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26 | March 5, 2020 | the homer horizon dining out
homerhorizondaily.com
The Dish
Family-run gyros restaurant celebrates 25 years in Lockport
Benjamin Conboy
Assistant Editor
One day in 1995, Nicky
Theodossopoulos called
his son Tim’s high school.
He told them the gyros
restaurant he just opened
in Lockport had a line out
the front door. The cops
were there directing traffic,
because there were so
many customers, even at a
time when the surrounding
area was still mostly farmland.
Nicky needed Tim to
leave school and come to
work.
Twenty-five years later,
not much has changed at
Nicky’s Gyros. Though
Nicky died 10 years ago,
the restaurant that is his
namesake lives on with
his three children at the
helm.
Tim and his two sisters,
Sophie Theodossopoulos
and Genie Hart, have
worked at the restaurant
every day since 1995.
Sophie now has two
children of her own who
work there, and it is her
son’s dream to open up his
own gyros shop.
Genie’s husband, Mark,
also helps at the restaurant.
One day, the Harts’ 3-yearold
son — named Nick after
Genie’s father — may
work there, too.
“It’s a real family affair,”
Hart said. “And we’d
like to keep it that way.”
Despite working in close
quarters with their siblings
day in and day out for 25
years, the trio say they
rarely encounter squabbles
as brothers and sisters tend
to do.
“Thank God we don’t
get into it,” Genie said.
“If we have a disagreement,
we try to talk. We
don’t though. If we need
“It’s a real
family affair.
And we’d like
to keep it that
way.”
Genie Hart — coowner
of Nicky’s Gyros
to make a decision, we talk
about it, but we all usually
agree.”
The siblings continue to
use the philosophy of restaurant
stewardship that
their father outlined for
them decades ago.
“He was into quality; he
always believed in quality,”
Sophie said. “We
never changed recipes or
brands.”
Their gyros ($5.80) are
still made with the same
recipe for tzatziki sauce
that the elder Theodossopoulos
crafted. They still
marinate their own chicken
and make the chicken
noodle soup ($3.39) with a
special twist they declined
to disclose to avoid it being
poached by another
restaurant. They still use
the same Grecian Delight
top-quality gyros cones
that were served on opening
day.
“If you look at the ingredients
for our gyros,
there’s no fillers,” Sophie
said. “There’s no bonding.
You can pronounce all of
the words. So, when people
ask why our gyros are
so expensive, it’s because
we [buy the best meat].”
Even though the roots
of Nicky’s Gyros remain
firmly grounded in their
father’s philosophy, they
have made some changes
The gyros ($5.80) with homemade tzatziki sauce and fresh tomatoes — along with a quarter-pound of fried zucchini
($2.60) — are the bread and butter of Nicky’s Gyros in Lockport. Photos by Benjamin Conboy/22nd Century Media
Nicky’s Gyros
903 E. 9th St. in
Lockport
Hours
• 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Monday-Thursday,
Saturday
• 10:30 a.m.-9:30
p.m. Friday
• 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday
Phone: (815) 838-
0600
over the years to modernize
the restaurant.
When Nicky’s Gyros
was remodeled 15 years
ago, they added a drivethru
and a computerized
ordering system, changing
the ins and outs of the way
the restaurant was traditionally
run by their father.
“The cooks have a
screen where they can see
the orders,” Sophie said.
“Before, we would have
to yell it out. It used to be
all by memory back in the
Sophie Theodossopoulos (left) and her sister Genie Hart run the restaurant, as a
portrait of their father, Nicky, greets customers.
day. You call out 10 orders,
you had to remember
them. Nobody can remember
anything anymore.”
The trio of siblings have
given a lot to the restaurant
over the years, but it
has given something back
to them, too. It has become
a bond for them, a
gathering point for family,
and given them a mutual
purpose. It serves as a reminder
for the principles
their late father stood for.
All these years later,
a portrait of Nicky
still greets customers at
the counter, just like he
did when the restaurant
opened 25 years ago.