The “Breakfast Bunch” was the hit of the Athens restaurant dining room Wednesday morning – a first for the group of longtime childhood friends who gave the small diner a thumbs up.
“I give it a 10!” said Joe Perez sitting at the end of the table. Two members of the group are former city workers who have been retired for a number of years: Dave Mueller, streets superintendent and Jim Banthrup, golf course superintendent.
The men said they had lost contact following elementary and high school but the all gravitated back together in the Central Valley after they retired.
Athens Burgers has been in the former Colonel Sanders location for about a year in the 300 block of East Yosemite serving breakfast lunch and dinner. It’s not just burgers with owner Steve Taxidis serving everything from steaks to ham and eggs not to mention some 15 different burger selections.
The men making up the weekly breakfast club rotate from restaurant to restaurant every Wednesday morning. This week they were short two members having just seven around the table, but it still made for a lively time.
Taxidis came to the U.S. in 1972 from his native Greece to play his ethnic Greek music – Bouzouk. He first lived in Southern California, then Texas, Louisiana, The Bay Area and finally Northern California. Now he is too busy with his restaurant to continue in his music, he added.
He has a son Nick, 17, is a senior in high school and his daughter Eva is finishing her senior year in college in Irvine.
Speaking of his menu he stressed, “Anything we give is first class – anything we have is quality stuff.”
In addition to his inventive burgers, he says he has many different salads – Greek salads, too, along with beef, lamb and chicken. “We make fresh onion rings every day from scratch,” he said, “along with fried zucchini sticks.
“I give it a 10!” said Joe Perez sitting at the end of the table. Two members of the group are former city workers who have been retired for a number of years: Dave Mueller, streets superintendent and Jim Banthrup, golf course superintendent.
The men said they had lost contact following elementary and high school but the all gravitated back together in the Central Valley after they retired.
Athens Burgers has been in the former Colonel Sanders location for about a year in the 300 block of East Yosemite serving breakfast lunch and dinner. It’s not just burgers with owner Steve Taxidis serving everything from steaks to ham and eggs not to mention some 15 different burger selections.
The men making up the weekly breakfast club rotate from restaurant to restaurant every Wednesday morning. This week they were short two members having just seven around the table, but it still made for a lively time.
Taxidis came to the U.S. in 1972 from his native Greece to play his ethnic Greek music – Bouzouk. He first lived in Southern California, then Texas, Louisiana, The Bay Area and finally Northern California. Now he is too busy with his restaurant to continue in his music, he added.
He has a son Nick, 17, is a senior in high school and his daughter Eva is finishing her senior year in college in Irvine.
Speaking of his menu he stressed, “Anything we give is first class – anything we have is quality stuff.”
In addition to his inventive burgers, he says he has many different salads – Greek salads, too, along with beef, lamb and chicken. “We make fresh onion rings every day from scratch,” he said, “along with fried zucchini sticks.
