Two Nooks and a Cranny

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2011 (5613 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Greg Parasidis was trying to come up with a name for a new restaurant he was opening in 1986, he turned to the only man he could trust.

“It’s true: Pierre, the guy who used to cut my dad’s hair, was the first person to call it ‘The Nook,'” says Bill Parasidis, Greg’s son. “He thought it fit perfectly, because back then it was just this little place that you didn’t even know was there, until you were standing in front of it.”

Instead of doing something conventional — like stringing balloons or rolling back the prices — Bill Parasidis marked the 25th anniversary of his family’s Sherbrook Street diner by opening a second location, in Westwood.

“The thing is, we always wanted to grow the business. We just didn’t know it would take this long,” Parasidis says of his decision to gut an ex-Schmecker’s restaurant at 3106 Portage Ave., and convert it into what is now the Nook and Cranny. (Parasidis actually registered the name Nook and Cranny 10 years ago, back when he thought it would be a perfect fit for a restaurant/lounge combo.)

“This is the part of town I grew up in, so it’s nice to be home,” says the married father of two. “After our grand opening in January, I got about 50 Facebook messages from people I went to school with, welcoming me back.”

The story of the original Nook begins 41 years ago. In 1970, Parasidis’s parents, Greg and Anne, moved their young family to Winnipeg from northern Greece. The couple worked as janitors for several months before landing their first restaurant gig in a grocery store on St. James Street. “There was a cafeteria-type setup in there, and they ran that for a couple of years,” says Parasidis, 42.

After that, the Parasidises bounced from one curling club kitchen to another before they settled in at Birds Hill Provincial Park in 1979. They managed three beach concession stands there from May to September.

“But that was seasonal, and after a few winters of sitting around, doing nothing, my mom was getting bored,” Parasidis says. “And everyone knows you have to keep Mom happy.”

To placate his better half, Greg bought a Salisbury House at 43 Sherbrook St. Lest you think Sals customers welcomed the Nook’s fat boys and clubhouse sandwiches with open arms/mouths, think again. “Not exactly,” Parasidis says. “All we heard for the first few months was, ‘This sure doesn’t taste like Salisbury House.'”

How times have changed. Nowadays, devotees of the homey, 75-seat diner head to the Nook straight from the airport, before they even go home to unpack, Parasidis says. “We get tons of people who used to live in Winnipeg, too,” he goes on. “They pop by when they’re in town, just to tell us how much they miss the spinach salad dressing.”

Famous customers through the years have included country artist Lyle Lovett (french toast) and current Dancing With the Stars contestant Kirstie Alley. “I know everybody makes jokes about her weight, but she looked great,” Parasidis says. “She came in with her daughter and had fries, a bowl of soup and a glass of water.”

The new location’s breakfasts and lunches are basically the same as its Wolseley cousin, but the dinner menu has been expanded to include things like steaks and ribs. “We’re also open a little later here — until one on weekends,” says Parasidis, adding that his sister, Athina, stayed behind to run the show on Sherbrook. “My dad passed away four years ago, but Mom still shows up every week to put in her two shifts.”

Parasidis maintains that working for one’s father is one of the toughest things a person will ever do. “I remember one time when I was 14 or 15 and getting into a huge fight with him. I walked out, and said, ‘You know, I could get a job at McDonalds tomorrow.’

“He looked at me and said, ‘That’s true, you could get a job anywhere else. But you’ll never be able to work for anybody else.’ At the time, I took it as an insult, but in retrospect, now that I have kids of my own, I get what he was trying to tell me.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca