GUSTO [Restaurant Profile] Pride and Joy, Greek Style Petros "Peter" Mungridis brings passion, joy, and a perfectionist bent to his life dream of offering authentic and lovingly prepared Greek cuisine at Epsilon restaurant in Monterey. You'll love the casual elegance and the sparkling clean feeling of the atmosphere and the food.

Dan Shafer

Petros "Peter" Mungridis is a man of expansive passion, great intensity and a real flair for sparkling, witty conversation. In other words, he's perfectly suited to be the proprietor of the only authentic Greek restaurant on the Monterey Peninsula.

Greek is one of my favorite ethnic styles of cooking. From the smooth tartness of the classic Avgolemono soup (chicken in a lemon-egg base) to the delicate blending of flavors in the Spanakopita (spinach and Feta cheese pie) and the amazing robust delight that is Mousaka (eggplant, seasoned meat, Bechamel sauce and Parmesan cheese), I've always found Greek food to be among the most interesting of all national cuisines.

And Epsilon never disappoints the largely local crowd that knows about the little restaurant tucked away at 422 Tyler Street, two blocks off the busy main Old Monterey drag of Alvarado.

Mungridis, who celebrates the start of his 17th year as the owner of Epsilon this month, is, like many of his countrymen, a man who truly enjoys not only cooking but also eating Greek food.

"All of these foods," he says as he waves his arms broadly at a tasting table fit for a god, "take much time to prepare. Some of these dishes require two or three or even four days to finish. Each ingredient is prepared individually and then carefully blended. If I want to serve Mousaka on Friday, I must start preparation on Tuesday. This is not food you can simply toss into a pan on a moment's notice, add some spices and sauces, and serve."

When he talks, Mungridis smiles broadly, leans forward, gestures wildly, and looks his listener directly in the eyes. He is, in a word, intense.

Mungridis has been in the restaurant business essentially his whole life. He started when he arrived in the United States from his native Constantinople ("That makes me a Byzantine Greek," he says proudly.) His first job was a dishwasher when he was 15 years old.

"I couldn't speak English, so the jobs available to me were limited," he recalled. "But once I got into the restaurant world, I just fell in love with it."

He received his formal training in 1979-1983 at the world-famous Ritz Carlton in Chicago. In 1983, he moved to Monterey, where he opened a restaurant called the Picnic Box in Carmel. Later, he opened the Mission Street Café in Carmel.

"I sold that place in 1989," he said, "and then spent some time in Greece with my parents, who live in Athens. But I came back in 1991 with the idea of opening a Greek restaurant downtown." He still returns to Greece to visit his family and look for new menu ideas every October.

From the beginning, Mungridis knew that two things would be important to succeeding in the restaurant business on his terms: cleanliness and attention to detail.

"We clean everything here at least twice a day," he said. "Everything. The floors, the tables, the kitchen area, the rest rooms."

Mungridis has become a master of the art of attention to detail. He notices when the Greek music being played is too loud or too soft and either adjusts the volume or has one of his staff do it.

He seems to have eyes in the back of his head; when a customer gets up to leave, he will jump up ("like popcorn," he chuckles) and make sure he thanks them for coming.

He knows a great many of his customers, 95% of whom are locals, because he has quite a few regulars.

For Mungridis, the favorite part of the restaurant business is interaction with people.

"The restaurant world is a world of entertainment," he said. By way of example, we were discussing his family and he asks if I'd like to see his pride and joy. Assuming he means a photo of his wife, Julie, who is a surgical RN at Salinas Memorial Hospital or his 10-year-old son Garrett, I say I'd love to see it.

Mungridis whips out his wallet and with great relish extracts a laminated photo of... a bottle of Pride wax and Joy dishwashing soap, side by side. He seems to enjoy the joke nearly as much as I do. (He did then show us family photos, by the way.)

The 51-year-old restaurateur's favorite food is Dolmades, the hot stuffed grape leaves he offers as an entrée. Topped with an avgolemono sauce, the combination of a slightly tart grape leaf flavor with the spiced meat and rice stuffing is mouth-wateringly delightful.

Among my other favorite dishes at Epsilon are the lamb shanks, a Greek variation on Italian Osso Bucco, and the Imam Bayildi, a savory vegetarian concoction built around eggplant. But I always try to leave room for a bit of baklava, the nut-and-honey concoction created with paper-thin filo dough that takes on a whole new dimension of delight when it's slightly warmed, the way Mungridis does it.

If you love Greek food, you'll love Epsilon. If you've never discovered the brilliant flavor combinations of this cuisine, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. And while you're there, ask if Peter will make his spectacular Saganaki, a flambé of Kasseri cheese imported from his native Greece. Wonderful!