Ellwood
STEAK AND FISH HOUSE A PASSION FOR INNOVATION By : D . M . H erra
B
ill Hristakos fell into the restaurant business by accident and discovered his calling on the way.
Hristakos arrived in the U.S. from Greece in 1975. Like many of his countrymen, he said, his first work in America was in a restaurant. “It’s tradition,” Hristakos said with a shrug. “Everybody, when they come here from Greece, works in restaurants. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but little by little, I grew to love it.” On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Hristakos sat at a table in the window of The 1879 Lounge, the cocktail lounge attached to his DeKalb restaurant, the Ellwood Steak and Fish House. He paused to say hello to customers beginning lunch at high tables of dark wood, and to admire an elaborate bloody mary garnished with vegetables, shrimp and a miniature burger. Hristakos worked in restaurants until 1984, then took a 17-year hiatus to operate a wine
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