What was supposed to be a retirement, has turned into long days and a new adventure for Peggy Sgouros.
Sgouros, who owned Herc’s Greek Eatery for many years, has been baking pies, whipping up desserts and doing the meal preparation in the kitchen at Gloria’s Restaurant in the South End for five years now.
“I sold Herc’s in 2013 to retire. We went to our homeland of Greece. Then we visited South America. I came home, renovated my home and got bored real fast,” she said.
She took a cook prep job around the corner from her house at Gloria’s and the rest is history when Bruno Michel put it up for sale in 2017.
Sgouros is working alongside her son, Philip Eleftheriadis, who cooks and husband, Elias Eleftheriadis, who is in charge of the plate presentation and creative side of things.
Back in the day, Gloria’s was known for its breakfast, but served up lunches and suppertime meals.
“We are now open Tuesday to Sunday's, 8 to 5 p.m. This means we aren’t open for a dinner crowd. To accommodate that, we have refrigeration units with meals to go for those who want a home cooked meal for dinner like meatloaf,” she said.
Peggy said they have also taken the breakfast at Gloria’s to a whole new level.
“We still do bacon and eggs, but we have fruit dishes, savoury breakfast items, breakfast poutines and skillet meals,” she said.
The top favourite is the French Toast wrap which is a crepe wrap with fresh fruit.
When it comes to dinner, Pegg’s favourite meal is the chicken parmesan with its in-house tomato marinara sauce or the spaghetti with homemade meat sauce.
Peggy has also worked with an Indian chef for many years and mastered a number of original recipes that can be found on the menu like the Samucha Chat that is served over a chickpea stew and topped with peppers, onions and fresh cilantro.
Last month, the restaurant celebrated its 70th anniversary with a contest for a $100 gift card.
The winner was a couple who had one of their first dates at Gloria’s in 1954 while still in high school.
Mario and Audrie Fabretto got married a couple years later and still come back for the fries with gravy and the milkshakes just like they did 70 years ago.
Like the lineage of the previous Michel family ownership, so many generations of customers now call Gloria’s home now.
She hopes the quality and the quantity keeps customers coming back for many more years to come, especially coming out of the pandemic restrictions.
Gloria’s Restaurant is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
It is located at 469 Bouchard Street at the corner of Bouchard and Regent in the South End.
It can be found on Facebook or at its website GloriasRestaurant.ca.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
