Michael Gabriel ’28 is a history major. Besides writing and editing opinion pieces, he contributes an issue of his Willy and Mary comic almost every edition. He is a big baseball fan, likes the outdoors and is always happy to talk to anyone about anything. Contact him at mdgabriel@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
I have always been a proponent of eating local. Being from Brooklyn, N.Y., I am very fortunate to have grown up with a wide variety of convenient, local restaurants all within walking distance or a quick train and car ride away. Yes, when out with friends, Chick-fil-A or McDonald’s were always places we’d stop, but we were just as likely to go and grab a pie from Nino’s Pizza or roast beef sandwiches from Roll-N-Roaster, both local, independently-owned restaurants that don’t hurt the wallet too much. All that to say, wherever I go, I always like to support a local restaurant.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the Outer Banks, N.C. for the first time. The beach was nice, the weather held up well enough, and overall, I really did have a fun time. On the morning we were leaving, my friends and I had been deciding on what to get for breakfast. Rather than pick up some food from Wawa and hit the road, we all decided that we would rather get a uniquely OBX breakfast. We ended up pulling into the parking lot of Stack ’em High Pancakes and So Forth, a pancake house in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
The appeal of any chain restaurant, store or gas station is consistency. Whether you are at a McDonald’s in Florida, New York or Montana, the Big Mac will taste the same, the restaurant will look the same and the drive-through will more or less operate the same, too. Local restaurants, on the other hand, offer a unique look into, well, the local area, and Stack ’em High sure did deliver.
The interior was painted a variety of bright colors with quips and proverbs written on the ceiling beams, door fringes and any other imaginable piece of empty wall space. There were pictures, maps and other OBX memorabilia dotted all over the walls. The actual layout of the restaurant was unique, too. Rather than sitting down and then ordering, we waited in a line where we admired the aforementioned décor, read the extensive menu (who knew there were so many ways to prepare a pancake?), picked out our beverages, watched the grillmen prepare stacks upon stacks of pancakes, and then ordered and paid for our food, which would be brought out to us when we sat down. It was a unique atmosphere that I can’t say I have ever experienced before, but it definitely made the whole experience a memorable one. It also didn’t hurt that the pancakes were phenomenal.
After we placed our orders at the register, out of curiosity, I asked the cashier if the place was family owned. Gesturing to a wall of black and white photos, she told me that her father-in-law, an immigrant from Greece, first opened the restaurant and that it was still operated by the family today.
According to the restaurant’s website, Perry Kiousis and his wife, Kiki, the founders of the restaurant, immigrated to the United States in the 1960s, entering the restaurant business and learning English by listening to customers and practicing with each other. The couple eventually founded Stack ’em High in 1981, along with an additional location in nearby Kitty Hawk, N.C., a couple of years later. They then passed the businesses along to their sons, Nick and Steve, and their families, who operate the locations today.
As a Greek American, this was exciting to learn because many of my family members, including my Pappou (grandpa), shared similar stories. Coming to the United States with little to no education or ability to speak English, the restaurant business was very attractive to Greek immigrants. They opened restaurants, diners and pancake houses across the United States, incorporating American mainstays, like pancakes, with tastes of home like gyros and pastitsio while employing countless family members or friends in need of work. Whether or not the families still operate the restaurants today, it was this industry that opened the gates for them and their children to all sorts of other industries.
Understandably, as college students, it isn’t possible to eat out locally all the time. Often, fast food or sit-down chains are not only more convenient but also more affordable. However, if you can take the time to try one of the many local restaurants in Williamsburg, Va. or any in your hometown, I encourage you to do so. Regardless of the ethnic background of the owners, when you eat local, you are supporting the dream of a family, not a corporation. You are supporting the dream of an individual who took a risk to provide a service for your community.
And hey, if you ever visit the Outer Banks, I know a really good pancake spot!
