After death of patriarch, his children step up to run this classic Wilmington restaurant

Nick Voulgaris grew up on the Greek island of Idra and came to America as a young man to play soccer. Even after an injury, he decided to stay in the United States. He visited family in New York and met Doreen, the woman he would marry. For 20 years, they ran a restaurant in Long Island. Eventually, they sold that eatery and decided to move south with their children.

The Voulgaris family opened Olympia Restaurant in the Wilmington area in 1994, trying a few locations (including one on Wrightsville Beach) before opening in their own space at 5629 Oleander Drive in Wilmington in 2006. For the past 30 years or so, Voulgaris has been in the kitchen at Olympia, introducing local diners to exotic ingredients like feta cheese and black olives in the early days. Doreen was with him, too, working as a server, manager and bartender.

“I stayed out the kitchen,” she said. “That was the key to the marriage.”

But Nick Voulgaris was slowing down and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in December.

“He was working every day here, and he was 77 years old,” said daughter Antoinette Voulgaris. “He was starting to have a hard time lifting things.”

“I was seeing it,” said Michael Voulgaris, his son. It was enough for him to make what he called a heartbreaking decision to leave the Wilmington Fire Department and start working with his father in the kitchen.

And he was able to learn those culinary lessons for five months, before Nick Voulgaris died on July 4.

"I’m really glad I had that time with him," he said.

Now, although Doreen still does the books, she said she’s mostly there to support her children, as they take over primary operation of Olympia. Antoinette Voulgaris has been a presence there for most of her life, after she started working there as a teenager. She runs the front-of-the-house.

Michael also got an early start in the kitchen but pursued another career. First in the Navy, and then with the fire department. Aside from some crew meals, he wasn't cooking often before he became Olympia’s head chef.

Nick Voulgaris was like some of the favorite dishes at Olympia, a little sweet and a little salty. He was well known for giving his son a difficult time in the kitchen.

“He was sometimes hard to talk to, if you couldn’t say it in 20 seconds,” he said. “I was writing stuff down, to remember it... and he was like ‘Why are you writing stuff down? I don’t have to!’”

But he also had a generous heart, he said.

“He helped so many people, but he never wanted to talk about it,” Doreen Voulgaris said. “He’d probably hate it that we are now... He was a storyteller, he was eccentric. He was a crazy Greek.”

Olympia has become more than a restaurant. Antoinette Voulgaris said the regulars are the reason she enjoys her work so much. Its popular party room has become a gathering place for bridge players, office colleagues and friend groups.

With the Voulgaris children at the helm, there may be some (subtle) changes ahead. For one, they want to continue, and maybe amplify, their father’s tradition of offering not only Greek staples, but also Greek seafood dishes.

In addition to saganaki, a cheese dish served flambé tableside, gyros and moussaka, you can also get dishes like Flounder Athenian and Shrimp & Scallops Mykonos, with a caramelized onion tomato sauce. Now, it’s Michael who is personally selecting Olympia’s fresh fish for service.

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“We recently went to my dad’s island," he said. "And this time, I wasn’t a teenager.... I wanted to see how the Greek food on that island is prepared, how they do their own special dishes... We’re going to continue to make my dad’s dishes, but we want to celebrate where he came from. It might not have been something people were ready for in 1994.”

And perhaps in the next few years, they’d like to renovate, too, and add more photos and and hints of the island culture into the restaurant.

The Voulgaris family is thinking of the long-term future for the restaurant. Already, it looks like the next generation, Nick’s two granddaughters, are interested in joining. They like to bus tables at Olympia and play restaurant while at home.

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her at aballard@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Olympia Restaurant in Wilmington is now in the hands of second generation