PorkChopSandwiches
02-17-2012, 05:50 PM
PICO RIVERA - One morning in 2002, two men attacked Demetrios Pantazis as he opened Dino's Burgers in Los Angeles.
He was stabbed three times, once in the back, once in the stomach and once in the arm.
A black belt in Shotokan karate, Pantazis beat the men off and drove himself to a fire station.
Until that morning, Pantazis' four daughters had never really been sure they wanted to work in the family restaurant business. As their dad recovered in the hospital, they made a decision.
"He got stabbed opening up the restaurant one day, and we all decided that if anything ever happened we needed to know how to run the business," his oldest daughter Nicole Pitsos said.
Now those four daughters - Nicole, Tina, Katerina and Maria - are helping their dad open a Dino's location in Pico Rivera on Telegraph Road and Passons Boulevard.
Technically, it's a re-opening. Demetrios Pantazis ran a Dino's at the site from 1972 to 1980. He had been leasing the shop out to different restaurants until recently.
With his four daughters, Pantazis has the woman power for the new store, he said.
The store was opened in January and it has been packed nearly every day.
The Dino's story is quintessentially American.
Pantazis moved here with his parents when he was 15, and, like many Greek families, he got involved in the restaurant business. After ups and downs, he ended up owning Dino's in Los Angeles. It was named for his father.
Business was good. But it was about to get great. Dino's got good reviews in the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Weekly. Reviewers raved about the restaurant's signature dish, a big spicy chicken breast on a bed of French fries. The dish to this day costs only $5.50.
The day in 2000 when the review ran in the Times, the restaurant was so busy that daughter Tina Andrews had to rush into work to help her dad. When she got the call, she was hanging out with a friend.
"I made her come with me," Tina said. "I told her to put on a Dino's shirt and get to work."
The family eventually opened another store in Azusa. And they are franchising two other locations, one in Bellflower.
Andrews said her dad is obsessed with good service.
He won't use frozen french fries or frozen chickens. He hates raising prices. He constantly over-staffs his restaurants.
Sometimes Andrews wants to let staff members go home when things are slow, but her father won't let her.
And he works all the time.
He'll close a store in the early morning hours and then wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day, she said.
"He's a lunatic," she said.
Downey resident Danny Lopez said he's eaten at Dino's in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, he ordered the chicken at the Pico Rivera location.
"I love it," he said. "That's what I'm here for."
As for Pantazis and his daughters, they continue to stay close, literally. They all live near one another in Pasadena and La Canada.
They usually eat dinner together.
And they're so used to working, Thanksgiving and Christmas get kind of boring, the daughters said.
In many Greek families, it's the boys who work at the family restaurant, they said.
"We've seen the sacrifice it took form our dad," Nicole Pitsos said. "Most people would say poor (Pantazis), he had four girls and no one's going to take over his business."
He was stabbed three times, once in the back, once in the stomach and once in the arm.
A black belt in Shotokan karate, Pantazis beat the men off and drove himself to a fire station.
Until that morning, Pantazis' four daughters had never really been sure they wanted to work in the family restaurant business. As their dad recovered in the hospital, they made a decision.
"He got stabbed opening up the restaurant one day, and we all decided that if anything ever happened we needed to know how to run the business," his oldest daughter Nicole Pitsos said.
Now those four daughters - Nicole, Tina, Katerina and Maria - are helping their dad open a Dino's location in Pico Rivera on Telegraph Road and Passons Boulevard.
Technically, it's a re-opening. Demetrios Pantazis ran a Dino's at the site from 1972 to 1980. He had been leasing the shop out to different restaurants until recently.
With his four daughters, Pantazis has the woman power for the new store, he said.
The store was opened in January and it has been packed nearly every day.
The Dino's story is quintessentially American.
Pantazis moved here with his parents when he was 15, and, like many Greek families, he got involved in the restaurant business. After ups and downs, he ended up owning Dino's in Los Angeles. It was named for his father.
Business was good. But it was about to get great. Dino's got good reviews in the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Weekly. Reviewers raved about the restaurant's signature dish, a big spicy chicken breast on a bed of French fries. The dish to this day costs only $5.50.
The day in 2000 when the review ran in the Times, the restaurant was so busy that daughter Tina Andrews had to rush into work to help her dad. When she got the call, she was hanging out with a friend.
"I made her come with me," Tina said. "I told her to put on a Dino's shirt and get to work."
The family eventually opened another store in Azusa. And they are franchising two other locations, one in Bellflower.
Andrews said her dad is obsessed with good service.
He won't use frozen french fries or frozen chickens. He hates raising prices. He constantly over-staffs his restaurants.
Sometimes Andrews wants to let staff members go home when things are slow, but her father won't let her.
And he works all the time.
He'll close a store in the early morning hours and then wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day, she said.
"He's a lunatic," she said.
Downey resident Danny Lopez said he's eaten at Dino's in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, he ordered the chicken at the Pico Rivera location.
"I love it," he said. "That's what I'm here for."
As for Pantazis and his daughters, they continue to stay close, literally. They all live near one another in Pasadena and La Canada.
They usually eat dinner together.
And they're so used to working, Thanksgiving and Christmas get kind of boring, the daughters said.
In many Greek families, it's the boys who work at the family restaurant, they said.
"We've seen the sacrifice it took form our dad," Nicole Pitsos said. "Most people would say poor (Pantazis), he had four girls and no one's going to take over his business."