Those still bemoaning the closing of the Grecian Gourmet Taverna on South Main can rejoice. They can still get all those popular Greek dishes in frozen or packaged form online or in grocery stores through Grecian Gourmet Kitchen.
They began selling their Greek fare about nine years ago at the St. Jude Farmers Market, says Grecian Gourmet Kitchen president/CEO Corinne Knight. “We sold our classic humus, feta dip, pita chips, and all your Greek dishes — spanakopita, pastitsio, and moussaka,” she says.
Her dad’s (Frank Sousoulas) side of the family is Greek, so they have “all these bulk recipes” from Easter, Christmas, and birthday family gatherings that drew 69 to 80 people to their home. “All of these recipes are a combination of [ones from] my grandmother, great aunts, and a lot of the ladies at the church. My mom and my grandmother took a lot of pieces of different recipes they liked and they made them their own.”
They sold at all of the farmers markets for about two years before they opened their restaurant in spring 2018. Grecian Gourmet Taverna, which was owned by Knight, her mother Jo Beth Graves, and Knight’s stepfather Jeff Watkins, was “very popular,” she says. “We were very busy pretty much up until Covid. During Covid we really transitioned to a lot of corporate catering. And you didn’t have consistent foot traffic Downtown anymore.”
They began focusing on retail and preparing large-scale catering items, including box lunches for 300 people. ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital asked them to begin serving their food on the St. Jude campus. “I realized that shifting to corporate catering would give us a much better work-life balance as well as just be far more cost-efficient to do.”
Instead of renewing their lease on South Main, they closed the restaurant in December 2022 and in February 2023 opened their Grecian Gourmet Kitchen manufacturing/shipping center in Bartlett.
They’re considering opening the center as a grab-and-go at some point, but, for now, they’re “building out corporate catering and not having customers come in. … Everything that is in the grocery stores is made there, as well.”
In addition to catering one week a month at St. Jude’s Kaye Cafe, Grecian Gourmet Kitchen frozen foods and other items are sold at Cordelia’s Market, Superlo Foods on Spottswood Avenue, High Point Grocery, South Point Grocery, Buster’s Liquors & Wines, Buster’s Butcher, Curb Side Casseroles, Katie’s Kitchen, and Oh Grate!
Pita chips, dips, and pasta salads are their most popular items, Knight says.
Their gyro and rice bowl bars, which can serve 60 to 80 people, are popular corporate catering items. “The gyro bar is pita bread and a protein of lamb, chicken, or vegetables, and it has onions, lettuce, tzatziki, and everything to build your own gyro.” The rice bowl bar includes garlic rice, sautéed vegetables, and choice of protein along with the extras that go on the gyros.
As for new website offerings, Knight says, “We’ve added Greek chicken pot pie — kotopita. It’s Greek baked chicken, onion, celery, and white wine in a béchamel and baked between filo.”
They also added a “gluten-free vegan pasta salad and gluten-free vegetarian pastitsio.” The latter includes gluten-free noodles, egg, and butter. “And the sauce is eggplant, tomato, red wine, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a gluten-free béchamel.”
Items can be ordered at thegreciangourmet.com.
They are currently testing their chickpea salad at Cordelia’s Market. “It’s chickpeas, red onions, bell pepper, feta, and tomato tossed in our vinaigrette.”
And they’re trying to figure out how to offer other items, including a gluten-free spanakopita and gluten-free moussaka.
They’ve talked about opening another restaurant, but that’s something she’d consider when her children are a lot older, Knight says. “Because my oldest pretty much grew up at farmers markets and restaurants. While fun, it’s not great for a kid to only see their mom at work.”
Her husband Caleb is a firefighter, she says. “A lot of days he was at work and our eldest was having to come to work with me. … I know people really like our food, but I want to be able to hang with our kids a little bit more before we do that.”
