Navarino Bay brings a new flavor to downtown Huntington
By Kasey Madden
HQ 101 | SPRING 2018
Sounds of Greece fill the second floor of The Market, just loud enough to enhance the atmosphere, but quiet enough to be able to hold a conversation inside Huntington’s first Greek restaurant in over 40 years. Welcome to Navarino Bay.
Georgios Alexandropoulos, the 33-year-old owner and operator, officially opened his “modern Greek restaurant” on March 12, and since then he hasn’t stopped cooking.
Alexandropoulos started as a bartender at several restaurants around town before taking up cooking seriously at age 24.
“To me, there are a lot of similarities between being a good bartender and being a good cook. You must be able to recognize flavors and match them with other ingredients. You learn how to mix things up just right so it’s not overpowering,” Alexandropoulos explained.
He eventually worked his way to cooking and restaurant management, where he gained skills needed to fulfill a lifelong dream — owning a restaurant.
Navarino Name
Its unique location on the second floor of The Market, a new $7 million retail project comprising three separate buildings on Third Avenue, provides customers with a bird’s-eye view of The Market’s lower level.
“I always dreamed of Navarino Bay being on the other side of the floodwall, with its own deck overlooking the river. That didn’t happen, but when I saw this space at The Market it had the same kind of feel,” Alexandropoulos said. “You’re looking over an ocean — an ocean of people.”
Navarino Bay is the name of a bay in Pylos, Greece, close to where the Alexandropoulos family is from.
“I always loved going there as a kid. Everything about the place, from the architecture to the food, was different. It was all influenced by the Mediterranean Sea,” Alexandropoulos said.
While the restaurant features a lot of traditional Greek flavors, Alexandopoulos said he’s sought to “modernize the Greek food template a bit.”
“Just having that ability to come in and make something new and exciting, and to be able to share that with Huntington, is literally the best part of the experience,” Alexandropoulos said.
All in the Family
After tasting the dishes at Navarino Bay, it may come as a surprise that Alexandropoulos has no classical culinary training. He attributes the majority of his cooking abilities to cooking with his mother, Janey, growing up.
“I would always cook when we went to Greece. Anytime my parents would say, ‘Hey, let’s have dinner, I’d end up being the one cooking,” he said.
He has only one business partner, his father George, who suggested they open a Greek restaurant together.
Whenever Alexandropoulos is stumped on what to create at the restaurant, he calls up his family in Greece.
“Good cooks run in the family. One of my relatives is a restaurant owner in Greece and several of my cousins are chefs. The ability to create things with food is just something that runs in the Greek side of my family.”
Recipe for success
Alexandropoulos said he’s been cooking up recipe ideas for the restaurant in his head for years. As such, it should come as no surprise that he created the entire Navarino Bay menu himself.
“It’s been a learning experience for the community and myself — to find out what traditional Greek food is, as opposed to what they’re used to from festivals and other Greek restaurants that are more Americanized,” Alexandropoulos said.
For example, the gyros at Navarino Bay are made with pork, not lamb. Why? Because Alexandropoulos said that pork is the real flavor of Greece.
“I wanted to bring to Huntington the sensation of going to a small village square, walking into a gyro shop and tasting food that makes you say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is not what I’m used to, but it’s good.’”
The restaurant offers traditional Greek flavors like gyros, dolmathes and even quail. Be sure to try the saganaki appetizer — torched Greek cheese, brought to your table flaming and served with pita bread and lemons.
Alexandropoulos said he also enjoys the chance to make menu items a bit off the cuff.
“If somebody says, ‘Have the chef make me something special,’ that’s great because I get the chance to be creative.”
One of his favorites dishes to make is the Orange Chocolate Baklava dessert, because he intentionally makes it a little different every time.
“That’s the way I want to cook. I want to keep trying new things and surprise Huntington with gorgeous, delicious food.”
