He came to America with ‘pennies in his pocket,’ became popular Charlotte restaurateur
Panos Photopoulos came to America with “pennies in his pocket,” his family said.
But with an outgoing personality, generous spirit and lifelong passion for the trade, he quickly rose in the restaurant industry, they said – from dishwasher to server to maitre d’.
And finally, with his wife, to owner of two restaurants that became landmarks on Charlotte’s culinary scene.
Panos Photopoulos saw what others didn’t when he and his wife, Toula, bought the French Quarter Restaurant in Uptown in 1986 and later opened the Greek Isles Restaurant in South End, the couple’s son George said Tuesday.
“He was definitely a visionary in the restaurant business,” George Photopoulos, speaking on behalf of his mom and two brothers, told The Charlotte Observer. “Everyone thought he was crazy for opening a restaurant uptown when several businesses were leaving the area, like Belk and Ivey’s department stores.”
The French Quarter now ranks among the oldest establishments in Uptown under the same ownership, George Photopoulos said.
Panos Photopoulos died July 6 at age 77.
He retired from the French Quarter a few years ago, overjoyed that he could now travel to Greece for months at a time, George Photopoulos said of his father Tuesday. George now runs the popular eatery in Brevard Court off Church Street.
George Photopoulos said his dad and mom tested positive three weeks ago for COVID-19, but were quickly over any symptoms. A combination of a heart condition, weak lungs from being a longtime smoker and undetected heart disease led to his death.
Family fell instantly in love with Charlotte
Panos and Toula didn’t know each other when they emigrated from Greece. He was 26 and she 20 years old.
They met in Chicago, where Panos moved to be with relatives after a few months in New York City. Mutual friends introduced them, and they were married in 1969.
Panos Photopoulos worked two jobs in Chicago while taking English classes at night.
“He always had a passion for the restaurant business,” George Photopoulos said. “He landed a job washing dishes at a very famous high-end restaurant called 7 Eagles in Chicago.”
Panos left the industry for awhile to return to his original trade fixing automobiles. He’d worked on tanks in the Greek army, his son said.
But he “always had the restaurant business at heart“ and bought the already established French Quarter Restaurant in 1986 after the family moved to Charlotte to be near Toula’s family. The menu includes traditional pub food along with Cajun and Greek selections.
Panos and Toula and their three sons instantly fell in love with Charlotte, George Photopoulos, 48, said.
The Greek Isles fulfilled his dad’s dream of opening an authentic Greek restaurant.
“My father thought it was a perfect opportunity because he had his three boys to help with the Greek Isles,” George Photopoulos said. “We would go between the Greek Isles and the French Quarter.”
The family operated Greek Isles from 2004 until 2015, when the landlord doubled the rent and they decided to focus exclusively on the French Quarter, according to George Photopoulos. Hot Taco now occupies the space on Bland Street.
His dad’s passion for the trade rubbed off on his sons, George Photopoulos said.
While George 48, runs the French Quarter, his brother Greg, 45, is an operating partner with Charlotte-based Showmars Group. He runs the Showmars restaurants in Denver, N.C., Northlake Mall, Steele Creek and Raleigh.
Brother Frank, 42, works for Sotheby’s International Realty but also assists with French Quarter operations.
Panos Photopoulos was full of humor – one family photo shows him dressed in a cow costume outside the restaurant on Halloween– and generosity, son George said.
The week Hurricane Hugo hit in September 1989, he provided a free spaghetti lunch to all police, firefighters and other emergency responders at the French Quarter.
He ‘kept Uptown going’
Uptown in the 1980s “wasn’t like it is now” with so many residents and restaurants, former longtime Charlotte Observer sports columnist Tom Sorensen said.
“They needed restaurants (like the French Quarter) to keep the city going,” he said.
Just as important, he said, “we needed people and places we believed in,” and that’s what Photopoulos and his restaurant have provided. “You’d walk in and you’d just feel, ‘I’m here,’” he said. “It’s not just a building.”
George Photopoulos said his dad “was a family man who had a zest for life, who always brought a smile to any room.”
He made every customer feel like family, “whether they knew him for 10 years or 10 minutes.”
A private funeral service for family and a few close friends is tentatively scheduled for Friday at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral on East Boulevard.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 4:03 PM.