BACK IN THE KITCHEN

WASILLA — After 30 years of feeding other people, George and Debbie Karatzas were certain they were ready to throw in the dishtowel and gently cruise into their golden years.

But they could not resist the song of the serving siren. The vacant virgin at Mile 46 of the Parks Highway had waited long enough. Built five years ago by local real estate developer Pete Zamarello for another client who later backed out, the 200-seat, fully furnished brick restaurant captured George’s heart when he least expected it.

“I came up and down this road lots of times since closing George’s Family Restaurant over three years ago and was never really interested,” said George Karatzas, a Greek immigrant. “But when Pete asked me again to come and look at it, I did. When I got inside, I fell in love with it.”

The glistening stainless steel kitchen, the perfectly proportioned serving stations and the warm dining room décor beckoned him back for another adventure.

“Everything was perfect in here,” he said of what has since been dubbed Denali Family Restaurant across from Tew’s Tire and Automotive. “Everything was top-notch.”

Although his wife knew they had to find something to do to cure their boredom and bring in some income, she figured it would be somewhere in the Lower 48 — somewhere a bit warmer, perhaps.

“We had a lot of good years at George’s and felt we were ready to retire, but after only a year I was going stir crazy,” said Debbie, who moved around a lot as a child because her father worked for oil companies. “Opening another restaurant in the Valley, however, was not on my radar. But after George looked at this place it was over. We were signing papers a week later.”

Their three grown children — who had found other opportunities elsewhere over the last few years — couldn’t believe it when they heard their parents were opening another restaurant.

Angelo, who had worked as a line cook at George’s and was happily cutting meat for Three Bears off Pitman, just shook his head.

“I was shocked,” said Angelo, 27. “I was not expecting it, but I was excited at the same time. I was happy to see my parents do something.”

His younger brother Andy, 23, also had worked for their parents at George’s, but had settled into cashiering at Three Bears off Pittman and was planning on pursuing a career in computers.

He recently gave his notice to Three Bears to once again work for his father.

“It’s the pleasure of my life to know it’s happening all over again,” the Wasilla High School graduate said with his trademark sarcasm as his family laughed.

Maria, the eldest at 31, most likely will split her time between continuing her job at Mat-Su Family Restaurant just down the road and serving her parents’ customers at Denali Family Restaurant.

For George and Debbie, it almost feels like opening their first restaurant in 1978 — Pizza Napolitano in Wasilla.

“It has a lot of the same excitement to it,” Debbie said, adding that things have changed a bit in the restaurant industry since then — including start-up costs. New plates are $10 each and the heftier steak plates are $57 each, Angelo said.

George said he just bought $1,000 worth of shrimp to prepare for the grand opening they’re hoping happens next week.

Expenses aside, there’s a certain synergy in this venture with Zamarello, the president of Avanti Corp., a Wasilla development firm housed about 100 yards from the restaurant on Lamont Circle.

“Pete gave us our first shot with the pizza place here and also with Villa Nova in Anchorage,” Debbie said. “And with Country Kitchen in Wasilla, too. I forgot about that.”

First meeting at a Kenai pizza parlor when they were still in their teens, the Karatzases can’t imagine doing anything else.

George loves to create exotic Greek dishes and desserts and Debbie loves the interactions with Valley residents.

“Plus, I don’t know how to do anything else,” George said. “I can’t do plumbing, I can’t do anything.”

Debbie’s eyes tear up when she thinks about one of their longtime customers at George’s Family Restaurant who passed away Wednesday.

“You really become close to people that you see every day,” she said.

Already the pair has been visited by several former customers anxious for the new place to open. And there’s no shortage of qualified applicants hoping to work for them.

“I already have a stack of applications about six inches deep,” Debbie said, adding she needs to start job interviews this week.

Serving homemade breakfasts and lunches from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., then featuring Black Angus steaks and other dinner specialties — including a few Greek dishes — until 10 p.m., Denali Family Restaurant is sure to offer Valley residents a much-needed dining alternative between Lake Lucille and Big Lake.

George is proud of the fact that they’ll bake all their own breads on site and that their steaks will be fresh, not frozen. All the vegetables will be steamed to capture their nutrients and they will offer their own Greek, Italian and American desserts made from scratch.

“And it will be the cleanest restaurant in the Valley,” George said more than once.

There’s still plenty to do before they’ll be ready to open their doors in about another week, but a certain electric energy seemed to permeate the family Thursday as they took calls from vendors, hung photographs and paintings from local artists and shifted the new grill into place.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing our old customers again and meeting new ones,” Debbie said with a sparkle in her eyes. “That’s what makes this all worth it.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.McKee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.