In a city with no shortage of Greek burger joints, Dairy Delight is home to a dynasty

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This article was published 14/04/2019 (2378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every so often, a first-time visitor to Dairy Delight, which, despite its lactose tolerant tag, is actually better known for its cheeseburgers and fatboys than its sundaes and shakes, will ask Patty Mikos how her restaurant’s fare stacks up against some of the other Greek-style burger joints around town.

When it comes to hamburgers, lots of people are set in their ways and are hesitant to try a new place, she’s learned. So if it’s reassurance they’re after, she’s happy to let them know she and her brother Val, who co-own Dairy Delight, 467 St. Anne’s Rd., with their mother Voula, come from a long line of Winnipeg burger royalty. She tells them their mother’s cousin’s family runs Super Boy’s on Main Street, while their father Steve Mikos and their aunt Cathy Mikos are the proprietors of local landmark Mrs. Mike’s on Tache Avenue.

“At that point they’re usually like, ‘Sounds good. I’ll get a double cheese and order of fries…with gravy on the side,’” she says with a chuckle.

2019 marks a trifecta of anniversaries in the Mikos clan. First and foremost, it will be 50 years this August since Steve and Voula got married, two months after Voula came to Winnipeg from her native Greece to visit a cousin, and met Steve her first week here. Second, this year is also the golden anniversary of Mrs. Mike’s, which Steve and his late brother Nick purchased from the founding owner — a fellow named Mike, surprise, surprise — in the spring of 1969. And third, last month marked 20 years since Dairy Delight, recognizable for its west facing wooden deck and blue-and-pistachio painted exterior, opened at its St. Vital location, following a three-year run on Portage Avenue, where it was known as Downs Dairy Delight due to its proximity to the racetrack.

“It’s funny because until somebody on Facebook mentioned it, I hadn’t even realized this was our 20th (anniversary),” says Patty, 34, positioned in her “office,” steps behind a countertop freezer containing 28 flavours of hard ice cream. “I started working for my mom when I was a kid — this is all I’ve ever done, pretty much — so I never bothered to count the years. Now that we know, though, we’re definitely planning to toast our anniversary in some fashion; maybe a draw for a gift certificate or free cones for a few hours, one afternoon in the summer. We’ll see.”

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Of her two parents, her mother is the more classically trained chef, Patty says. That was one of the reasons she decided to strike out on her own in 1996, rather than join her husband and in-laws at Mrs. Mike’s slinging burgers.

“She’d always been a stay-at-home mom and I think it was simply a matter of her being bored, now that my brother, sister and I were a bit older and she didn’t need to be home looking after us all the time,” she explains.

After kicking tires at a few places around the city, Voula settled on an existing ice cream stand — hence the name, Dairy Delight — a few blocks from their home. Despite the fact it was profitable from the start, Patty recalls her father being pleased as punch when the people who owned the building it was housed in announced they were selling the property in late 1998, which meant Voula would have to vacate the premises.

“Dad said something like, ‘OK, now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, you don’t have to work any more.’ Except Mom told him, ‘Forget that, I’m just getting going. We’re going to find me another spot, and soon.’”

Patty, a lifelong resident of Westwood, still remembers the first time she went with her parents to check out the shuttered Chinese take-out joint that would become Dairy Delight 2.0, on St. Anne’s Road a few blocks north of Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

“It took us what seemed like forever to drive here. I was 14 at the time and didn’t have a clue where St. Vital was, even. After we got past Pembina, I kept asking, ‘How far is this place?’ and ‘Where are we going, exactly?’”

Dairy Delight continued operating as a dedicated ice cream stand for two years following the change of scenery. Prior to the 2001 season (from the get-go, Dairy Delight has closed from Dec. 1 to the end of February), Voula made the decision to add burgers, dogs and fries to the mix, as well as Greek specialties such as gyros and souvlaki. Owing to her expertise in the kitchen, the move was an immediate hit, right? Wrong.

Patty shakes her head, saying there were days those first couple months when they sold five burgers, max, all day. Compare that number to opening day six weeks ago, when they ran out of ground beef — 60 pounds’ worth — and fries — 300 pounds of potatoes! — by 6 p.m., two hours shy of closing time.

“Every year, lots of people make it their tradition to drop in the first day we reopen, in the spring,” she says. “Same thing on our last day in November, when some of our regulars even place orders ahead of time for containers of chili, or a couple dozen of our pre-made patties, which we freeze for them so they can enjoy over the winter.”

The menu hasn’t changed too much through the years – due to demand, Voula added a veggie burger last summer — but what’s listed on the wall just over Patty’s head simply as “Food” is a primer only; everything’s negotiable, she advises.

For instance, there’s one specialty order they refer to as the Barry, named for a fellow who came in one day and asked if they could make him a chicken burger topped with two chicken fingers. Then there’s the guy who brings in a new crew of buddies every so often, to see which of them can put back the largest fatboy, slathered with chili, lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard and mayo.

“Three years ago he came in with this skinny, little gal — she couldn’t have weighed more than 100 pounds, soaking wet — who managed to polish off six patties,” Patty says, pulling out her phone to show a visitor a picture of the behemoth-in-question. (Ha, ha, it sounded like you said she ate a six patty fatboy.)

“Plus an order of fries and a chocolate shake,” Val yells, poking his head out from the kitchen.

If there’s one nice thing about milestones such as a 20th anniversary, it’s that they remind you to pause and reflect on all the hard work that has gone into making a business such as theirs’ successful, and appreciate the struggles that went along with it, Patty says.

“I grew up watching both of my parents work super hard. I barely saw my dad when I was a kid, because he’d get home from Mrs. Mike’s when I was already sleeping, and by the time I got up in the morning, he was back out the door, seven days a week,” she says. “We’re lucky here because if my mom ever decides to retire — which she swears will never happen — at least my brother and I can keep the tradition going. But there are lots of burger places in town being run by people in their 60s and 70s, my dad’s included, where who knows what’s going to happen if they decide to call it quits? A lot of people my age don’t want to work as hard or stay open as late as those people do or did, and it would be a shame if those spots end up disappearing because of that.”

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t put Patty on the spot, and ask whose burger is No. 1 in her books: her dad’s at Mrs. Mike’s or her mom’s at Dairy Delight?

“You’re probably not going to believe this, but I don’t really like burgers all that much. I eat maybe one a year, if that,” she says with a laugh. “I like the chicken stuff we do — the pitas and the gyros — but lots of times, my mom will be in the back making me soup or something for lunch… which usually leads to a customer asking what smells so good, and Mom coming out front and asking if they’d like a bowl, too.”

David Sanderson writes about Winnipeg-centric restaurants and businesses.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca