2007 - 2008   (click for prior years:  2004-2006, 1994-2003)



 

TV Diner's Billy Costa visits the Athenian Corner


TV Diner's Billy Costa with Athenian Corner owner Stavros Panagiotopoulos


The crew from TV Diner dines at the Athenian Corner along with WCAP's Merrimack Magazine morning team


Destinations: Athenian Corner
(NECN) - Located in the heart of downtown Lowell, Massachusetts, part of the Historic District, the Athenian Corner brings you the largest variety of fine Greek food in New England.

Since 1974, the Panagiotopoulos family has been proudly serving quality dishes and generous portions at affordable prices.

Stop by for daily luncheon specials, mouth watering dinner entrees, or take it to go.

If a night on the town is your pleasure, the Athenian Corner offers live entertainment Thursday through Saturday evenings.

Dance the night away to the Greek and Middle Eastern music of the Fred Elias ensemble, and let one of the enchanting belly dancers captivate your heart.

978-458-7052
www.atheniancorner.com
Location:
Athenian Corner
207 Market St
Lowell, MA, 01852
March 12, 2008   From Traveling w/ TV Diner
Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson were in Lowell earlier this week, and I was a fly on the wall during their three-hour tour of Lowell’s nosh joints. Surprisingly the trim and bubbly NECN TV Diner personalities actually eat. They dug right into Greek salads at the Athenian Corner (that's where I snapped this pic of Costa and AC owner Teddy Panos), coffee and sweets at Lowell High School's courtyard rest. and pad thai at the Blue Taleh. Even the camera man was wolfing down sandwiches at Lowell High School’s Courtyard rest. Costa really is a professional. The guy is like a sponge. He would meditate over the dishes, memorizing every ingredient the chef infused. And just when you think there's no way he's gonna retain it all, the camera snaps on and he rattles them off like old friends. That's TV for ya! The show airs on NECN March 22 and is sure to boost sales at downtown eateries. Traipsing around town w/ TV Diner solidified my dogged pursuit of chronciling our local, thriving scene. A year ago when this blog launched, Centro and Blue Taleh were distant dreams. To see Costa cosy up to the bars and swoon, made me feel that my work here has not been misspent. Meanwhile, old standbys like Athenian Corner continue to impress and reinvent themselves. Such is the hallmark of a true dining destination.
Posted by Gourmet Gal on March 12, 2008 1:49 PM |

 
Historic Board OKs plan for power house
 

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Board members also voted 7-0 in favor of plans to renovate and expand the Athenian Corner restaurant at 205 Market St., and construct a new building on the restaurant's parking lot at 35 Shattuck St.

Developer Sam Poulten, who is partnering with property owners Stavros and Teddy Panagiotopoulos, said plans call for renovating the building that now houses the Athenian Corner and constructing a four-story building next door.

The restaurant would expand into a new kitchen and seating space as well as a cocktail lounge across the first floors of both new buildings, Poulten said.

There will be 18 to 21 new residential units built in the upper floors; about four of those units will have roof decks, subject to Historic Board approval. 

Lowell Sun - August 14, 2007,  Author: Michael Lafleur          (more info...)

John Grillakis cooks up a lamb stick at the Athenian Corner Sunday during the Lowell Folk Festival. The Market Street restaurant reported that business boomed on Friday and Saturday before dropping off on Sunday. Just like in prior years, the eatery set up a tent in its parking lot and sold lamb and chicken kebabs, as well as spinach pie, grape leaves and other Greek fare.
SUN/David H. Browasdas
Lowell Sun, 7/31/2007
Local Greek band impressive in its Folk Fest audition
By Andrew Ravens
Lowell Sun, 07/27/2007

Send in a CD and wait to hear back. That's one of many ways a band can land a coveted gig at the Lowell Folk Festival.

If an act doesn't have a CD, officials at the National Council for the Traditional Arts in Washington are known to get creative, especially for local musicians.

Dracut's Costas Maniatakos, of the Greek-inspired band Olympic Melodies, explained: "Washington called and said they needed a CD, and we didn't have one. So instead, they sent some people to listen to us play at the Athenian Corner. They called the next day and said, 'You guys are hired.'"

So it will be a working weekend Sunday for 85-year-old violinist Fred Elias, drummer Mike Gregian, 59, guitarist Steve Marks, 60, and Maniatakos, 67, of Olympic Melodies, which plays Greek, Armenian, Arabic and Turkish music.

Joshua Kohn, programming manager for the National Council for the Traditional Arts, booked the quartet.

"We've been hearing about this wonderful band that plays the Athenian Restaurant, and I got people to check them out," he said. "They came back raving about their energy and presence on stage."
Olympic Melodies holds a Thursday and Friday night residency at the Athenian Corner Restaurant on Market Street in Lowell, where Elias and Gregian have played since 1980. Marks and Maniatakos, who plays the oud -- a watermelon-shaped cousin to the guitar -- joined later.

"They really stand out," said Teddy Panagiotopoulos, manager of the Athenian Corner. "There are a ton of good Greek bands in the area, but they play pretty much everything. They'll bust out into some Irish or Italian music -- and their Greek music really translates."

Maniatakos, who drives a big white 1992 Lincoln with Massachusetts license plates that read "OUD X" ("Someone already had 'OUD,'" he said), began playing the string instrument in his early 20s.

"I just picked it up and loved the sound of it," said Maniatakos, who has relatives who play the instrument. "I never took any lessons. I tried to gets lessons, but they found excuses not to teach me. They didn't want any competition."

Soon, Maniatakos mastered the oud and started playing gigs in his free time. Now that he's retired, Maniatakos has more time to play around. Olympic Melodies, which formed in the 1970s, makes regular appearances at clubs across Boston and Cambridge.

"I love it, I love it," Maniatakos said of playing, adding that he and Gregian "go to Florida twice a year to play for 50 belly dancers in Orlando."

The spirited band, which last played the Folk Festival two years ago, will play the Market Street Stage on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. Later that day, they'll play the Lee Street Stage at 4.

Maniatakos expects both gigs to last about 45 minutes.

"I think they'll be perfect for the festival," said Panagiotopoulos. "You want someone who can really relate to the crowd."

 

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