Panagiota’s Taste of Greece owners Emanuel and Lindsey Spanos stand with their three children: five-month-old Grace, two-year-old Elena and 11-year-old Jasmine inside of their restaurant. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Panagiota’s Taste of Greece held its soft opening on Tuesday, in its first brick-and-mortar location at 115 East German Street.

The restaurant started out as a food truck known as Taste of Greece, opening back in 2021, when food trucks had yet to become a common business model in rural areas like Jefferson County. This fact, along with the restaurant’s authentic Greek cuisine, helped it to quickly make a name for itself at fairs and festivals throughout the region. According to owners Emanuel and Lindsey Spanos, they plan to continue operating the food truck in some capacity in the future, though their main focus will now be on their restaurant in Shepherdstown.

“Shepherdstown’s a wonderful, community-oriented town. We’re excited to be opening our restaurant here!” Emanuel said.

“We saw the potential of the size and the space. We do have plans for the basement, which has previously only been used for storage.”

To differentiate the restaurant’s two formats in customers’ minds, the Greek name of Emanuel’s 100-year-old grandmother, “Panagiota,” was added to the name of the brick-and-mortar location.

Customers chat at the bar in Panagiota's Taste of Greece on Tuesday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

“The layout of the building hasn’t changed. There still is a dining room and a bar. We have just painted the place and installed a floor-to-ceiling mural, similar to what we had at John’s Cafe,” Emanuel said, referring to his father’s restaurant in Kearneysville, which closed in 2022.

Emanuel noted that he grew up cooking his Greek family recipes, at his father’s restaurant and at Club 4100, his maternal grandfather’s restaurant on the outskirts of Baltimore, Md. He then went on to work as the sous chef of the Epic Buffet in Charles Town, which gave him experience cooking Americana food. Both cuisines will be featured on the menu of Panagiota’s Taste of Greece.

Lindsey herself spent many years working as a bartender and server in some high profile restaurants, before becoming an RN and working for a few years as an emergency room nurse. Her work experience has equipped her well for the fast-paced life of running a restaurant.

“It’s all about hospitality and about making the guest or patient feel appreciated and understood,” Lindsey said, agreeing with her husband that they want to “manage, but not micromanage” the restaurant.

“I definitely want to be very fluid, when my husband and I are here — we definitely want to be able to work any and every position,” Lindsey said. “We want to be able to step behind the bar if they need help or do table touches to make sure everybody’s okay. And, if the kitchen gets backed up, we’ll hop on the line and ‘get into the fryer!'”

Panagiota’s Taste of Greece held its soft opening on Tuesday at 115 East German Street. Tabitha Johnston

Those who have enjoyed attending events at the location, which up until a month ago housed Lilah Restaurant, need not worry about them permanently coming to an end.

“We do plan to still have a lot of the events that were held when Lilah was here, like karaoke and trivia night,” Emanuel said, mentioning he hopes to add his own special events to those already established, such as pasta nights and smoked meat nights. “We won’t be able to do that at the beginning — we want to make sure the kitchen and the waitstaff are where they need to be first, so everybody is taken care of well. We want to be solid, before we do any of that.”

The couple noted that this will very much be a family business. Along with them working at the restaurant, several of their family members will also be joining the staff, including Emanuel’s father, John, who will be serving as a chef in the kitchen. Other staff members may also be recognizable to customers, especially for those who visited the location’s previous restaurant.

“The staff would like to stay on, which we want to do as much as possible,” Emanuel said. “At every other place we’ve only employed family.”

The restaurant will be open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. To learn more, visit Panagiota’s Taste of Greece on Facebook.