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9 THE SHEPHERD • NOVEMBER 2020 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO Sponsored Announcement Spiro’s Greek Cafe in Coronado now has a sibling in La Jolla. The Spiro Chaconas Family has just opened Spiro’s Mediterranean Cuisine, a brand new restaurant located in the heart of La Jolla at 909 Prospect & Fay, an area which enjoys and benefits from some good foot traffic. With its contemporary look, its 2,500 square feet of space, a patio for outdoor seating, and its established mediterranean menu, it is promising a fulfilling dining experience to its patrons. Dr. Spiro Chaconas is very well known in the San Diego Greek community. He has been a member of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church for quarter of a century. He served as the President of the parish council for 6 years and as a member of the Saint Spyridon planning committee and the Saint Spyridon Foundation. His lovely wife Nancy has been a member of Philoptochos Anthousa Chapter, has served on its board, and has chaired several Philoptochos events. Spiro and Nancy have been donating the turkeys for the Philoptochos-sponored Thanksgiving Luncheon for a number of years and they regret this long-running tradition has been cancelled for this year. Their two grown children Michael and Dimitri are both involved in the family business one way or another, from scouting the location to conducting marketing and overseeing the operation of both restaurants. Michael graduated in 2015 from Point Loma Nazarene College with a degree in business, and Dimitri graduated from UCLA and is currently working on his PhD in the field of Chemical Engineering. Spiro’s ancestors came from a mountain village near Sparta, called Tsakonia, hence the last name Chaconas. His father Michael came to America in 1914 with $20 in his pocket and settled in Milwaukee. His mother Athena boarded a ship in Patra, Greece in 1925 and was one of the last immigrants to be accepted at Ellis Island. They married in 1937. Read the details of this moving story on the restaurant’s website spiroscuisine.com Spiro and Nancy were married in Corfu, Greece, after Spiro retired as an orthodontist in 1995 after 27 years. He was the founding chairman of the Orthodontic Department at UCLA. They opened their Coronado restaurant soon after. Over 20 years later, their La Jolla restaurant picks up the baton serving the same Mediterranean food and fine beverages as the Coronado location, but with the addition of gemistá, some delicious stuffed tomatoes and peppers, with a slab of féta, of course. It is open for lunch and dinner, 11AM to 9PM and also offers catering. SPIRO’S MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE 909 Prospect Avenue, La Jolla, CA • 858.352.6588 • spiroscuisine.com Now open in La Jolla