Greko Greek Street Food Opens on the East Side June 23

Another long-awaited restaurant is poised to open its doors, as Greko Greek Street Food is set to begin serving up its take on the traditional dishes of the street-side eateries of Athens, Greece next Friday, June 23.

Located at 704 Main Street, the 2,000-square-foot, 114-seat restaurant, which will offer a variety of items including pork souvlaki and rotisserie chicken, is the passion project of cousins and local restaurateurs Bill and Tony Darsinos, who have partnered with Fresh Hospitality to bring the authentic Greek eatery to life.

Tony Darsinos tells Eater that Greko is “something we’ve always talked about, but I don’t know exactly what took us so long to do it. When we go to Greece, the first place we want to go to is a place like [Greko Greek Street Food]. We want to do this more because we love it, not just to make money. Of course we want it to be successful, but it’s a really personal project, it’s our food, our culture. This is who we are.”

And to help ensure everything goes off without a hitch, the Darsinos cousins very recently made a big hire, bringing on longtime Nashville restaurant veteran Sal Avila to run the kitchen. Avila, who previously spent time at City House, 360 Bistro and Burger Up, was most recently the opening executive chef at Prima, having resigned from that position a few months back. Says Bill Darsinos on the hire:

We've known Sal for several years and have cooked with him and broken bread together on many occasions. He shares our love for live-fire cooking and flavorful, well-executed street food. Having someone with Sal's talent and background will help us execute our food even better[.]

So be sure to check back over the next week for more updates and intel on the opening menu, the space and more.