THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608060158
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: On the Town
SOURCE: By Sam Martinette
LENGTH: 79 lines
It seemed fitting to watch Olympic highlights on the TV behind the bar in the new Odyssey Restaurant on Newtown Road. A poster depicting an ancient athlete, replete with fig leaf, decorated one wall: scenes of sunwashed beaches, azure skies and majestic ruins added to the mood.
Then there's the story of Gus Boubouheropoulos, an Odyssey of sorts. He decided to make a dramatic change from his 15-year career at family-owned Colony Inn in Colley Village into the hectic world of running a hotel-affiliated restaurant, serving three meals a day, every day, and doubling the number of employees under his charge.
``I saw it as a new challenge, a new direction,'' the soft-spoken Virginia Beach resident explained. ``I saw the opportunity to do a nighttime business. The other place had become too easy to run.'' So he sold the Colony Inn, signed a lease in May for what was once Adam's - most recently The Crush - and by July 1 had opened a 210-seat family restaurant in the newly renovated Comfort Inn Airport. And somewhere in between, his wife Mary gave birth to their second daughter, an event he almost missed.
``I was working 12 to 14 hours a day with contractors, trying to get the restaurant ready, when the baby came,'' he recalled. ``I got to the hospital with a half-hour to spare.''
The Odyssey is a family-run restaurant, with family prices. Boubouheropoulos' parents are still helping out in the kitchen, while his sister Angela works out front. ``Our philosophy here is to make this a family restaurant,'' Boubouheropoulos explained. ``We have two kids and we know the older they get the more expensive it will be to go out to eat.''
While the Boubouheropoulos family is definitely as Greek as the name of the restaurant, Boubouheropoulos explained that the idea was not to target Greek cuisine. Serving a hotel clientle, along with business people from nearby office parks and locals who live in the neighborhoods along the Beach-Norfolk border, means offering traditional breakfast dishes, such as two eggs with ham, sausage or bacon, grits or hash browns, toast or muffin ($2.35); a trio of hand-whipped pancakes ($2.95); or a ham, sausage or bacon omelet ($2.70.)
Lunch includes a 4-ounce burger ($2.65); a triple-decker smoked turkey and bacon ($4.25), or roast beef and bacon or country ham and turkey (4.55); a marinated chicken breast on a pita ($3.75); or a charbroiled Italian sausage on a hoagie roll ($3.95); just a few of the two dozen or so sandwiches. Also available are spaghetti with meatballs ($4.65) or Italian sausage ($5.95); a fried catfish fillet with two vegetables and rolls ($6.25); ground roast beef with gravy and onions ($5.25); and fried oysters ($6.95) or clams ($4.95.)
A number of dishes on the lunch and dinner menus are preceded by the word Odyssey. ``All dishes marked Odyssey use our homemade sauce,'' Boubouheropoulos explained. The marinade includes oregano, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and other ``secret'' ingredients.
At dinner you'll find Odyssey pork chops ($7.95), a marinated steak ($8.95), a grilled tuna steak ($7.95), and lamb chops ($13.95) - all of which come with vegetables and rolls. Other nods to Greek cuisine include a gyro (beef and lamb on a pita ($3.35), a marinated pork loin on a pita ($4.05) and Odyssey seafood pasta (shrimp, scallops, clams and feta cheese with a marinara sauce, over linguini - $8.95.)
Also available are 8- and 12-ounce servings ($8.95 and $10.95) of prime rib, roast beef au jus ($6.95), shrimp or scallops fried or scampi-style ($7.95), chicken or veal parmesan with spaghetti ($6.25), chicken teriyaki ($6.95) and a Virginia ham steak with pineapple ($5.95). Many items are offered at lunch and dinner.
As for desserts, there is homemade rice or bread pudding ($1.25), baklava ($2.25) and an assortment of pies by the slice.
The Odyssey offers a full bar, although Boubouheropoulos stressed that part of the operation simply complements the food. Open and airy, this cheerful family eatery should do well offering down-home, easy on the wallet, food to commercial travelers and its neighbors in two cities. MEMO: AT A GLANCE
The Odyssey Family Restaurant: 6360 Newtown Road, 466-8432.
Food: Traditional family food, including breakfast, with some
Greek-style dishes: full ABC; kids' menu available.
Prices: Most dinner entrees $5 to $8 range.
Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Gus Boubouheropoulos left the family-owned Colony Inn to run the
Odyssey. by CNB