12 North Shore Towers Courier n April 2015 New Towers Restaurant Operators Spiros and Buffy Dimas COMING ATTRACTIONS Fresh Faces New Towers Restaurant Operators Promise ‘NOTHING FROZEN; NOTHING CANNED.’ BY STEPHEN VRATTOS “I’m here for my customers,” says Buffy Dimas, new operator of The Towers Restaurant with husband Spiros. Three years ago when the lease to the restaurant was up for renewal, Tower residents approached the couple to take over their venerable diner. These ambitious residents were fans of the diner duo’s two other eateries in the vicinity: the Old Westbury Diner, formerly The Seacrest, which Spiros and Buffy took over several years ago, now successfully run by their daughter Gia; and Williston Townhouse, taken over seventeen years ago and managed by son Tim. But the point became moot when the incumbent operators, Gus and Harry, retained the agreement. That all changed when the veteran operators lost the lease this year, their final meals served February 28, 2015. Spiros and Buffy literally came in overnight. “We moved in Saturday evening, opened on Sunday morning,” says General Manager and Business Partner Angelo Pantazis. “We spent the whole night cleaning the kitchen, throwing out old food from the previous owner, and prepping as best we could for the residents to eat the next day.” The Dimas philosophy to dining only exacerbated the situation: fresh quality food; nothing frozen; nothing canned. It is a philosophy that has translated into two successful eating establishments over 24 years and counting. So utilizing any of the frozen or canned food abandoned by the previous operators to facilitate the transition was not an option. Hence, the purging of the pantry and walk-in. Not opening wasn’t an option. Sure, there was a stipulation in the contract forbidding the closure of the restaurant for any amount of time, but the first and only response from Pantazis to the query of shuttering the doors for a day or two, was, “We cannot leave the residents with no food. And we didn’t want to serve just soup and salad.” Fortunately, fresh food was available from Spiros and Buffy’s other restaurants. Still, the selections that first day were limited. There were no menus and the wait staff engaged with customers to help them order from the truncated options available. Also there were as yet no phone lines and no internet access to set up credit lines for card purchases, causing further problems. A new unfamiliar point-of-sale (POS) system added to the confusion. An in auspicious start, but Spiros and Buffy hope the residents understand the tremendous effort made to ensure The Towers restaurant did not close and was there for them throughout the transition. General Manager Pantazis began working with Spiros and Buffy about a year ago coming from the prestigious Kellari Hospitality Group, for which he oversaw eight quality restaurants in Manhattan. Pantazis brought in eight high-caliber restaurant personnel, including famed Greek American executive chef and restaurateur, Gregory Zapantis, who owns lauded Molos Waterfront Estiatorio in New Jersey and whose resume includes New York City restaurants Estiatorio Milos, Avra and Thalassa. Chef Zapantis has also appeared on such TV channels as WNBC, CBS and the Cooking Channel, and his work has been featured in magazines, including Food & Wine, Food Arts and Neo, and newspapers, such as The
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