Skidder's Restaurant: The (Greek) Place to Be in St. Pete, Florida

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If you live in New York there is nothing unusual when driving to see Greek flags waving alongside the Star Spangled Banner at the entrance of diners or restaurants. You don’t even get moved any more, you just keep driving thinking about the unpaid bills from your recent summer trip to Greece! If, however, you couldn’t afford that trip (Greece is still in the Eurozone, after all), or you didn’t have enough vacation time and you decided that under the circumstances sun-bathed and baked Florida was the ideal choice, and then, while driving on St. Pete’s busy Gulf Boulevard you saw a Greek flag, chances are that you make a stop!

by Demetrios Rhompotis

That’s how I got to visit Skidder’s Restaurant, a place that combines so many different things while managing to maintain a distinct character, just like America herself, I would dare say. It’s a family restaurant, a bistro, a Mediterranean style café and a place to hang out. The menu is built along the same lines, offering continental and European breakfast, Greek & Italian dishes for lunch and dinner, sandwiches, seafood, of course, even vegetarian choices! And last. but not least, pizza, and not any kind of pizza, one of the most famous in the area that has the delivery personnel on a ceaseless pace!

It was late in the afternoon when we got there, just before the avalanche-like dinner rush was about to ensue. It didn’t take a lot to realize that at least one of the people sitting at the corner table of the open air patio, facing Gulf Boulevard, was Greek. The music coming out of the speakers on all sides was also Greek and not the tourist-like Zorba mellifluous tunes, but hard core Greek! When he saw us looking for where to sit, the Greek looking, tanned man stood up and in seconds we started speaking in the language of …Zorba…and by that I certainly do not mean Mexican (Anthony Quinn)!

That’s how I met Nicholas Skiadiotis, the owner, who immediately invited us over to his table (I told him I was in the area to cover the Republican Convention, so that I would look more important, although that wasn’t exactly true). There, we got to meet the …former mayor of St. Pete and a couple of very friendly locals who visited Greece many times and they liked it so much that during one trip they overstayed their visa and as a result there is a kind of hold that prevents them from reentering the country.

Nicholas, as we came to realize, isn’t only Skidders owner, but a kind of unofficial Greek ambassador in the area, offering advice and trying to help in anyway he can. And if the Greek Consulate General in Atlanta closes due to economic constrains, then Nicholas might need to assume the duties of a real Greek consul, albeit unwillingly! “You see, despite the problems and the bad news all over the networks, people here still love Greece. So, when they want to go there not only I encourage them, but I give them ideas where to go and what to do,” says Skiadiotis. “Greece still is one the most beautiful places on earth and she deserves our love. That’s why I go there and stay at least four months a year!”

Nick’s love affair with St. Pete, Florida, started in the most unsuspected of ways. He emigrated to New York from his native village of Platanos, a breathing distance from ancient Olympia, in 1974 and like many Greeks at the time he went into restaurant business. It was winter of 1987 and a very stressful breakup with a restaurant partner had left him completely exhausted. While going home, he passed by his friend’s travel agency in Astoria, where he would often stop to say hello. It was then and there that he saw a poster with St. Pete’s magnificent beach. “Can you send me to that place tomorrow?” he asked his friend, and while the other went on to laugh, Nick was dead serious!

It was pre-Internet time yet, so it took some effort and various phone calls, but before long he left the place with two round trip tickets and a seven day hotel reservation. Getting home, he went right upstairs, to his wife Angie, “his better half,” he says, and waving the tickets he solemnly declared: “I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow for a week, please come with me!” After Angie protested like only a Greek woman knows how about the last minute notice and the lack of time to do her hair etc--when she realized that he was going to go no matter what, she started packing the suitcase (still protesting, of course!). “She fell in love with the place like I did,” Nick says, “so she soon realized it was great that I bought the tickets, even without her knowing.”

Having gone back and forth numerous times, Nick saw the opportunity to do business as well, so that he could have a reason to stay there much longer. In 1993 he bought Skidder’s and since then he has became more of a Floridian than New Yorker. Although he still has a house and business in the city, St. Pete is his home. “I came to love the place, the sun, the weather, the wonderful people. Also the pace of doing things here is much more manageable. I worked for many years and so hard in New York, this for me is like a vacation, only permanent!”

When in St. Pete, Nick goes to Skidder’s every day, late afternoon usually, and sits in his favorite spot where everybody can pass by and say hello or talk about the latest developments. He’s also involved in other businesses and his son Lefteris, or Teddy, as people know him, has taken over to a great extent. But Nick feels still young and kicking, so he’s not thinking about retiring anytime soon.
While talking about the economy, the discussion shifts to Greece and the hardships there. Nick is optimistic that at the end Greeks will manage to pull themselves out of this mess, but he feels for the people. “I know how it is,” he says. “I too went through things and it takes a lot of guts not to lose faith, not to break. And it’s in situations like this that a helping hand might do all the difference. Whatever I can do to help, I do. There are people coming here and if I cannot give them a job, I call friends who might be in need. I’m not saying that I will save the country, but you have to start from somewhere, by doing something.”

Thanks to Nick and his engaging personality, Skidder’s has hosted very prominent people throughout the years, from every field of endeavor, politics, sports and …beauty! Very often you see busloads of hot models, taking part in various pageants which the area is famous for, visiting the restaurant. “Either I’m so handsome or the food is so good and keeps them in shape! Or both,” says Nick with a big laugh. “But I’m also married!”

Going through a wall full of photos with dignitaries, customers, congressmen, senators, governors, athletes, coaches, TV personalities, one can see that Skidder’s isn’t just a restaurant but a local powerhouse. “We also do fundraisers here,” he notes with a smile.

Skidder’s is located on 5799 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, Florida. The phone number is (727) 360-1029. You can also check it out on Facebook.

When there, try the Greek salad as a starter, then grouper with their marechiara sauce on pasta and finish with homemade strawberry cheesecake. This dish couples well with chilled Moschofilero white wine. When done, enjoy your cigar and your favorite drink in the open air and like me, start looking for ways to extend your stay…

©2012 NEOCORP MEDIA





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