to take over the family business.

“Since I was little all I wanted to do was skip school and flip pancakes with my dad,” Marco said.

Tom told him he would have to learn how to do everything in the restaurant. “You have to know how to wash dishes and fix things because you never know if someone’s going to quit or not show up,” Marco said.

Marco said he’s learning how to make all the dishes on the big menu, with and without recipes. He’s already tinkering with some of the dishes. His Pork Chops Santorini cooked with sweet peppers and feta cheese has become a popular item.

Angie’s three brothers also have local restaurants: Greeks Gone Wild in Denver, and Steakhouse 10 and Undici, an Italian eatery, in Englewood.

“Undici” means “eleven” in Italian, signify the family’s total number of eateries.

Not surprisingly, sibling rivalry lives on. If customers tell her about eating at her brothers’ places, Angie tells them: “They do a good job, but I’ve got the best restaurant.”

John Lehndorff is the Colorado Table editor. Reach him at: jlehndorff@aurorasentinel.com.

Opah! A brief Greek menu glossary

baklava: Dessert of honey-soaked, buttered phyllo dough layered with chopped almonds
dolmades: Marinated grape leaves wrapped around rice
ouzo: A Greek liqueur flavored with anise (licorice)
moussaka: An eggplant, ground beef and mashed potato baked casserole
pastisio: A baked macaroni dish with ground beef and cream sauce
retsina: A traditional Greek white wine flavored with pine resin
saganaki: Appetizer featuring brandy-soaked tart cheese served flaming  (and greeted by the Greek exclamation: “Opah!”)
souvlaki: Grilled marinated pork chunks
spanakopita: Phyllo dough-wrapped spinach and cheese pastry
tiropita: Phyllo dough-wrapped feta cheese pastry
tzatziki: A cool dip or sauce of thick Greek yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber and spices
The Athenian Restaurant
15350 E. Iliff Ave., Aurora
303-578-6011; atheniangreekrestaurantco.com