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SHORT ORDERS
[ S T. L O U I S S TA N D A R D S ]
A Family Affair Maplewood mainstay Michael’s Bar & Grill offers a little something for everyone Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
I
n 19 9, ichael alliotakis, an immigrant from the reek island of Rhodes, sat down with his then-wife’s dad and struck a deal. Diagnosed with cancer ust a year after he took over the bar himself, alliotakis’ father-inlaw needed him to buy him out. The bar, a raucous neighborhood tavern called Nick’s ittle ebble, wasn’t necessarily the sort of place alliotakis wanted to run, but he could sense this was an opportunity he needed to accept. “It was a rough place,” recalls atina alliotakis, ichael’s daughter and the current proprietor of ichael’s ar rill. t was a Cracker ack bo of a place, really small with pool tables — a typical Maplewood neighborhood bar, and a really rough place. ike every reek who comes to merica, he had a dream of opening a restaurant, and eventually, he got tired of the ruckus, shut down, dug out the basement with his bare hands and the help of some guys in the neighborhood, and reopened as a restaurant. Four decades later, Michael’s ar rill has become a mainstay of the city’s dining scene, beloved for its ability to execute both classic merican comfort food and traditional reek cuisine. s atina alliotakis describes it, ichael’s is the sort of place that will serve kids the best grilled cheese they’ve ever had as their parents en oy a gorgeous rack of lamb. Known as much for its burgers and wings as it is its reek salads and moussaka, alliotakis credits the restaurant’s staying power to its ability to offer a little bit of something for everyone, a way of dining she believes is waning in
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RIVERFRONT TIMES
Katina Malliotakis guards her father’s legacy at Michael’s decades after he turned a rough bar into a neighborhood pillar. | ANDY PAULISSEN the current restaurant climate. Considering his culinary pedigree, there’s no way that the elder alliotakis could have done things any other way. The son of a butcher, ichael loved his mother’s cooking and taught himself how to prepare her dishes. Though he had no professional e perience, he snuck his way into the reek army’s food service at the age of nineteen, telling his superiors that he was a chef so that he could make sure everyone ate good on his watch. hen they asked if anyone was a chef, he raised his hand,” his daughter says. e said he wanted to make sure he had the food situation covered. e also told them he was a tailor so he could handle the washing. e was determined to have good food and crisp, clean clothes. fter leaving the army, ichael was introduced to Katina’s mother, who had come back to reece for their arranged marriage. The two moved together to t. ouis, where Michael was immediately thrust into the restaurant business and reali ed he had a knack for the industry. e was a keen observer, picking up on what business owners did right and what they did
SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2021
riverfronttimes.com
Not even the pandemic has been able to stop Michael’s. | ANDY PAULISSEN wrong, and banking that knowledge in the hopes that he would one day have a place of his own. ne of his most formative obs was at the iconic cafeteria aravelli’s, where he was taken under the wing of the owners and taught everything from how to carve meat to how to run the business. ventually, ichael alliotakis took the leap and opened his own cafeteria-style restaurant in
downtown t. ouis, then another concept on Cherokee treet. owever, it was ichael’s ar rill where he really staked his claim. Though he reopened as a restaurant with only a few menu items written on a small chalkboard, he found immediate success and kept building upon it. t didn’t take long for more items to appear on the menu, which was finally printed after a short while,
