Popi

Guests sitting at the bar can look outside

BRADENTON – Everyone knows the Ameres family. If you don’t know them by name, then you probably have heard of their popular chain of restaurants, Popi’s Place (pronounced Pope-y not Poppy). They have just opened the doors to the sixth restaurant in west Bradenton at 6409 Manatee Ave. Although many people are familiar with the Greek/American cooking, few know the origins behind the successful business.

It all started when Emanuel and Kalliopi first met. He was 21 and had come back to get his diploma after five years of working as a chef on a cargo ship.  Kalliopi, or Popi for short, was 14 and from the Greek Island Leros. They fell in love shortly after, but Popi was still very young and Emanuel had joined the Greek Navy. He shipped out to the U.S., vowing to return after a five-year-stay. Popi was heartbroken. She got so sick she couldn’t eat or sleep -- she was distraught with grief. Emanuel cut his stay short and returned after only one year. The two married soon after, she was 16 and he was 24.

They ended up in Cleveland, Ohio a few years later. Emanuel got a job as the head chef at the famous Brown Derby restaurant. Popi was his assistant chef. After five years, Emanuel and his brother opened a Brown Derby in Saint Petersburg, while Popi stayed in Ohio, temporarily, as the head chef.

Emanuel decided he wanted to run his own restaurant. The couple came up with the idea for a steakhouse called the Grapevine; they planned the venture for months. Half an hour before their much anticipated grand opening, a pregnant Popi went into labor before they could open the doors. Emanuel was so dedicated to the venture that he continued to cook for a hungry crowd. Meanwhile Popi was rushed to the hospital to give birth to their children. Twins, Andy and Katina, were born a few hours later.

Located on corner of U.S. 41 and Cortez Road, the Grapevine, was a huge success where customers could dine on outstanding steaks or seafood while admiring waitresses in skimpy uniforms.

The Ameres’ opened their first Popi’s Place in 1986, near McKechnie Field in Bradenton. The quality food at reasonable prices attracted all varieties of clientele and soon the couple was expanding. After each of their four kids graduated college, Popi and Emanuel gave every one a restaurant of their own to manage.

Emanuel stands at the front of the Popi's VI dinning room

”We like to keep the family together – one here, one there whatever, we like to keep the kids close to us,“ said Emanuel.

Each of the six establishments serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily from 6 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The menu features breakfast with a variety of platters, pancakes, Belgian waffles, and omelets. For lunch or dinner there are an assortment of sandwiches, burgers of various sizes, inventive wraps and salads named after family members. There also are seafood, poultry, pork, beef, Greek and Italian entrees, as well as a menu for kids. Nothing is over $20 and the majority of meals are $10 or under.

Now the family is more inseparable than ever. Just a few years ago, Emanuel suffered from health problems. The affects of a rare disease put him in a coma for over two months. Doctors gave him a 1 percent chance of survival, but after taking an experimental drug, he said he just opened his eyes one day.

”The call me the miracle man because it was a miracle I survived,“ he said.

After that, he had to regain the use of his motor skills, including learning to walk all over again. Today, he is his old self. Visiting the new restaurant is like dŽjˆ vu. Emanuel still greets customers in his thick-Greek accent just as he always did. His dry sense of humor usually goes over customers’ heads, but because his tone his jovial they just laugh as he chuckles at his own jokes.

Going to any Popi’s is like going home, the food is tasty and hearty, there is always a family member in the kitchen and everyone feels like a relative. It is no wonder that the area can’t seem to get enough of the establishments. There is now a Popi’s in Ruskin, Ellenton, Downtown Palmetto, North Palmetto, Bradenton, and West Bradenton.

Popi’s Place VI
6409 Manatee Ave.
Bradenton, FL 34209
941-761-7674