Nick’s Food to Go first opened in August 1994, and, after 28 years, the restaurant remains a tight-knit family business, even as the neighborhood around it changes.
New apartment buildings are rising up around the small cinder block building at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Hill Street, where Greek immigrants Nick and Eleni Poulos started out selling hot dogs, hamburgers, and fried chicken. Nick’s didn’t introduce gyros until 2000, but they became a favorite. And, over the years, the menu has expanded to feature other Greek food.
Nick Poulos, now 79, retired in 2014, but he remains a fixture around the restaurant. Eleni, who is 67, and learned to speak English by talking with customers, continues as the star of the kitchen. Daughter Evie Poulos and cooking cousin Ben Poulos round out the team.
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
“My family has been in this area since the ‘60s,” Evie Poulos explained. “My father grew up down on Hill Street. My grandfather had a liquor store on the corner of Bell Street and Decatur Street.”
She started working at Nick’s when she was 16.
“We were open on Saturdays, so I used to come here and help when we were not in school,” Poulos remembered. “And, I went to college at Georgia State, so I was constantly going back and forth to help out, especially during the lunch rush.”
More recently, she has taken on the role of manager. “I wear a lot of hats,” she said. “I have a child now, so I’m part-time here while the kid is at school. And, then, I manage and do the paperwork and whatever else is needed.”
Asked about the secret of Nick’s longevity, Poulos said it was patience.
“The restaurant business is not easy,” she said. “You’re dealing with people — and hungry people — so, it’s not like everyone is pleasant. Dealing with customers, you have to have a lot patience and humor. It’s hard work. And, it gets hot. We don’t have air-conditioning here, or heat, either.”
The current menu includes pitas, plates and Greek salads. But the likes of okra and onion rings also are on offer, along with Eleni Poulos’ signature tzatziki sauce, which is made fresh daily. And, if you’re lucky, you might get some of her flaky, hand-rolled spanakopita before it sells out.
Credit: Becky Stein
Credit: Becky Stein
“Now that it’s mostly Greek, we see a lot of people from New York and Chicago coming in, looking for something they had back home,” Evie Poulos said. “Our burgers are still the same as when we opened. My mom makes them by hand. The burger and the gyro are best-sellers. We sell a lot of chicken and pork, too.”
One thing that hasn’t stood the test of time is the daily specials. “We used to sell a lot more specials, but my mom is getting older now, so we’re making it simpler for her,” Poulos said.
One of the perks of owning a mom-and-pop restaurant is the ritual of closing up shop for a few weeks, so the family can get back to Greece.
“We go once a year,” Poulos said. “We still have family there. We’re from Kalamata, where the olives come from. They were farmers, and they still have an olive grove.”
Over the years, the Poulos family has tried to buy the property where Nick’s is located, but the family that owns it hasn’t wanted to sell.
“They’re a very, very nice family. They were immigrants from Lebanon, and they still treat us like family,” Poulos said. “But I joke around and say we’re the last ghetto building in the area, because everything else has changed around us.”
Asked about the future of Nick’s, she shrugged.
“We work five days a week now, and on major holidays we shut down,” she said. “It’s a family business, and, at this point, we’re not expecting to become billionaires. It’s keeping my parents active.
“The neighborhood has been great. We’ve had customers since ‘94 that still support us. They’re like family to us. And, then, we have new people all the time.”
Nick’s Food to Go. 240 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta. 404-521-2220, nicksfood.com
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