Two years in the making, Estia anticipates proving it was worth the wait when the new Greek restaurant launches April 17 off Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples.
The restaurant debuts at the end of tourist season after its construction experienced some surprises and delays over the last two years.
“We’re here now. All that water’s under the bridge,” said Estia co-owner Gus Pashalis, who is pleased with the final product. “It’s one of our nicer restaurants, for sure. We wanted to really do something special for Naples. We’re here to stay.”
Pashalis strives to elevate traditional Greek and Mediterranean fare beyond a casual affair in a dinner venue providing a coastal escape and an undeniable wow factor.
“I don’t think there’s anyone doing exactly what we’re doing,” he said. “My goal is to create a full experience where you come in and you really feel being exported to another place.”
Pashalis, his wife and their two young children relocated to Naples from the Northeast, where their family’s Estia Group restaurant company includes three other Estia restaurants in the Philadelphia and south Jersey area, as well as two Pietro’s pizzerias and an Almyra modern Greek restaurant.
The family is launching its first Florida restaurant in Galleria at Vanderbilt at 8990 Fontana Del Sol Way. Built in 2001, the 10,500-square-foot restaurant and full cocktail bar previously was home to Bokamper’s Sports Bar & Grill for more than a decade, but it launched as Sanibel Steakhouse before becoming The Keg Steakhouse & Bar in 2008 and Bokamper’s in 2011. It was necessary to gut the longtime restaurant space to create Estia.
“Everything is whitewashed. So just envision that you’ll be going on vacation on a Greek island and getting that whitewashed feeling. It’s very airy,” Pashalis said. “The color palette here is unorthodox, not traditional to many other restaurants.”
Estia is an approachable, upscale casual dining spot, not a high-end restaurant, Pashalis said.
“We’re not white tablecloths. We’re affordable. You could dine here two or three times a week,” he said.
Pashalis is a first generation American from parents who immigrated from Greece to New York and then moved to Philadelphia. Some of the Greek recipes come from his mother and are used to create traditional dishes from Greece.
Popular menu items include Greek salad, charcoal-grilled octopus, lamb chops and whole grilled lavraki, also known as branzino and Mediterranean sea bass, Pashalis said. Estia Chips are a signature appetizer consisting of a stack of thinly sliced eggplant and zucchini served with tzatziki. Of course, Estia also has other traditional Greek dishes, such as baklava, dolmades, moussaka, saganaki, souvlaki and spanakopita.
“We want our guests to experience the warmth of Greek hospitality, along with the incredible flavors of the Mediterranean,” Pashalis said.
The restaurant specializes in whole grilled fish procured from independent fishermen and flown in from the Mediterranean, Morocco, Tunisia and Portugal. Guests are invited to choose their seafood directly from an ice display in the dining room.
“Whole fish, simply grilled, is our forte,” Pashalis said. “We charcoal grill each fish with our signature ladolemono [Greek lemon sauce], capers and oregano for a flavor-packed dish.”
Estia has 320 seats and a large outdoor space on a covered patio adjacent to a water feature with a prominent fountain. The restaurant includes an open kitchen, a private dining room and decor that includes a fig tree, exotic stone and rustic urns shipped directly from Greece.
“We worked with an interior designer who creates homes in Greece to bring that authentic, coastal feeling right here to Naples,” Pashalis said.
The dinner-only restaurant will be open daily, 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 3 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A disc jockey will provide entertainment Friday and Saturday nights.
