Cal Harbor Restaurant Owner 'Pete the Greek' Loved To Work

PULLMAN — Pete the Greek, as Panagiotis Tritsarolis was known to breakfast crowd regulars at Cal Harbor, loved to work. That was the best of him, his family said.

"He always said he was married to the restaurant during the day," said Tritsarolis' wife, Donna Tritsarolis.

"He got up every morning at 3 a.m. and went down to there to find something to do. Cleaning, cooking, whatever. He would knock something down just to put it back up. He worked. Every day. He did it for his customers. He loved to make people happy, feeding them. And the ones who always came back, that was an honor."

A slight man with bushy, black hair and a monumental mustache, Tritsarolis first took a job washing dishes and helping out at Cal Harbor, which back then was equal parts greasy spoon and dive bar on the corner of 115th and Cottage Grove.

Four years later, he owned the place. In 1997, Tritsarolis relocated the restaurant a block east, where regulars could count on him to serve up tasty pancakes, perfectly grilled hash browns and crispy bacon for a reasonable price.

He vowed to never leave the Pullman neighborhood, where he found his life's work, met his wife and so many customers who became friends. He kept that promise.

Tritsarolis died suddenly on Dec. 7 at home. He was 74.

'A Good Heart'

Tritsarolis was born on March 3, 1947, in Kalamos, a mountainous island in Greece.

The son of ranchers, Telemachos and Chrisoula Tritsarolis, he left school after third grade and tended to a flock of 1,200 goats as a boy. Then, the sea called him.

Tritsarolis worked for 12 years as a chief steward, ordering and preparing food for crews on Onassis merchant marine ships. In 1976, he moved to the United States and took a job painting bridges with his cousin — and hated it.

"That only lasted a few months," Donna Tritsarolis said. "He moved to Chicago. He had a friend here and would visit in between bridge jobs. He decided to stay and work at the restaurant, which at the time was a dump. Little by little, he worked his way into the kitchen and learned the language."

Tritsarolis met his future wife of 37 years at Cal Harbor in 1982.

With her parents' written consent, Pete and Donna were married at City Hall in St. Louis, Missouri — where state law allowed their union — on Feb. 14, 1984.

"Pete had a good heart, and he was a kind soul," Donna Tritsarolis said. "And he was different at home than he was at work, where he could be strict and test you. At work, it was business. I was the waitress and he was the cook. At home, it was different. And that's how we lived for almost 38 years."

Together they raised two daughters, Chrisoula Kuntz and Mahi Tritsarolis Dugan in an A-frame house on the same block as Cal Harbor.

"He used to work so much that we always joked that mom was a married, single-parent," Kuntz said. "But dad would always be home to tuck us in at night."

When the girls were old enough, quality father-daughter time included stints in the Cal Harbor kitchen peeling potatoes and other arduous tasks.

Relaxation was almost exclusively reserved for annual family vacations to Kalamos, where Pete Tritsarolis received a hero's welcome as the ferry pulled to shore.

"Most of his family is still in Greece. … When we got on the boat with dad to go to the island, so many people would be waiting for him. We could hear them saying, 'Pete's coming. Pete's coming," Mahi Tritsarolis Dugan said. "We could tell how respected and loved he was."

Over his working life, Pete Tritsarolis was a "heavy-handed giver," who shared his success with family in Greece, his wife said.

He even bought a boat for folks back home and named it "Cal Harbor."

"Pete said the Cal Harbor paid for that boat, so no one else was going to name it," Donna Tritsarolis said.

'Nobody makes pastitsio like Pete.'

Down in Pullman, Pete the Greek's foreboding mustache often hid his softer side.

At work, things were to be done the right way — by following his exact instructions.

"Stern," "stubborn" and "strong-willed" are words people used to describe the Cal Harbor owner's professional demeanor.

"Pete wasn't one to like someone right off the bat. You had to work hard to get him to like you," Donna Tritsarolis said.

Robbie Kuntz, Tritsarolis' son-in-law, knows that much is true.

"When you see this little guy with the huge mustache, it was intimidating at first. I'm not going to lie," he said. "He was tough on me because he expected the best out of me. He had confidence that I could be someone who could step in his place. I worked with him every day for 8 years. We did not always see eye to eye, but we respected each other. I learned more in the time I knew him than I could have in an entire lifetime by myself."

At "The Harbor," as locals know Pete's place, regular customers always came first.

Donna Tritsarolis said her husband got along with anyone, even politicians. But he never let glad-handing dignitaries get in the way of what was most important.

[Former Mayor Rahm] "Emanuel came in. His people were pushing Pete to get off the grill to take a picture with the mayor," Donna Tritsarolis said. "Pete said, 'No, these people come first. He can come back later.'"

That's what Emanuel did, and there's photo proof hanging on the restaurant wall.

In September, Pete reluctantly retired and turned over to his son-in-law his most precious professional possession, the keys to Cal Harbor.

"Pete always said, 'I'm working, so I can leave something behind for my kids and grandkids and wife,'" Donna Tritsarolis said. "And that's what he did for us."

Pete and Donna visited Kalamos to celebrate his retirement in September.

When they returned, he complained of stomach pain. A trip to the doctor didn't yield a diagnosis.

On Oct. 23, Pete Tritsarolis smiled through pain to walk his daughter, Mahi, down the aisle on her wedding day. He danced and played with his grandchildren, his greatest joy.

"A week later we found out he had cancer throughout his spine. He was in so much pain and muscled up the strength to what he had to do for his daughter. He didn't want me to miss out on him walking me down the aisle," Mahi Tritsarolis Dugan said. "And he made it seem so effortless."

Weeks later, her father struggled to walk. Doctors said they expected chemotherapy to extend Pete Tritsarolis' life for years. After one treatment, his health suddenly declined.

In the weeks before his death, Mahi begged him for his secret recipe for pastitsio, Greek lasagna, but he wouldn't relent.

With biting wit, he told his daughter of his wish that part of his legacy remains legendary.

"He managed to take the recipe to the grave," she said. "He said he wanted to make sure everybody says, 'Nobody makes pastitsio like Pete.'"

Pete Tritsarolis is survived by his wife, daughters, and two grandchildren, Phillip Panagiotis Kuntz and Zoey Maria Kuntz.

Services are set for 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Maher Funeral Home, 17101 71st Ave., in Tinley Park.

Burial will be private in Greece.