Published: January 07, 2009 08:57 am      

Gyro King closes; new eatery coming to mall

Ashland — The Gyro King has closed its doors, but fear not — owner Chris Mitropoulos will soon be serving up his gyros, souvlakis and other savory Greek dishes in a new location.

Mitropoulos said Tuesday he had signed a lease to open a new restaurant in the food court at Kyova Mall. He said he planned to be up and running there by early February.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “The people at Kyova have been so generous. They basically came in to my place and said ‘We want to open a restaurant for you.’ It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Mitropoulos said he had hoped to stay open for another month in his former location in the Shell Mart on 13th Street. However, he said he was forced to close because of some issues with his landlord that were not of his making.

He said he had given his landlord notice that be planned to move at the end of January, and that he was surprised when he went to open up on Friday and found that the restaurant’s windows had been blacked out.

A sign posted on the door states that the eatery will be reopening on Jan. 20. Mitropoulos said it was his understanding that the landlord planned to bring in someone new to run it. He said he wanted the public to be aware that he would not be affiliated with that venture.

Mitropoulos also said he wanted his customers to know that the decision to close the 13th Street location was not his and that the business had been doing great.

Attempts to reach Shell Mart owner Gahlab N’wadi for comment were not successful.

Mitropoulos, 43, who was born in Canada to Greek immigrant parents and grew up in New York City, re-opened the Gyro King this past fall. The eatery had previously shut down after only a few days in business.

Mitropoulos and his wife, Effie, soon found that many local residents were apparently hungry for ethnic food other than Mexican, Chinese and Italian fare. The restaurant often had overflow crowds at lunch and dinner.

Mitropoulos said all of the favorites from his old place would be on the menu at the Kyova Mall location, along with some new additions, including Greek fries with feta cheese and oregano, hummus and an eggplant-zucchini appetizer with garlic sauce.

Mitropoulos’ new eatery will be part of expanding business lineup at the rejuvenated mall formerly known as Cedar Knoll Galleria. A new sports bar and grille, RJ Kahuna’s, opened there recently, and another new establishment, Callihan’s American Pub, is currently under construction. Also, Dollar Tree is locating in the former Ace Hardware building across from the mall, which is being relabeled Kyova Square.

Mitropoulos said he was looking forward to serving his customers in his new location.

“I’m really excited, and the food will be as delicious as ever,” he said.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.