Longtime restaurateur continues his love for cooking in the Denali Family Restaurant kitchen

WASILLA — The Denali Family Restaurant is right off the Parks Highway, just leaving Wasilla city limits.

George Karatas and his wife, Debbie, started the roadside, family-owned, diner style restaurant and they see no end in sight.

“We’re going to be here forever,” Karatas said.

Karatas came to Alaska more than 42 years ago with his brother, Pete, from Greece to work at a restaurant in Kenai. Karatas fell in love with the land.

“We’ve got the best summers anywhere,” he said.

He eventually got married here and ran seven successful restaurants across the state, five of them in the Mat-Su Valley, his current and last homestead.

He started his first restaurant, Pizza Napolitana within the strip mall in downtown Wasilla near Wonderland Park in the late 1970’s. Seven-and-a-half years ago, he shut the doors of George’s, a breakfast-oriented restaurant right next to the Crusey Street McDonalds, where the current Dairy Queen is.

Karatas said that he had a great time operating George’s for more than 22 years. He started cooking at 12 years old in Greece, baking bread at a local bakery. He thought he could officially hang up his apron after George’s, but found retirement far too, “boring.”

“I got tired, retired, and then I changed my mind,” he said.

Karatas chose his current restaurant location after seeing his friend’s building lay vacant for more than six years.

“Nobody had the guts to come out here,” he said.

He said that being outside of town was already a challenge from the start and the new Parks Highway construction didn’t do his restaurant any favors.

“My business dropped horribly,” he said.

Since the recent road construction, Karatas said that business has improved and he is eager to keep the family flame of homemade creations burning. He cooks alongside his son and a handful of other staff, mostly family.

“Everything is homemade,” he said.

He said that he, his wife, children and colleagues commit to the very best of their abilities and beckon anyone to try their homemade pies, cakes and other Greek deserts.

Karatas recently began drawing. He challenged himself and made 15-minute drawings inspired from his Greek youth, selling fish with his parents. He said that the very fact he only uses pen and crafts his creations so quickly is a huge part of his satisfaction and pride, much like his cooking. His artwork can be seen on their current menu.

“They know I’m an artist back in the kitchen and up here with the pen,” he laughed.