Bridging the Table

Chris Tomaras (above), owner of the recently-opened Sweet Tea, started working in food in the late 1950s in Birmingham before moving to Chicago to launch a food manufacturing business, among other culinary ventures.

As Birmingham Restaurant Week gears up to celebrate the city’s rich culinary culture, here is a view through the eyes of two colorful restaurateurs who were born and bred abroad—but came to call Birmingham home.

PEOPLE NATIVE TO BIRMINGHAM might take it for granted—the city’s warm hospitality, quiet eccentricities, and yes, the wonderful food. But to really find the true believers, meet the folks who came from elsewhere and fell in love.

Chris Tomaras is one such convert. Born in Piraeus, Greece, he immigrated to the United States in 1958, when he was just 20 years old and desperate for better opportunities than he’d found in Greece. He was accepted and enrolled at Columbia University in New York City to continue his studies in economics, but he soon had to face the facts: without income, he simply couldn’t support himself. Instead, he moved to Birmingham, Ala., and went into the food business. Within three years, he owned his own lounge, a drive-in, a hot dog stand, and a pizza shop.

Still, it was a modest beginning for the spectacular career on which he was about to embark. Chris moved to Chicago in 1965 and after testing the waters in restaurants there, went on to launch his own food manufacturing business—Kronos Foods, now the country’s leading supplier of gyros, pita bread, and other Greek food products.

He has become a prominent philanthropist and leader in the Greek-American community, having received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and an appointment to the Hellenic National Commission by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). He is also a member of the Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, (a highly-regarded appointment within the Greek Orthodox church) among many other honors.

Today, Chris continues to maintain a variety of business interests out of his Chicago base. So the last place you might expect to find a man profiled in The Chicago Tribune as the “Hero of Gyros” is prepping for lunch at a new café in Birmingham.

He’s here to nurture his latest venture, a true return to his roots. Chris recently opened Sweet Tea Restaurant in the city’s Southside area and is currently spending all of his time immersed in its day-to-day operations.

“Birmingham gave me my beginning in the business world, and I always felt that some day I should come back to pay tribute,” Chris explains, speaking amid the bustling lunch crowd at Sweet Tea. Chris has always kept a house here, but his idea of “coming back” is hardly making a restful retreat—it’s serving customers.

“Chicago is still my base, but any time you start a business, large or small, you have to put your heart into it,” he says simply. “It takes personal attention and making sure everyone understands your goals for good food and good service.” And, of course, taking time to meet the customers. “After all,” he adds, “a restaurant should be an institution of some significance in the community.”

Tomek Wrzesien was born and raised in Poland before fleeing to the States in the mid-1980s to escape Communist rule. Arriving without even a rudimentary knowledge of English, he traveled across America before settling in Alabama, where he took a circuitous route into the restaurant industry.

After getting married and moving to Birmingham, he saw an opportunity to open a modest art gallery downtown. A business partner was going to open a café next door. Then, at the last minute the partner changed his mind.

“I realized I could scrap the whole thing, or I could do it myself—the gallery and the café,” Tom recalls. He went for it. Tom and his friends put in long hours renovating what had been a run-down office space. At the same time, with no prior restaurant experience, Tom dove into creating a menu and learning the trade.

After opening four years ago, Urban Standard took off so quickly, it took Tom by surprise. He had some friends helping him create his initial menu items and was still trying to figure out exactly what Urban Standard was, beyond a casual hangout that happened to serve food, when a critic from The Birmingham News declared it a bona-fide restaurant: “It’s really rewarding,” Tom says humbly, “when your first write-up is a five-star restaurant review.”

Though Tom abandoned the idea of an art gallery per se, the atmosphere is eclectically artistic and a huge part of its draw. “People like to meet here,” he says. “We have businesspeople, garden clubs, book clubs, bridal showers, you name it.”

Serving cafe and bakery fare, Tom says he takes his cues from local tastes and locally grown foods. Still, his Polish heritage shows through occasionally, such as with his pierogi—dumplings filled, in this case, with potato, chives, and crawfish sauce.

Tom takes pride in delivering service so personal that patrons often come through the doors to find their favorite beverages waiting for them. “I like to feel like I’m coming home when I’m in here,” he says. “And I want others to feel the same way.”

Chris and Tom’s culinary stories are just a taste of what Birmingham will experience during Birmingham Restaurant Week 2011, the second-annual showcase of locally owned and operated eateries in the Magic City.

The event kicks off with a preview party Thursday, Aug. 18, at the historic Alabama Theatre. The party offers a chance to sample food from participating restaurants while enjoying live music. All proceeds from the kickoff will support restoration of the storied Lyric Theatre, just across the street, so while they’re there, guests are invited to take “flashlight tours” of the Lyric.

Then, all throughout the week, Birminghamians are invited to sample special prixe fixe menus at a variety of restaurants—becoming reacquainted with some, experiencing others for the first time. Other highlights during the week include a Drink Local event and a wine seminar. Meanwhile, the website bhamrestaurantweek.com will serve as the official information hub, with a complete database of participating restaurant and bar menus, chef profiles, prices, and food blogs.

Along with giving patrons a special way to enjoy local restaurants, the event offers the added benefit of bringing people from across the city—and from all cultures and parts of the world—together over good food.

Almost 30 restaurants around the Birmingham metro area are participating in Birmingham Restaurant Week, August 19 – 28. For more information, visit birminghamrestaurantweek.com.

Posted August 15, 2011

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