The beloved greek restaurant, Souvla, recently opened its newest and biggest location in San Francisco’s Dogpatch area. Souvla, a fast-fine restaurant group, launched this premiere location along with its very first Greek wine bar within a restaurant. Moreover, it extended its menu to include a by-the-glass menu of Greek wines and traditional Greek mezé and small plates, honoring the brand’s Greek roots.
Charles Bililies, Founder and CEO of Souvla, took his fine dining background and combined it with his Greek roots and heritage to create the Souvla empire in 2014. 8 years later, the brand has opened locations in San Francisco’s NoPa, Mission, Marina and Dogpatch neighborhoods, with plans to expand to Marin in 2023.
Up until the start of Souvla, Bililies’ background was entirely in fine dining, from cooking at high-end properties on the East Coast to working at The French Laundry as Thomas Keller’s first culinary assistant, to later working with with Michael Mina at the Mina Group.
“The business model behind both fine dining and full-service restaurants is incredibly challenging, explains Bililies. “I saw an opportunity to leverage my fine dining background against the rise of fast-casual restaurants, especially within a city like San Francisco which is incredibly expensive to both live and operate in. In the years since, we’ve developed a style of dining that not only has solid economics, but is also reflective of how people (now) want to eat.”
Souvla rotisserie roasts naturally raised meats. The word “souvla” means “spit” or “skewer” in Greek — the rod on which meat is roasted and they wrap them in warm, fluffy pita bread or topped on a crisp salad, served with traditional Greek flavors such as feta cheese, pickled vegetables, and yogurt sauces, including Souvla’s signature Granch. This location, however, is an evolution of their unique approach to modern Greek design and aesthetics.
This location has the first and only Souvla with a unique mezé menu, featuring a selection of more traditional hot and cold Greek small plates. These include the traditional Greek spreads like the tzatziki and the founder’s favorite, taramasalata, which are served with house made pita crackers; chilled octopus salad; dolmades with chicken skin; spanakopita; and the fan favorite, saganaki — Greek fried cheese which comes out bubbling hot.
They also offer loukoumades, the original Greek donut. These small golf ball-sized donuts are fried fresh and tossed in honey syrup, cinnamon, and walnuts. And, while not a small plate, this location is the only Souvla where you can enjoy the off-menu feta-brined rotisserie chicken as a plated item in the dining room.
We chatted with Charles Bililies, Founder and CEO of Souvla, on his Greek restaurant group, Souvla’s origins, menu nightlights and more. Here’s what he had to say.
Talk about what makes Souvla special from an upscale fast casual dining standpoint?
What is remarkable about the fast-fine genre that Souvla has pioneered nearly a decade ago is its versatility. We can be many things to many people; everything from delivery and online ordering/pickup to conventional takeaway to dine-in. Moreover, in the evenings at our restaurants, the lights come down, candles go on the table and wine is served in stemmed wine glasses.
Even though you order from the counter, your food is brought to you and your table is cleared when you’re finished. Those points, along with our attention and passion for great design, experience and service mean a Souvla looks, acts, and feels like a full-service restaurant, one that’s nice enough to bring a date to.
Because of our volume and efficiencies, we’re able to pass that value on to our guests both in the form of delivering a higher quality product at a lower cost when compared to full-service restaurants and with the speed and convenience of not having to make reservations, wait for a server or for your check.
Where did the original Souvla concept come from?
Born out of a backyard barbeque very reminiscent of a traditional Greek Easter celebration, I roasted a whole lamb and, the following day, made myself a leftover pita sandwich with the lamb. The lightbulb went off and the pursuit of improving and modernizing the known but dated gyro or souvlaki sandwich began.
How is the feta-brined rotisserie chicken made? It’s incredible!
I agree! Credit for this goes to Chef Tony Cervone, Souvla’s chef and also my partner in the business. Even back when there was only one Souvla location, we were going through an incredible amount of feta cheese, big 5-gallon buckets each and every day. Of course, our feta, like most, comes packed in brine, but for a while, we were dumping it, as we just needed the cheese. Around Thanksgiving, we had an idea to do rotisserie turkeys as a one-off special.
With turkeys, most people brine their birds in a salt water-based brine. While our turkey experiment ultimately didn’t pay off, that’s where the idea for feta brine came about. The brine not only keeps these chickens moist and juicy but adds a delightful lactic quality to them. Just as important, we’ve found that they don’t dry out if you end up having leftovers the following day like chicken usually does.
How did you curate the all-Greek beverage menu? What are some standouts?
As a proud Greek American, I’ve always been bullish on Greek products, but none more so than the amazing wines coming out of Greece nowadays. Prior to the opening of the first Souvla in 2014, I spent a few months in Greece and connected with Ted Diamantis from Diamond Imports, a pioneer in the Greek wine space for more than two decades and someone who has introduced more sommeliers, restauranteurs, and the dining public to Greek wines than anyone else. Ted has since become a good friend, and we work with many of the brands he imports, including our own line of Souvla private-label wines.
I absolutely love the white wines coming out of Greece, including the light, floral moschofilero from Domaine Skouras and the crisp, mineral-driven assyrtiko from the island of Santorini from Santo. For reds, I’m particularly drawn to Kir Yianni’s Ramnista, made from the xinomavro grape and a serious wine that can stand up to the very best from Italy or France.
Any more plans on expansion?
We’ve come off of a very disruptive two years, but are grateful to have brought the restaurants back 100% and are now back on the path of what we call “thoughtful growth.” We’re excited to be opening our first Souvla outside of San Francisco early next year at the Marin Country Mart, and are currently exploring other opportunities around the Bay Area.
For more latest Food & Drinks News Click Here